The future for many Pacific island countries is an urban one. Despite a growing awareness of deteriorating physical, social and economic conditions in island capital cities over several decades, progress in reforming outdated urban administrations has been slow. Two recent examples of new approaches are found in the South Tarawa Urban Management Plan in Kiribati, located in Micronesia, and in the Planning and Urban Management Agency of Samoa, in Polynesia. Whilst neither is situated in Melanesia, the most problematic development region in Oceania, both are considered relatively successful examples of urban reform in a small island state. The paper argues that a combination of political will, the ability to attract and absorb externally sourced urban development assistance, and the prior achievement of some basic attributes, such as modest economic growth and gains in environmental management and economic planning, are necessary pre-requisites for urban reform to occur.