The urbanization process has been long intertwined with environmental problems. Human settlements and their growth create demands on the local resource base often resulting in depletion and degradation of these materials. Urban development and attempts to resolve these issues impact the everyday needs and activities of residents of these places and create stresses and crises. The objective of this chapter is to present the conditions through which these stresses and crises emerge and the associated inefficiencies and inequities typically embedded in these processes. These stresses and crises can take place when resources are both brought into cities and distributed around cities, and when waste generated from these practices is managed. Basic factors that mediate these conditions including population, level of wealth, social organization, and access to technology are introduced. The role of choice and what factors enable or constrain choice are explored and examples are presented. How choice is socially constructed and by whom and in whose interests are significant issues examined. The unintended consequences emerging from interim environmental solutions embedded within policy choices are richly detailed in the urban environmental literature and play a significant role in the chapter’s overarching aim.