習近平(2012年11月15日就職中共總書記談話)：
「我們的人民熱愛生活，期盼有更好的教育、更穩定的工作、更滿意的收入、更可靠的社會保障、更高水平的醫療衛生服務、更舒適的居住條件、更優美的環境，期盼著孩子們能成長得更好、工作得更好、生活得更好。人民對美好生活的向往，就是我們的奮鬥目標。」
Worldwatch: The 10 Fastest Growing Megacities In The World
The fastest growing megacities in the world. 1: Karachi, Pakistan.
As the world’s population rapidly moves into urban areas, the world’s
largest cities are growing explosively--and almost all that growth is
happening in the developing world.
The world’s population is rapidly moving into city centers; by 2050,
seven out of every 10 people on Earth will live in a city. But not
every city will be a megacity--defined as an urban area with over 10
million inhabitants--and not every megacity is equally large.
Every year, Demographia
releases a comprehensive list of the population, land area, and
population density of urban areas with over 500,000 inhabitants. It’s a
huge list, as you might imagine. But in looking at the top 10 urban
areas by population, some clear patterns emerge. Below, the list.
The United States and Europe are distinctly absent from the list,
with the exception of the New York metropolitan area. If you scroll
through the entire Demographia list (warning: it’s extremely long),
you’ll notice that the pattern continues: the vast majority of the
world’s biggest megacities are in the developing world, and, as New Geography points out, the fastest-growing megacities are also in developing nations.
You can see this clearly in McKinsey’s Urban World app, which examines how population levels (and other factors) in cities will change by 2025.
New Geography concludes that "the most rapid growth is taking place
in countries that still have large rural hinterlands and relatively
young populations. These mostly poor places-- most with median incomes
between Dhaka at $3,100 per capita and Bangkok at $23,000--will continue
to grow, at least until their populations begin to see the results of
decreasing birthrates." These places may be poor, but according to
McKinsey, 440 big cities in emerging economies will make up half of the
planet’s economic growth by 2025.
In other words, the U.S. will probably matter less and less as time goes by.
[IMAGES via Shutterstock]
Ariel Schwartz is a Senior Editor at Co.Exist. She has
contributed to SF Weekly, Popular Science, Inhabitat, Greenbiz, NBC Bay
Area, GOOD Magazine and more.
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