Notable for their vast size, contemporary cities also exhibit another important attribute: they are connected in transnational networks. There is a link between urban transformation and the emergence of a new form of global political order. These problems face cities in the developed world, but they are even more pressing in the global south, where the opening up of cities to global economic forces has been a recipe for the production of gigantic mega-slums. The environmental footprints of such cities are gigantic: urban areas consume about 75% of the world’s energy and produce up to 80% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Human settlement on this scale brings with it enormous challenges in practical everyday issues, such as the management of waste and the protection of public health, the construction and maintenance of transport networks, and the provision of housing. Such mega-cities present problems that would have been unimaginable in the earlier epoch of Victorian industrial urbanisation. In the decade between 19 alone there was a 30% increase in the size of urban settlements in the developed world and a 50% increase in the developing world. UN-HABITAT has documented how the number of cities in the world with populations greater than 1 milllion increased from 75 in 1950 to 447 in 2011, while during the same period, the average size of the world’s 100 largest cities increased from 2 to 7.6 million. Concentrated into just 2% of the world’s surface, the great urban hubs now hold half of the world’s population, and it is estimated that by 2050 over 75% of the world’s population will live in cities. The rural world of yesterday has been uprooted, as populations have either been drawn from the land to seek the opportunities that only city life can offer, or pushed out from traditional agricultural occupations by a combination of technological advance and structural adjustment programmes. One clear marker of urban transformation has been the sheer scale of contemporary cities. These changes have been widely noted, but what is less often remarked upon is that there is a link between urban transformation and the emergence of a new form of global political order. New urban forms have emerged that possess unique features and characteristics that mark them apart from earlier forms of cities. Over the course of the last four decades a remarkable transformation has taken place in cities around the world. These developments point to the crucial role that cities will play in the future of global politics. ![]() Below, Simon Curtis argues that as components of a nascent global order, cities have been endowed with new capacities, and are taking on new governance roles. What is less often remarked upon is that the relative empowerment of cities is rooted in a wider transformation of international political order. The remarkable transformation of the world’s major cities over recent decades has been widely noted as being driven by a restructuring of the global economy. Special Report: How to Lead the Changing Japan.
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