The Steep Curve to Peak Urban
The century from 1980 to 2080 will be a period of rapid urban expansion that strains housing and planning capacity around the world. Then comes population decline, and an uncertain future.
The city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to be one of the largest cities in the world in 2080, with more than 63 million people.
Photographer: Lisa Murray/BloombergFor as long as all of us alive today can remember, the world has been getting more urban.
The human tendency to congregate and settle in clusters began more than 6,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, where the discovery of a “fertile crescent” of land presented a viable alternative to the nomadic way of life. As humans seized the economic and social benefits of proximity, the trend toward urbanization has accelerated, more or less, ever since.