state of the world's cities 2012/2013 - United Nations Sustainable ...

State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013Urban Change inDeveloping CountriesDivergent Urban Growth PatternsIn the last decade, the urban population in the developingworld grew an average 1.2 million people per week, orslightly less than one full year’s demographic growth inEurope’s urban areas. Asia dominated the picture, adding0.88 million new urban dwellers every week. Africa was thesecond largest contributor with an additional 0.23 millionper week, dwarfing Latin America and the Caribbean’s0.15 million weekly increment.Africa: The urban population is set to outstripEurope’s: In what promises to be one of the moreremarkable forthcoming developments in the overallpattern of urbanization in Africa, the region’s populationis poised to outgrow both Europe’s and Latin America’s,which was the first region to become predominantly urbanin the developing world. In 2025, the aggregate urbanpopulation of Africa, Europe, Latin America and theFACTUrbanization in Africa has not yet brought the economicdevelopment and degree of prosperity that might havebeen expected. Inadequate education and physical infrastructure,combined with poor governance, have constrained the efficient useof productive resources, and the industrial development that mighthave come with it. At the same time, the ongoing urban economicmomentum in Africa is a result of a number of the typical factors ofprosperity at work in other regions of the world, such as economiesof agglomeration, location advantages, and diversification of theeconomic base, albeit all in nascent form.FACTAsia is also confronted by the same urban paradox asAfrica. Despite high concentrations of population in largecities, the continent ranks among the least-urbanized regions inthe world (45 per cent urban). The tipping point for ‘urban Asia’ isexpected to happen earlier though (around 2020s).policyThe economic success of many countries/cities goeshand in hand with urbanization. Cities must givemore attention to rising inequalities and the worrying trend ofenvironmental degradation.Caribbean is expected to reach 642 million, 566 millionand 560 million, respectively. In an apparent paradox, bythat same year 2025 Africa will still be the least urbanizedregion in the world (45 per cent of the population).Asia: Moving into the “Urban Century”: Half of theworld’s urban population now lives in Asia. This regionhas accounted for about 65 per cent of the demographicexpansion of all urban areas across the world since thebeginning of the 21st Century. Undoubtedly, this is the“Asian Urban Century”. 13 Large population concentrationsin mega-cities are to remain a prominent feature inurban Asia (today, seven out of the 10 most populous citiesof the world are in this region). In the recent past, Delhiand Shanghai have joined the league of ‘meta-cities’, thosemassive conurbations of more than 20 million people. It isexpected that by 2020, another three Asian cities – Beijing,Dhaka and Mumbai – will have reached the 20 million mark.Latin America and the Caribbean: Inter-city migrationpredominates: This is the most urbanized region in theworld (80 per cent of the total population, compared withEurope’s 73 per cent).The urban transition in this regionwas achieved in the early 1960s, or about 16 years beforeWestern Asia (the second sub-region in the developingworld to become predominantly urban), and 30 and 45years respectively before Southern and North Africa (or, oncurrent trends, some 70 years before the whole of Africa).Convergent Urban Growth PatternsCities are expanding in a discontinuous, scattered andlow-density form that is not sustainable: A defining featureof cities in the developingworld is an outwardexpansion far beyondformal administrative policy Africancities mustboundaries, largelyconnect to regionalpropelled by the useand global businessof the automobile andnetworks, enhancequality of life, improveland speculation. A largebasic infrastructurenumber of cities – whetherand communicationin Angola, Egypt, Brazil,networks, addressChina, or almost any other public transportcountry – feature verydeficiencies andland-consuming suburban environmentalconditions, and respondsprawling patterns thatto inequality andoften extend even topoverty issues, if theyfarther peripheries. A study are to turn into realon 120 cities shows thatengines of nationalurban land cover grew,growth and prosperity.28