Rapid growth has historically outpaced infrastructure, leading to overcrowding, substandard housing, and public health risks. Today's planners face a complex web of modern obstacles: Urbanization - Our World in Data
: While there were only two megacities (populations over 10 million) in the 1950s—New York and Tokyo—there are now 34 , a number expected to reach 43 by 2030. Challenges for the New Century The Urbanization Revolution: Planning a New Age...
The Urbanization Revolution: Planning a New Age For the first time in human history, over half of the world's population resides in urban areas. This shift marks a profound transition from the "assembly phase" of historical cities to a modern "clean slate" paradigm, signaling the dawn of a new urban age. The Scale of Global Migration This shift marks a profound transition from the
: The UN predicts that the urban population will grow by another 2.5 billion by 2050, reaching approximately 68% of the world's population. Rapid growth has historically outpaced infrastructure
: More than 4 billion people —over 56% of the global population—currently live in cities.