1. Overview.
2. Network of factors.
3. Positive factors.
3.1. Market.
3.2. Jobs.
3.3. Trade.
3.4. Infrastructure.
Infrastructure.
Facilities.
Ever since the dawn of civilisation, have been agglomerating into dense settlements.
Since then these settlements, have been growing in size, population and density.
We now call them cities.
The denizen of these cities, constitute the urban population of the world.
The urban population has been steadily growing, for more than 5000 years.
In the beginning of the 17th century 1 % of the population lived in cities.
We will consider urban agglomerations as cities.
In 2016, 55% of the population lived in urban areas.
By 2030, 60% of the population, which is about 5 billion people will live in urban areas.
By 2050, it is projected that more than 70% of the people will live in urban areas.
There are now about 1700 cities with a population of more than 300 thousand.
By 2030,
More than 2000 cities will have less than half million people with 2.2 billion inhabitants.
731 cities will have half to 1 million people, with a total of 509 million inhabitants.
558 cities will have 1 to 5 million people, with a total of 1.1 billion inhabitants.
63 cities will have more than 5 to 10 million people, with a total of 434 million inhabitants.
41 cities will have more than 10 million people, with a total of 730 million inhabitants.
Cities with more than 10 million people are called megacities.
In 2016 there were 31 megacities.
10 of them will become megacities, increasing the number of megacities, to 41 in 2030.
Tokyo will be the largest city in 2030 with 37 million inhabitants.
This will be followed by Delhi with 36 million inhabitants.
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In the next 40 years we need to build as much city space, as we did in the last 4000 years.
20% of people live in slums.
3 million people are moving to cities every week.
3% of surface area.
70% of energy.
80% of green house gases.
4.5 b out of 7.3 b = no sanitation.
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A network of positive factors motivate humans to agglomerate in cities.
There is also a network of negative factors, which may motivate people to disperse from city life.
One of the earliest attraction of the city, was the availability of a market.
Farmers used to bring produce, to sell in the cities.
Craftsmen used to find clients for their wares.
Even today manufacturers of products, and providers of service,
find a ready market in cities.
The easy availability of goods in cities, attracts people to cities.
Availability of jobs attracts people to cities.
Earlier, kings used to maintain their armies in the cities.
This attracted people in search of employment, to come to cities.
Today a wide variety and number of jobs, attracts people to cities.
After the industrial revolution many factories sprung up to produce goods.
These factories created a large number of jobs.
Many cities sprung up, or grew around factories.
When a city grows in population, there is a market for other facilities.
All these facilities came up in cities.
They in turn created many more jobs.
This factor of jobs creating more jobs, strongly influenced the growth of cities.
Trade also influence the birth and growth of cities.
Initially trade was carried out in land routes.
Cities located in important trade routes, flourished.
The classic example, is the silk road, which connects the eastern part of the world,
to the western part of the world.
Istanbul strategically located at the meeting point of the eastern and western world,
benefited enormously from the trade between the two worlds.
With the development of sailing ships, and navigational skills,
ports became an important centre for trade.
Many cities grew around important ports, around the world.
It becomes economically more viable, to create infrastructure,
when a community grows to a particular size.
Roads, piped water, drainage, electricity, communication facilities,
are some examples of infrastructure, that cities developed.
This increase the quality of life in cities.
This in turn attracted more people to cities.
A strong attraction to cities is the availability of common facilities.
For example, a community has to be of a certain size to support a school.
Even today, rural children trek several kilometers to reach a school,
in a nearby town.
People who prefer to settle in a place, which has schools to take care of their children's education.
The same is true for many other facilities.
A modern city has a host of different facilities.
A railway station, a hospital, shopping malls, variety of restaurants, specialised doctors,
other professionals, an airport, specialised colleges, concert halls, sports stadiums, etc.
This wide variety of facilities acts as a strong magnet for people, to settle in cities.
When designing future organic cities, we need to retain the basic positive factors,
which attract people to cities.