Abstract
Rapid urbanisation is one of the arresting features of late-twentieth- and early-twentyfirst-century human development. The commonly cited statistic of the UN Development Programme, signaling as of 2008 that 50 per cent of the world’s human population now resides in cities and towns,1 marks a monumental relocation of people away from rural and small settlements towards dense and bustling metropolitan centres. The vast majority of this migration has taken place away from the famed “global cities” of New York, London, Paris and Tokyo and the emergent East Asian global centres of Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing. Rapidly growing cities are instead often those that remain relatively anonymous and invisible to the global gaze. The City Mayors website catalogues the fastest-growing urban areas in the world, measured by population; leading in percentile terms are cities such as Beihai, Gaziabad and Sana’a.2 Of the top 100 catalogued, only two are part of the recognisably “developed” world: Austin and Atlanta, markers of the US’ internal economic migratory patterns. Similar patterns emerge when measured by rates of economic growth; again, inconspicuous cities feature heavily. According to the Brookings Institute, drawing from a sample of 300 metropolitan areas, Macau, Izmir, Istanbul, Bursa and Dubai recorded the highest combined rates of GDP per capita and employment growth in 2014. 3 Of the top 30 metro areas, the only “developed” city to feature is London (26th). Reflecting a form of urban diasporic migration from prominent centres to lesser known satellites such as Kunming, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Fuzhou, China houses the majority of the remaining cities.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Children's Rights and Sustainable Development: Interpreting the UNCRC for Future Generations |
Editors | Claire Fenton-Glynn |
Place of Publication | U.K. |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 337-360 |
Number of pages | 24 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781108125796 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781107193024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- children's rights
- sustainable development
- urbanization