The scale and pace of 21st-century urbanization is both staggering and unprecedented: in the coming decades, new urban development will likely exceed the urban growth of the past two centuries. India and China alone are building hundreds of new cities to house rural dwellers. Sprawling megacities require large investments in infrastructure and technology while historic old cities need to be revamped for livability and competitiveness.
This new urban era comes with a host of complex challenges: poverty, social exclusion and environmental degradation, among others. Yet opportunities for positive change abound: urbanization has the potential to correlate not only with sustainability but with wealth-creation, social tolerance, political stability and better living standards.
