This image was very much on my mind when the mayor of São Paulo, Marta Suplicy, asked me to set up a new Strategic Master Plan for our 10.4 million people - a number that grows to 17.4 million when the greater metropolitan area is considered. The ten-year plan was prepared in six months and debated for another six months in more than 200 public meetings before being approved by the city council in 2002.