Page 57 - The World About Us

Lagos slum
1.1.1
2.2.4

What and where are the world’s megacities?

A megacity is a conurba on with
over 10 million inhabitants. The first Growing by the hour fig.157 Projected hourly urban growth
two megaci es (New York and Tokyo) rates in African ci es. (source, UN)
were located in Advanced Countries. The growth rate of ci es in the LIDCs is Lagos, Nigeria 77
The most recent trend is to see most now the fastest on the planet. Africa has
megaci es develop in LIDCs and EDCs. some of the fastest popula on growth Kinshasa, DRC 61
Figure 158 shows the changing loca on rates and urbanisa on rates on Earth. The Cairo, Egypt 44
of the world's largest ci es. There has con nent should see its urban popula on
been a drama c shi in urban growth triple by 2050. Many African countries s ll Luanda, Angola 34
from the Advanced Countries to the have rela vely low urban popula ons, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 23
Emerging and Developing Economies. allowing plenty of scope for future growth.

It is easy to become distracted by In 2014, the United Na ons es mated Nairobi, Kenya 22
the sheer size of some of the world's the hourly growth rate for African ci es Khartoum, Sudan 21
megaci es. Tokyo, for example, has a between 2010 and 2030. Lagos was
popula on equivalent to Greece, the expected to grow by 77 people per hour. Abijan, Côte d'Ivoire 21
Czech Republic, Portugal and Sweden That may not sound much but staggeringly Johannesburg, South Africa 21
combined. However, despite their size, translates to 1,848 per day, 12,946 per
megaci es only house 1 in 20 of the week and 56,179 people every month. Bamako, Mali 19
world's popula on.
Global urbanisa on is being driven fig.158 Loca on of the world’s megaci es (by metropolitan area) in 2015 and 2030.
by the growth of all urban areas. By
2030 half of all urban dwellers will live 2015
in ci es smaller than 500,000. That
Moscow
will be three mes the number living in London Paris Beijing (25) Seoul
Beijing
Tiajin
New
the megaci es. Los Angeles New York Istanbul Delhi Delhi Chengdu Tokyo
New
(26.5)
Lahore Shanghai Osaka-Kobe
(34)
Shanghai
What are the characteristics Mexico City Cairo Karachi Chongqing Guangzhou

Dhaka
Ahmadabad Kolkata Shenzen
of megacities? Mumbai Manila
Hydrabad
Bangalore Bangkok
Lag Ho Chi Minh City
Lagos (21)os
The drama c recent growth of Bogota Chennai
megaci es in LIDCs and EDCs is a Kinshasa
combina on of rural-to-urban Lima Luanda Dar es Salaam Jakarta
migra on and rapid natural increase.
Rio de Janeiro
Investment by domes c and São Paulo
Johannesburg
overseas businesses has created a Buenos Aires
strong demand for labour in many
ci es. This pull factor has encouraged Megacity in 2015 Megacity by 2030 (source: United Nations)
many young people to move to urban
areas from the countryside in search of
Once slums develop it is o en people’s temporary homes are made
work. With rela vely stable
difficult to replace them with more increasingly permanent.
employment many young couples soon
permanent and safer housing. Slums
start families, adding to the natural In Egypt, over half a million people
may become fixed districts of a city, as
increase in the city popula on. live in the ‘City of the Dead’, a slum
fig.159 Dharavi, Mumbai, India. located in a cemetery in South Eastern
In places where urban growth has
Cairo.
not been well planned or exceeds the
capacity of governments to cope, rapid Up to a million people live in the
urbanisa on has led to the Mumbai slum of Dharavi (where parts
development of informal se lements, of the film Slumdog Millionaire were
o en referred to as slums (see pages filmed). In East Africa, Nairobi’s Kibera
63-64). Almost one billion people township is home to upwards of a
worldwide live in slums where poor million residents, while in Indonesia an
sanita on, insecurity and many other es mated 25% of the urban popula on
problems make life extremely difficult. may live in slums.
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54 5
The majority of the world’s population now live in urban areas. Many factors contribute to a country’s economic development.The majority of the world’s population now live in urban areas.