Urban populations to double by 2030, U.N. says

According to a report released by the United Nations Wednesday, estimates now indicate that urban population growth will double by 2030, the Independent reported the same day. As urbanization and population continue to increase, experts believe that shanty towns will expand to accommodate the growth.

For the first time in human history, the dominant trend of rural living will be replaced by city dwelling. “The growth of cities will be the single largest influence on development in the 21st century,” the U.N. report stated. Over the next 30 years, the population of African and Asian cities will double, adding 1.7 billion people.

Population expert Mike Davis described this drastic shift in demography in “Planet of Slums” as: “A billion-strong global proletariat ejected from the formal economy, with Islam and Pentecostalism as songs for the dispossessed.”

George Martine, a demographer and the author of the U.N. report, said: “The urbanisation is jolting mentalities and subjecting them to new influences. This is a historical situation. And now one of the ways for people to reorganise themselves in this urban world is to associate themselves with new or strong, fundamentalist religion.” He added, “It’s pointless trying to control urban growth by stopping migration. It doesn't work. We have to change mindsets and take a different stance. We’re at a crossroads and can still make decisions which will make cities sustainable. If we don’t make the right decisions the result will be chaos.”

By 2008, more than half of the world’s population will reside in cities.

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