06 November 2011

Megacities ~ FT's Pilling on Urbanizing Humanity

Megacities -- writes David Pilling in the FT -- are humanity's future...
"By 2050, three-quarters of the world’s population will be urban. That means more -- and much bigger -- metropolises. [...] The character of cities -- and their larger cousins the megacities -- is being rapidly redefined [to mean] massive agglomerations, mostly in the developing world. In truth, more of the world’s population is moving to second-tier cities than to the megacities. But huge conurbations have a symbolic potency. For some, they represent a brave new world in which Chinese, Indians, Brazilians and others in the developing world are clambering from poverty. For others, the megacity is nothing less than a nightmare. [...] Whether we like it or not, it is no longer possible to keep the bulk of humanity down on the farm. By 2050, three-quarters of the world’s population will be urban. That means more cities -- and more megacities. “These megacities are a big part of humanity’s future and the prospect should be both exhilarating and terrifying,” says [Harvard's] Glaeser. The examples of Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai show that megacities don’t have to be monstrosities. For many of us, the megacity is our fate. The goal of humanity should be to manage that fate, not succumb to it."
Read the rest of the piece.

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