{"id":1004407213,"date":"2020-04-08T06:09:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T14:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004407213"},"modified":"2020-04-29T00:17:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T08:17:36","slug":"top-15-fastest-growing-megacities-whats-changing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/top-15-fastest-growing-megacities-whats-changing\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 15 Fastest-Growing Megacities: What’s Changing?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tokyo. Image by Marvin Ronsdorf via Unsplash<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Nowadays, more people live in urban areas than ever before. Hosting at least 10 million residents each, megacities are the result of rapidly expanding urban areas seeking to accommodate ever-growing populations.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s biggest cities are expanding at an unprecedented rate, with 11 of the 30 biggest cities each adding more than 10 million residents between 1975 and 2014, according to researchers at Birmingham and Sheffield universities in the U.K. Dr. Charlotte Hoole, Dr. Stephen Hincks and Prof. Alasdair Rae discovered striking facts about 30 global, giant urban agglomerations by analyzing the cities’ population growth and density<\/a> over the past four decades.<\/p>\n

The researchers studied Global Human Settlement Layer data, a tool supported by the European Commission and used for assessing human presence on the planet. Using this, they managed to reveal important patterns of population change in the largest cities. “The overall message is that the world is becoming more urban more quickly, so policymakers need to prepare, plan and prevent problems with a careful strategy,”<\/em> Hoole told Commercial Property Executive<\/em>. <\/p>\n

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READ ALSO: <\/strong>CPE\u2019s Coronavirus Coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

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People move to large cities for well-paying jobs, renowned educational institutions or purely for a better quality of life. However, according to the research, the rate of urbanization<\/a> is often unsustainable and undesirable. According to the United Nations\u2019 New Urban Agenda, rapid and large-scale urban growth can cause major problems in areas such as housing, infrastructure, basic services, food security, education and health. So, if we add a pandemic to the mix, the economic benefits of living in a megacity suddenly start to turn pale. <\/p>\n

“Migration towards large urban areas is more likely to continue in those economies where the technology is not in place to support remote working or where the macro impact is significant enough to intensify the pressure on marginal business activities,” <\/em>RICS Chief Economist Simon Rubinsohn said. <\/p>\n

What is the fastest-growing megacity?<\/h2>\n

As of 1975, the most populous of all urban agglomerations was Tokyo, with approximately 23 million residents, followed by Kolkata, India, with nearly 17 million, the research shows. By 2014, there were 12 megacities with a population of 20 million or more and Guangzhou-Shenzhen in China ranked as the most populous.<\/p>\n

With more than 46 million residents living in the region, Guangzhou-Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta area are considered a “megaregion.” Between 1975 and 1990, and again from 2000 to 2014, this urban agglomeration added more than 10 million people. These levels of absolute growth in the global South are in stark contrast to urban population increases in the global West\u2014 in the same period, Paris increased its population by only 2 million, New York City by 2.2 million, London by 2.9 million and Los Angeles by 3.6 million.<\/p>\n