Source: United Nations Asia Mumbai (42 million) New Delhi (36 million) Dhaka (35 million) Kolkata (33 million) Tokyo (32 million) Karachi (32 million) Africa Kinshasa (35 million) Lagos (33 million) North America Mexico (25 million) New York (25 million) By 2050, 10 megacities will have over 25 million inhabitants each. > Since 2007, humanity has become predominantly urban. Of the world’s population, 55% live in cities and this number is estimated to rise to nearly 70% by 2050, which means the planet will have an additional 2.5 billion city dwellers. According to a global urbanization forecast by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the number of cities with more than 10 million inhabitants will rise from 31 today to 43 by 2050. Ten of these megacities will have more than 25 million inhabitants. Moving toward a «planetwide city» With Earth gradually changing into a ‘planetwide city’, it is becoming imperative to formulate a new, inclusive, and sustainable urban model that is more in tune with the planet’s natural ecosystem. Particular attention must be paid to the needs of the countries of the Global South, especially in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where over 1 billion people still live in slums and where urbanization is set to accelerate at the highest rate. UN-Habitat estimates that by 2070, the number of cities will increase by 76% in low-income countries, compared to 20% in high or medium-income countries. In the countries with the highest GDP per inhabitant, the number of cities is only predicted to increase by 6%. According to the Smart Sustainable Cities: Reconnaissance Study (2016), the urban population will rise from 40% to 56% in Africa, and from 48% to 64% in Asia. In Latin America, Europe and North America, growth will be slower. Nevertheless, with urban population percentages of 86%, 82% and 87% respectively by 2050, the challenge will still be considerable. The solutions proposed to respond to the challenge might vary between regions. However, the objective will remain the same: to provide future city dwellers with the best possible quality of life, aligned with their social, material and even food needs, without negatively affecting the environment. The burden of this exponential urbanization of the planet inevitably exhausts the Earth’s natural resources. Every year, millions of hectares of agricultural, natural or woodland is used to accommodate the expansion of urban areas. This damages biodiversity, reduces the area available for cultivation and weakens productivity and food security in certain countries. It is estimated that by 2030, Nigeria will have lost 17% of its capacity for 13 CONSTRUCTING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
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