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T
he World Cities Report (WCR) 2016
‘Urbanization and Development: Emerging
Futures’
1
, estimated that currently, 54%
of the Earth’s 7.6 billion population reside
in cities. And the pace of urbanisation is increasing
exponentially. It is expected that by 2050 this number
will increase to 70% due to rapid urbanising trends.
The main advantage of
urbanisation is that it fosters
growth,
and
is
generally
associated
with
greater
productivity, opportunities and
quality of life for all. People flock
to the cities since it harnesses
the human and technological
resources
that
result
in
improved productivity, societal
development, innovation and
economic growth. The WCR
reported that the top 600
cities, with a fifth of the world’s
population, produce 60 percent
of global gross domestic product
(GDP).
While
it
is
generally
acknowledged that urbanisation
has the potential to accelerate
the socioeconomic growth of countries, cities often also
become sites of poverty, inequality and environmental
degradation due to the rapid, unplanned and unmanaged
nature of urbanisation. The reason for this is that many
cities around the world are grossly unprepared for the
multi-dimensional challenges, as shown in Figure 1,
that are associated with urbanisation.
Cover Story
ICT coupled with careful planning and management of urban
areas can alleviate global poverty, increase socioeconomic
prosperity and enhance human wellbeing.
1 World Cities Report 2016 ‘Urbanization and Development: Emerging Futures’, UN-Habitat
Aisharuddin bin Nuruddin
[email protected]Norzailah Mohd Yusoff
[email protected]ICT
For
Sustainable
Urban
Development
Figure 1: Persistent issues and emerging urban challenges due to increased urban
population
Source: World Cities Report 2016 ‘Urbanisation and Development: Emerging Futures’,
UN-Habitat
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