Notes on the Urbanization of Our Planet

Accra, Ghana

1991

20002014

Professor Shlomo Angel, New York UniversityPresented at the Expert Group Meeting on Sustainable Cities, Human Mobility and International Migration, hosted by the UN Population Division, UNDESA, United Nations, New York, 7-8 September 2017.

The Urbanization Project

The Year 2100

Declining urban growth rates

Urban population will stabilize by 2100

On the doubling of the urban population since 1959

On tripling the present areas of cities by 2100

Explaining urban extents

Urban densities are in decline

One-third of the urban extents of cities remains open space

Urban extents tripled in area during the 1990-2015 period

The share of the population living in cities

The share of the urban population in less developed countries

Urban population growth, 2015-2050

The 18-to-1 ratio

Two regions will absorb 60% of urban population growth to 2050

Explaining the share of the population living in cities

GDP per capita and the level of urbanization

Urbanization and economic development

Urbanization and public health

What is a city?

The universe of cities

All city-size ranges contain similar total populations

Cities of different population sizes are growing at the same rate

There are discrepancies between country definitions of ‘urban’

Explaining differences in what constitutes ‘urban’

Shifting the focus from ‘people’ to ‘land for people’

The Urbanization Project is both inevitable and desirable

The risks that the Urbanization Project entails are asymmetrical

Preparations for urbanization are falling behind

Urbanization without fear

Thank you!

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