Ó 3v2p49 Urbanisation Look at the pictures. What changes can you see? Read the introduction to the article about urbanisation. Why do you think so many people around the world are going to live in cities? 1 Reading a Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, 2002 Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, 2017 b 1 Life in cities will be very different from how it is perhaps today. Energy, especially oil, will be very expensive, so many people will probably work at home, or have their workplaces close to where they live. There’ll be less traffic on the roads, and it’ll be easier for people to be close to their families. For these reasons cities won’t have just one centre where everyone goes to work and shop. Instead, we’ll probably see cities with many different centres. People will probably walk and cycle more than they do today, so there might also be health benefits. 2 It will be difficult to provide enough water, gas and electricity for really big cities, so these will probably stop growing. Many people from the countryside will move to smaller cities of 500,000 people or less. Transport over long distances will be a lot more expensive than it is now, so people will have to use food and energy from the countryside around their cities. This will have positive and negative effects. We will probably reduce pollution caused by transport, for example, but we might find it difficult to buy oranges in northern Europe. As transport costs increase, people will also use local materials for building and perhaps go back to traditional styles of architecture too. 3 The thing I really worry about is that energy may become too expensive for many people. Smart electricity meters might help, but they could also cause privacy issues. In the end we might have two groups of people: a rich group which can afford energy and lives in clean, green areas, and a bigger, poorer group which can’t afford it and has to live in the more polluted parts of the city. This might lead to serious political problems. 4 As we all know, cities near the sea will probably experience some extra problems. As temperatures around the world go up, sea levels will rise and many places will have problems with flooding. Some cities will be OK, some may even find that the change in the climate is good for them, but others will need help. We really need to start planning for this now. We’re already experiencing the possible effects in places as far apart as New Orleans, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Viewpoint – The urban world in 2050 In 1900, just 13 percent of the world’s people lived in cities. In 2008, the number passed 50 percent for the first time in history. By 2050, the number will be about 70 percent. The urban population in Asia and Africa will double, and there will be at least 30 ‘megacities’ – cities with more than 10 million people – in Asia alone. So what will life be like for people in the cities of the future? Professor of human geography Ben Rhodes describes his vision of the urban world in 2050. 42 4 Unit City life get and give information in a tourist office talk about office work describe a place Goals make guesses and predictions make recommendations get and give directions Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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