Megacities

San Fernando Valley

Misunderstanding Metros

The vernacular notion of "metro area" or "urban region" may not match up with standard political designations, like municipality, county, state, or city-state. Too bad. Ambiguity and complexity are hallmarks of today's mega-cities.

June 7, 2021 - Common Edge Collaborative

Shanghai China

Population Limits Push Residents Out of Beijing and Shanghai

In top-tier Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing, new population caps have spurred the relocation of residents, many of them low-income, to smaller cities and the outskirts.

March 31, 2018 - The Guardian

Trees and People

Putting a Dollar Value on Urban Trees

According to this study, existing "leafy infrastructure" in ten of the world's largest cities confers an estimated $505 million in benefits. Planting more could magnify the effect.

September 13, 2017 - CityLab

How to Manage the Sprawl in Growing Megacities

Around the world, people continue to move toward urbanized areas in search of opportunity. Developing megacities and megaregions must plan ahead for the continued growth, according to Bloomberg.

September 9, 2017 - Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Beijing Skyline

Beijing Heads Towards Population 130 Million

China's capital city is already one of the largest in the world, but it's about to get a whole lot bigger. As the Chinese population continues to migrate from rural to urban areas, the Chinese government is planning for megacity of 130 million.

August 2, 2015 - New York Times

Chicago Harbor, City Skyline, Illinois

Global Cities Allying with Each Other, Not with Nations

With nation-states often wracked by internal political divides and often unable to cooperate with each other, cities have begun to forge their own international relationships. A new, urban approach to foreign policy is emerging.

July 5, 2015 - Chicago Tribune

Shanghai China

China's Megacities May Soon Rely on Urban Farming

While widespread urban farming remains pipe dream in the United States, dwindling arable land and a mass shift to cities might make it a necessity in China.

March 31, 2015 - designboom

Crowd

What a Megacity with 107 Million People Looks Like—via SimCity

Writing for Motherboard, Derek Mead details what it took for a particularly ambitious SimCity player to build a city of 100 million people.

September 2, 2014 - Motherboard

Hong Kong Towers

Friday Eye Candy: A Photo Critique of Asia's Megacities

Michael Wolf is a 60-year-old German photojournalist living in Hong Kong. In a recent interview, he describes his various projects in capturing the lives of the millions who call Asian megacities home.

May 23, 2014 - Vice

Two young girls carry water on the train tracks that run through the Kibera Slum

Our Fragile Emerging Megacities: A Focus on Resilience

The number of megacities is expected to double over the next decade, and many of these growing cities are far from resilient. The solution: frugal engineering and local knowledge.

February 12, 2014 - Kevin C. Desouza

Mayors’ Conference Crystal Ball: More Megacities, Moderate Economic Growth

The United State Conference of Mayors recently released a report projecting moderate growth for almost all of the country’s metropolitan areas. A survey of coverage on the report reveals multiple readings of the state of the economy.

January 31, 2014 - New Geography

The Rise of the Megacity

Through the lens of Chengdu and Delhi, Paul Webster and Jason Burke explore how the rise of the megacity is changing the way we live.

January 26, 2012 - The Guardian

The Extreme Future of Megacities

Megacities are the future of our planet. Author James Canton offers several visions and strategies to begin planning for them.

December 31, 2011 - Significance

As Cities Grow, Their Definitions Get Murky

As the world continues to urbanize and megacities continue to grow, cities are increasingly "unrecognizable," no longer necessarily, say, places of political power. David Pillings repots on this and other issues challenging the traditional city.

November 6, 2011 - Financial Times

Livability Grows in China's Emerging Megacities

A new breed of developers in China are increasingly trying to make the country's new cities into pleasant, walkable and even environmentally sustainable.

August 18, 2011 - Grist

South Korea Rises

South Korea is emerging as a new center of Asian mega development. With a variety of large-scale and small-scale projects, the country is taking a specific interest in sustainable development.

June 2, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

How Chinese Megacities Avoid Problems

Megacities are quickly on the rise in China. But as this post from New Geography argues, they've managed to avoid problems currently faced by other megacities in developing nations.

May 4, 2011 - New Geography

Slum Appreciation Misguided

The slums of the world's megacities have been the subject of much admiration among urban thinkers recently. Joel Kotkin argues that adulation is misguided.

April 5, 2011 - New Geography

World's Biggest Mall A Ghost Town

A huge mall in China -- the largest in the world -- has just a 1% occupancy rate.

March 10, 2011 - Gadling

Megacity to Install 500,000 Security Cameras

The Chinese megacity of Chongqing has announced plans to install a half a million surveillance cameras by 2012.

March 9, 2011 - Agence France Presse

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.