preview

Megacity And Megacity

Good Essays

There is no doubt that the world population is growing and growing rapidly but in order for the world to hold the mass change there is a need for humanity to adapt. According to the UN (United Nations) more than half of humanity today 3.9 billion people in 2014, today over 4 billion lives in urban areas (UN 2014, p. 1).This is a profound shift in the course of one century, or within a single lifetime for some of the longer lived people. Not only is the world’s urban population rapidly increasing, but cities themselves are growing larger and larger, with the number of “megacities” (population at least 10 million) almost tripling from 10 in 1990 to 28 in 2014 (UN 2014, p. 13). To first understand how such mega urbanity affects humanity one first needs to understand what a Megacity is. Once one understands this concept they will be able to indicate what the development of cities and our urban past have to say for urban future, understand the concept of a city and its history, be able to explain the urban way of life associated with cities and finally be able to assess the challenges and changes that cities and urban life face in modern day. Megacities are for the most part a very modern concept, they are best described as any city that holds 10 million residents or more. Some examples of modern day mega cities are Shanghai, Paris and London. A city typically defined as a large settlement of humans which holds extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, land use

Get Access