Today, cities are growing at an unprecedented speed. In emerging economies, the urban population is expected to double within the next 15 years or so, adding 2 billion more people, says this year’s Urban Development Overview by World Bank.
Built-up urban areas are expected to increase by 1.2 million square kilometers, nearly tripling the global land area. But is it all for the better? Like any global trend, this one seems to have two sides. Given that more than 80 percent of global GDP is generated in cities, urbanization can promote sustainable growth by increased productivity, innovation, saved energy, land and natural resources. On the other hand, rapid urbanization brings big issues like accelerated demand for basic services, including infrastructure, jobs, land, affordable housing and many others.
One of the greatest problems in mega cities, like London, New York, San Francisco has been over-regulated property markets that have pushed up prices and squeezed out the middle classes. Many cities fail to get the infrastructure right, while crime and educational failure can be rife.
Mega-cities in the emerging world, where almost all of the population growth and urbanization is being concentrated, suffer especially badly from such intractable problems.
“We’re seeing a huge gap between developing countries and developed ones… I’ve travelled to the U.S., Britain, Germany and other European countries as well as countries in Latin America, and I’d point out the difference, first of all, between safe neighborhood and unsafe neighborhood,” says Alexander Petrov, a Professor at Russian Academy of Sciences.
So, where does Russia stand in this respect?
“I think that Russia stands very close to the developed countries, in my opinion, because we have the heritage of the Soviet Union, and we don’t really have such phenomena as unsafe areas… But we also have rather poor infrastructure even in the center of big cities, like Siberian cities or Russia’s Far East,” Alexander Petrov said.
There is no doubt cities are where the action lies, even though many people find the countryside a more pleasant place in which to reside. But as people move to cities in search of education, jobs and better living standards, local institutions are struggling to provide the type of infrastructure that can help both cities and new city dwellers deal with the pressure.
