Opening lecture from the conference 'Cities and the Future'. What kind of political notion of justice can be developed theoretically and practically within the context of the inner city? Does the diversity and fragmentation of the modern city constitute an already 'postmodern scene'? What are the political and socio-economic processes generating inequality within the urban condition? What is social justice? David Harvey examines the connections between such questions while addressing the ways in which different definitions of justice are reflected by public policies and planning. David Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He was formerly Professor of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University and also Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford. A leading social theorist of international standing, he is the author of numerous publications that have been prominent in the development of modern geography as a discipline, including the books Social Justice and the City; The Limits to Capital; The Condition of Postmodernity; The Urban Experience.