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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

Sorry, most of the news are only available in French language for the moment.

03/03/2010

FRANCE - PARIS - La tempête Xynthia a remis un coup de projecteur sur les règles de construction dans les zones inondables où...

03/03/2010

BRAZIL - RIO DE JANEIRO - Un des lieux les plus touristiques de Rio, son grand lac salé "Rodrigo de Freitas" au coeur des...

03/03/2010

FRANCE - PARIS - Le caractère dévastateur de la tempête Xynthia est dû à la concomitance d'une marée haute de fort coefficient...


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DEBATES
Africa’s Urban Farmers

Juliet Torome

Even though Wangari lives in Kenya’s capital, she is able to reap hundreds of dollars a year in profit from cash crops grown with...  

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FOCUS
New cities

The building sector is the sector in which greenhouse gas emissions could be greatly reduced: -29% by 2020. This would not cost much as the technical solutions already exist. Good double glazing reduces heat loss...  

VIDEOS
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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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