The World Is Hurtling Toward Peak Urban Population
Also today: Gig drivers in Indonesia warn of mass protest, and Chicago schools return to the municipal bond market.
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.
The global urban population is projected to peak by 2080, with 9.2 billion people — or about 90% of the world’s inhabitants — expected to be living in cities, according to the United Nations. In the century leading up to that year, a rapid urban expansion will continue to strain governments’ capacity to keep up in terms housing and planning capacity. New cities will emerge, while existing small cities and towns will see some of the fastest growth.
Then comes population decline, the pace of which remains unclear. In a new perspective, contributors Greg Clark, Borane Gille and Jennifer Dolynchuk — creators of the podcast Century of Cities — take a look at the data on urban population growth around the world, and explore how cities can prepare. Today on CityLab: The Steep Curve to Peak Urban