The world goes to town
The World has just passed an important landmark in the history of humanity when more than half the world population are living in urban areas. This trend will continue and by 2030, urban populations are expected to grow by another 2 billion. Africa will add almost 400 million urban residents, China 350 million and India 270 million. Urban areas could be the place for human dignity with positive impact on poverty alleviation and prevention if the potential of cities is materialized, but they could also be centres of human disasters.