Introduction: World Cities and Urban Form

JENKS, MIKE; KOZAK, DANIEL; TAKKANON, PATTARANAN

World Cities and Urban Form: fragmented, polycentric, sustainable?

Routledge

Lugar: Londres, Nueva York; Año: 2008; p. 3 - 10

The tipping point from a predominantly rural to an urban world population is now predicted to happen in 2008 (United Nations, 2006). Although just a fraction of a percentage, the change is a highly emotive one. It has meant that cities have received more attention in the media and have become embedded in the public consciousness. The emotional impact comes from the fact that it is a world, rather than a regional change. While in 1950, Europe, Northern America and were largely urbanised, the rest of the world had predominantly rural populations. At that date the world´s urban population was 732 million (approximately 30% of the total population). By 2030 it is estimated that some 60% of the population will be urban, representing a total of 4,912 million people, an increase of about seven times the numbers that were living in cities in the 1950s. Asia and Africa are the regions where explosive growth is occurring, and where cites and urban agglomerations of 10 million or more people are becoming ever more common. While in 1950 there were two mega-cities in the world -New York and Tokyo with populations of 10 million or more- by 2005 there were 20, and the number is growing (United Nations, 2006). Cities have been getting larger and the number of million plus cities now stands at 471 worldwide (Brinkhoff, 2007). Urban populations swell with the influx of people from rural areas with dreams of a better lifestyle and standard of living. Aspirations that are sharpened through globalisation, the ever-present influence of transnational corporations, of global brands, of the media, of communications through the sharp rise in mobile phone networks and the Internet, and of increasing inflows and outflows of foreign direct investment (e.g. UNCTAD, 2006; Smith, 2003). Throughout the world, major cities have the trappings of the global economy. Not only do the citizens aspire to the best that appears on offer globally, but also those who govern the cities have the ambition to make a mark on the world -to have their cities become "world class".