What will our growing megacities really look like

Consider the world's largest cities. the metropolises. giants with populations exceeding 10 million.

Of course, Tokyo will be on your list. Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City, New York, and Cairo are similar. Possibly Lagos, Jakarta, and Chongqing if you take pride in maintaining a current understanding of world geography

However Chengdu? Hyderabad? Luanda?

The UN projects that between now and 2030, ten cities will surpass the 10 million population mark, bringing the total number of megacities to 43.

The most obvious indication of the accelerating global trend toward urbanization is the increase in the number of megacities. Only 751 million people, or less than one-third of the world's population, lived in cities in 1950. Two only (New York and Tokyo) had a population of more than 10 million people. Today, 4.2 billion people—or 55% of the world's population—live in cities. That percentage is projected to increase to 68% in another generation, potentially bringing an additional 2.5 billion people to already crowded cities.

The majority of that transition to urban areas will occur in Asia and Africa. That is partially due to other regions' extremely high rates of urbanization; four out of every five people in the Americas and 75 percent of Europeans already reside in cities. In contrast, only 50% of people in Asia live in cities, and most people in Africa still live in rural areas.

But things are quickly changing. Currently, 22 of the 33 cities in the world with a population of more than 10 million are found in Asia and Africa, as are all but one of the 10 cities that will join them by the year 2030.

By 2050, India will experience the highest growth, adding 416 million new urban residents. By 2028, Delhi will surpass Tokyo as the world's most populous city, and by 2030, it will have 39 million residents. Hyderabad and Ahmedabad will have joined the current megacities of Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Chennai by then.

With Chengdu and Nanjing, China will add two more megacities to the six that already have populations greater than ten million (Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen).

However, the growth of Asia is not just limited to China and India. By 2030, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is expected to have a staggering 28 million residents, making it the fourth-largest city in the world. Pakistan's Karachi and Lahore will move up the rankings

Manila and Jakarta will experience significant population increases. Seoul and Ho Chi Minh City will be among the new megacities, and Tehran will surpass 10 million residents.

Japan's aging population is a notable exception to Asia's population growth. Osaka was second only to Tokyo twenty years ago. However, the metropolitan area's population, which peaked at 19 million, is currently declining. It will no longer be in the top 10 at all by 2030.

Africa has the most potential for change because of its large rural population. The largest city on the continent will always be Cairo. However, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will catch up to Lagos within the next ten years and is on track to crack the top ten cities in the world. The population of Luanda, the capital of Angola, will more than double to nearly 15 million. Another upcoming megacity, Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, is expanding by 500,000 people annually.

Surprisingly, the Americas are not expected to see any new megacities. The fourth and fifth largest cities in the world right now are Sao Paulo and Mexico City. But by 2030, they'll both have slipped to ninth and eighth places, respectively, each still a thriving, expanding metropolis but unable to compete with the others.

but not the extraordinarily rapid growth anticipated in Asia and Africa. Six of the top 20 cities in the world were located in the United States in 1950. It will only have one by 2030, New York.

The greatest number of cities in Europe have experienced population declines (particularly in Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine). But it also contains the only region outside of Asia and Africa where megacities are expected to emerge by 2030. Not Moscow, Paris, or Istanbul because they are already on the list. Nearly 200 years after it ceased to be the world's most populous city and during a period of decline in the second half of the 20th century, London is once more experiencing rapid growth.

Megacities around the world face a wide range of challenges, including countless numbers of people move into regions that frequently struggle to support their current populations. Innovative solutions are needed for housing, pollution, transportation, infrastructure, inequality, and social cohesion.

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