2.2 Clearing the Decks: Three Central Ideas
for Understanding the Nexus Between Urbanization,
Development, and Environmental Change
in the Twenty-First Century
2.2.1 Idea I: The Centrality of the Urbanization Process
To begin, I want to emphasize the centrality of the understanding of the urbanization
process in this reformulation of these new intellectual constructs. Five facts underlie
this claim.
1. For the first time in global history, most humans now live in an urbanized world;
it is estimated that the world’s urban population exceeded 50% in 2007 (UNO.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2008).
2. This level of urbanization will grow rapidly until 2050 when it is estimated that
the urban proportion will have increased to between 60% and 70% (UNO.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2008; UNFPA 2007). Indeed, this
transformation will occur at rates far faster than those of previous eras and involve
a much larger volume of population, thus posing major challenges to the need to
develop fast policy responses (Marcotullio and Lee 2003).
3. Most of this urban increase (an estimated 75–80%) will occur in the countries of
the developing world. Some 60% will occur in Asia, much of it in the largest
population giants: India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (Kraas
2007; McGee 2008).
4. These global urban locales at present produce some 70% of GHGs while occupying only 2% of the land areas. In 2003, it was estimated that the developed
countries contributed some 60% of the total world output of GHGs and the
developing countries the remainder (World Resource Institute 2007a, b). Thus,
if the urban regions of the developing world exhibit similar urbanization trajectories as those of the developed countries, their urban growth will contribute
significantly to the world’s global environmental challenges (Angel 2011).
5. It should thus be emphasized that the notions of rural–urban difference that have
dominated thinking about urbanization in the past are no longer valid. This is
because former rural areas are becoming more integrated with urban areas and
produce GHGs due to automobile-dependent transport, industrialization, and
residential sprawl dominating the margins of urban places (McGee 1991).
It is important to understand that this growth in urbanization reflects the determination of the governments of these developing countries to create modern developed states in which megacities are regarded as the central economic engines; their
increased economic integration into the global economy is often discussed under the
rubric of “globalization.”
Implicit in this understanding of the twenty-first century form of globalization is
the fact that this centering of power and wealth on the major mega-urban regions
reflects processes that facilitate this reshaping of global space. I will not linger on this
2 The Management of Urbanization, Development, and Environmental Change in. . .
19
for Understanding the Nexus Between Urbanization,
Development, and Environmental Change
in the Twenty-First Century
2.2.1 Idea I: The Centrality of the Urbanization Process
To begin, I want to emphasize the centrality of the understanding of the urbanization
process in this reformulation of these new intellectual constructs. Five facts underlie
this claim.
1. For the first time in global history, most humans now live in an urbanized world;
it is estimated that the world’s urban population exceeded 50% in 2007 (UNO.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2008).
2. This level of urbanization will grow rapidly until 2050 when it is estimated that
the urban proportion will have increased to between 60% and 70% (UNO.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2008; UNFPA 2007). Indeed, this
transformation will occur at rates far faster than those of previous eras and involve
a much larger volume of population, thus posing major challenges to the need to
develop fast policy responses (Marcotullio and Lee 2003).
3. Most of this urban increase (an estimated 75–80%) will occur in the countries of
the developing world. Some 60% will occur in Asia, much of it in the largest
population giants: India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (Kraas
2007; McGee 2008).
4. These global urban locales at present produce some 70% of GHGs while occupying only 2% of the land areas. In 2003, it was estimated that the developed
countries contributed some 60% of the total world output of GHGs and the
developing countries the remainder (World Resource Institute 2007a, b). Thus,
if the urban regions of the developing world exhibit similar urbanization trajectories as those of the developed countries, their urban growth will contribute
significantly to the world’s global environmental challenges (Angel 2011).
5. It should thus be emphasized that the notions of rural–urban difference that have
dominated thinking about urbanization in the past are no longer valid. This is
because former rural areas are becoming more integrated with urban areas and
produce GHGs due to automobile-dependent transport, industrialization, and
residential sprawl dominating the margins of urban places (McGee 1991).
It is important to understand that this growth in urbanization reflects the determination of the governments of these developing countries to create modern developed states in which megacities are regarded as the central economic engines; their
increased economic integration into the global economy is often discussed under the
rubric of “globalization.”
Implicit in this understanding of the twenty-first century form of globalization is
the fact that this centering of power and wealth on the major mega-urban regions
reflects processes that facilitate this reshaping of global space. I will not linger on this
2 The Management of Urbanization, Development, and Environmental Change in. . .
19