Urbanization

ISSUES

Urbanisation

The megacities
In 2005, there were twenty agglomerations of more than 10 million inhabitants whereas there were only two in 1950 and three in 1975. Fifteen of these cities are in developing countries. These cities alone account for 9 % of the world's population. The largest is Tokyo with 35 million inhabitants and the 9 other largest megacities are Mumbai (or Bombay) and Mexico with 21 million inhabitants, Sao Paulo -20 million, New York -19 million, Delhi -18 million, Shanghai -17 million and finally, Calcutta, Dhaka and Jakarta with 16 million inhabitants. (1)
The fabric of society of large cities tends to merge to create huge « conurbations ». Hence, the Tokaido corridor around Tokyo and Osaka could represent over 80 million inhabitants whilst the North-East corridor, between Washington, New York and Boston has 55 million inhabitants. It is often hard to draw the precise line between a city and an agglomeration.

NEWS

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DEBATES

Growing food in greener cities

FAO

Urban horticulture supplies fresh food, creates jobs, recycles waste. By 2025, more than half the developing world's population -...

Africa’s Urban Farmers

When I met Eunice Wangari at a Nairobi coffee shop...

What Makes Europe Greener than the U.S.?

The average American produces three times the amount of CO2...

FOCUS

Nobel Price of ecology

Designed to recognize grassroots environmental heroes, the Goldman Environmental Prize, founded by Richard and Rhoda Goldman in 1989 In San Francisco, is awarded annually to individuals from the six inhabited continental regions for sustained and significant efforts to...

VIDEOS

03/05/2013	Unfazed by powerful political opponents and a pervasive culture of...	27/11/2012	Since 1860, geologists have discovered over 2 trillion barrels of oil....
16/07/2012	The city of Ghent has broken down the barriers to cycling and moved it...	30/05/2012	When Landsat 5 launched on March 1, 1984, Las Vegas was a smaller city....

GREEN TIPS

In Albi, light is cheap

The town of Albi has installed which are more eco-friendly. These produce good quality white light which...

INDICATORS

Urban population
IT indicators

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