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Recent large-scale surveys of dark clouds in the Galaxy show that one
rarely finds molecular clouds without young stellar objects. Thus, star
formation must occur rapidly upon molecular cloud formation. This rapid
onset of star formation puts strong constraints on the physical properties
of the parental cloud, and it mandates that a cloud's structure and dynamics
controlling stellar birth must arise during its formation. Hence, in order
to understand how stars form it is crucial to understand how molecular clouds
form. I will outline a scenario of flow-driven molecular cloud formation,
identifying the dominant physical processes which lead to both the observed
cloud structure and the rapid onset of star formation. I will discuss the
relevance of this scenario to star formation in our Galaxy and beyond.
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