Menu Close

Articles on Megacities

Displaying 1 - 20 of 21 articles

A market area in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, crowded with people despite the coronavirus pandemic, May 12, 2020. hmed Salahuddin/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Megacity slums are incubators of disease – but coronavirus response isn’t helping the billion people who live in them

COVID-19 is spreading fast through not only the world’s richest cities but also its poorest, ravaging slum areas where risk factors like overcrowding and poverty accelerate disease transmission.
Chilean police clash with anti-government demonstrators during a protest in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 12, 2019. Santiago is one of a dozen cities worldwide to see mass unrest in recent months. AP Photo/Esteban Felix

Urban unrest propels global wave of protests

From Santiago and La Paz to Beirut and Jakarta, many of the cities now gripped by protest share a common problem: They’ve grown too much, too fast.
Severe air pollution can speed up neurodegeneration when the brain is at the peak of its development — during childhood. Pictured here, a child in Beijing. (Shutterstock)

Air pollution in global megacities linked to children’s cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s and death

Investigation of the brains of children and young adults who died suddenly in Mexico City revealed amyloid plaques similar to those found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Indonesia plans to relocate its capital from the sprawling city of Jakarta – and it isn’t the only country with plans to build whole new cities. AsiaTravel/Shutterstock

Indonesia isn’t the only country planning new cities. Why not Australia?

Other countries are planning new cities using technological innovation to achieve more sustainable development. Such plans aren’t new for Australia, but existing city growth is the focus of attention.
Xiong’an represents Xi Jinping’s plan to outdo even the extraordinary rise of Shenzhen (above) from small market town to mega-city in just a few decades. Jerome Favre/EPA/AAP

Xiong'an, Xi Jinping’s new city-making machine turned on

Xiong’an is called China’s No.1 urban project. Orchestrated by President Xi Jinping, the mega-city to be built just over 100 kilometres south of Beijing is also very much a political project.
For a megacity, Tokyo is rich in trees. gillyberlin/flickr

We calculated how much money trees save for your city

In an increasingly urban world, trees can make a major difference. One study found that, for every dollar invested in planting, megacities saw a $2.50 return on their investment.
Metropoles like Shanghai have survived and thrived in large part because of their massive populations. But what happens when people start to become a liability rather than an asset? Reuters/Aly Song

Can the world’s megacities survive the digital age?

Research shows that technology disrupts economies of scale, turning megacities’ huge populations from strength to liability. To survive, megacities, like companies, must adapt.
Historic: weather patterns similar to what’s causing the drought in California are happening in Brazil. Hudsӧn/flickr

Megacity drought: Sao Paulo withers after dry ‘wet season’

The same persistent weather pattern bringing hot, dry conditions to California is likely connected to a punishing drought in the Sao Paulo area in Brazil.

Top contributors

More