Global Compact International Yearbook 2016

By 2050, seven out of ten people on earth will
live in cities. Urban living will be the norm, but
life for many of these roughly 6 billion people
will be everything else but normal. Water,
waste, and transportation problems; the lack
of housing, jobs, and security; and access to
education, participation, and information will be
just some of the challenges.
“vision 2050” of the World Business Council
for Sustainable Development describes the
city planning demand only for China, saying
that extra infrastructure for about 300 million
people is needed – 50 percent of which has
yet be built. But these challenges are also
opportunities: today we are at the brink of a
new urban era, says the Fraunhofer Society in
Germany: “to navigate the big challenges of the
next decades, city systems must be innovative,
flexible, livable, and sustainable.”
But future cities will not automatically be
romantic, smart, zero-emissions sites. It is
rather hard work to make cities places worth
living in. on the path, many questions have to
be answered: Where will our food come from?
How can we overcome gridlock? How can we
motivate locals for sustainable lifestyles?
Can we create sharing cities? What do green
buildings and green neighborhoods look like?
answers to these and other questions are given
in our section “City of the Future.”
140
Global Compact International Yearbook 2016