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English
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CHPATER 9
THE URBAN CHALLANGE
1. By the turn of the century, almost half the world will live in urban areas - from small towns to huge megacities.[1] The World's economic system is increasingly an urban one, with overlapping networks of communications, production, and trade.[2] This system, with its flows of information, energy, capital, commerce, and people, provides the backbone for national development. A city's prospects – or a town's – depend critically on its place within the urban system, national and international. So does the fate of the hinterland, with its agricultural, forestry, and mining. on which the urban system depends.
2. In many nations, certain kinds of industries and service enterprises are now being developed in rural areas. But they receive high-quality infrastructure and services, with advanced telecommunications systems ensuring that their activities are part of the national (and global) urban-industrial system. In effect, the countryside is being 'urbanized'
| 1950 | 1985 | 2000 | |
| World Total | 29.2 | 41.0 | 46.6 |
| More Developed Regions | 53.8 | 71.5 | 74.4 |
| Less Developed Regions | 17.0 | 31.2 | 39.3 |
| Africa | 15.7 | 29.7 | 39.0 |
| Latin America | 41.0 | 69.0 | 76.8 |
| (Temperate South America) | (64.8) | (84.3) | (88.6) |
| (Tropical South America) | (35.9) | (70.4) | (79.4) |
| Asia | 16.4 | 28.1 | 35.0 |
| (China) | (11.0) | (20.6) | (25.1) |
| (India) | (17.3) | (25.5) | (34.2) |
| (in Millions) | |||
| World Total | 734.2 | 1982.8 | 2853.6 |
| More Developed Regions | 447.3 | 838.8 | 949.9 |
| Less Developed Regions | 1144.0 | 1903.7 | |
| Africa | 35.2 | 164.5 | 340.0 |
| Latin America | 67.6 | 279.3 | 419.7 |
| Asia | 225.8 | 791.1 | 1242.4 |
| Source: 'Urban and Rural Population Projections. 1984 Unofficial Assessment', Population Division. United Nations, New York. | |||
- ↑ This chapter draws heavily on four background papers prepared for WCED: 1. Burton, 'Urbanization and Development'. 1985; J.E. Hardoy and D. Satterthwaite, 'Shelter. Infrastructure and Services in Third World Cities', 1985 (printed in Habitat International, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1986); J.E. Hardoy and D. Satterthwaite, 'Rethinking the Third World City, 1986: and I Sachs, 'Human Settlements: Resource and Environmental Management', 1985.
- ↑ See J. Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations (New York: Random House, 1984).
