Urbanization has led to what are known as mega-cities, cities with a population of over 10 million people. These mega-cities have become so large that they often lead to terrible pollution, traffic, and extreme poverty.
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Global news with a spatial perspective: Interesting, current supplemental materials for geography students and teachers. http://geographyeducation.org
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Seth Dixon's insight:
Over half the global population lives in cities, and the problems confronting these megacities will loom large for future sustainability issues--both at local and global scales. This list ranks the cities by city limits and governance jurisdiction (not by the expanded metropolitan area). Tags: urban, megacities, sustainability, unit 7 cities. Delete the scoop?
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A boom and social change are pitting young working women in the city against men from conservative villages.
Seth Dixon's insight:
The recent resurgence of this issue had me looking through the archives and stumbled upon this 2011 article. As urban expansion is booming in many Indian cities, the modern city expands into the countryside. The cultural values of these two demographic groups are quite distinct. Young, educated women are part of the modern cities' workforce but in many conservative, traditional Indian villages, women working outside the home are seen as "lacking in virtue." In many of the recent gang rape cases, the perpetrators are less educated young men from surrounding villages and the victims are well-educated young working women that are a part of the new city. Public spaces, especially at night, are seen as masculine spaces in most traditional societies. One of the mothers of an accused rapist succinctly explained this mindset thusly: "If these girls roam around openly like this, then the boys will make mistakes." This is seen as 'Eve teasing,' where women are perceived as responsible for the violence committed against them to maintain social order. As another article hints, the outrage that this incident ignited could lead towards long-term change in Indian society. This other NY Times article op-ed states, "India must work on changing a culture in which women are routinely devalued. Many are betrothed against their will as child brides, and many suffer cruelly, including acid attacks and burning, at the hands of husbands and family members. India, a rising economic power and the world’s largest democracy, can never reach its full potential if half its population lives in fear of unspeakable violence." Tags: India, migration, South Asia, culture, urban, folk culture, megacities. Delete the scoop?
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By 2025, the developing world will be home to 29 megacities. Through this interactive mapping feature with rich call-out boxes, the reader can explore the latest UN estimates and forecasts on the growth of megacities (urban areas with over 10 million residents). These 'cities on steroids' have been growing tremendously since the 1950s and present a unique set of geographic challenges and opportunities for their residents. Tags: urban, megacities.
Seth Dixon's insight:
Download the data yourself as a CSV file and your can import this into ArcExplorer or ArcMap and symbolize your map with any of the columns in the dataset. 
Matt Mallinson's comment,
November 19, 2012 10:27 AM
If that's what is predicted for 2025, how populated will our world be by 2050? Scary to think about.
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Patrick assesses the future of world order, state sovereignty, and multilateral cooperation.
The 21st century is the dawn of a new era in human history: more people on Earth live in cities than in the countryside. The impacts of this new basic fact are far-reaching. One of those is that cities that are in particular environments are more prone to certain natural disasters and will be increasingly vulnerable as their populations increase (especially megacities in the developing world). Delete the scoop?
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In urban centers around the country, local governments are looking to attract emerging industries and the next generation of entrepreneurs.
This video shows a panel of urbanists presenting at the Aspen Ideas Festival. The panelists specialize in revitalizing cities and creating economically and culturally vibrant urban centers. They focus not on public policy, but rather finding ways to implement the locally produced ideas of people from the neighborhood with an intimate knowledge of the community as well as a vested in strengthening the local networks. They also highlight the arts, sense of place and the culture of a neighborhood as key components create attractive cities.
More videos from the Apsen Ideas Festival on urbanism, see: http://www.aspenideas.org/session/advice-megacity Delete the scoop?
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A five-part, multimedia series on the coming dystopia that is urbanization.
This is a great introduction to the explosion of the slums within megacities. This video as a part of the article is especially useful. Click on the title to read the accompanying article. 
Kyle Toner's comment,
November 13, 2012 12:46 PM
Dhaka's population is exploding, leaving many people living in the slums with very little resources or ways to make money for food. With the population growing, and natural disasters like flooding many people are in trouble.
Crissy Borton's curator insight,
December 11, 2012 10:51 PM
People are leaving the rural areas to move to Dhaka in hopes of a better life. However the slums they move to do not have running water or electricity. It looks as though they are living in garbage dumb. It is sad that this is better for them. It is also surprising that the mayor has no control over the city that the national government is in charge. 
Brian Nicoll's curator insight,
December 12, 2012 1:26 AM
A few things really stood out to me in this video. First off, the idea that people are moving into Dhaka for a better life, when in reality they are moving into slum life with no electricity or running water is very alarming. It begs the question of whether or not moving to this megacity is really worth it. The second thing that I was a bit surprised by was the fact that the mayor has pretty much no control over the city. The city is overseen by the national government. To think that urbanization has gained so much ground and continues to gain more ground is astounding. Delete the scoop?
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The rapid increase in the number of cities home to more than 10 million people will bring huge challenges … and opportunities...
It's not just that more people now live in cities than in the rural countryside (for the first time in human history). It's not just that major cities are growing increasingly more important to the global economy. The rise of the megacities (cities over 10 million inhabitants) is a startling new phenomenon that really is something we've only seen in the last 50 years or so with the expectation that the number of megacities will double in the next 10 to 20 years (currently there are 23). This reorganization of population entails wholesale restructuring of the economic, environmental, cultural and political networks. The urban challenges that we face today are only going to become increasingly important in the future.
Mary Burke's comment,
April 14, 8:48 PM
People with little money are attracted to the cities. They realize it's easier to get to what you need when everything you need is all in one place. It could be good thing if the infrastructure keeps up with the growth in population.
Brett Sinica's comment,
April 25, 4:19 PM
These megacities are clearly a topic of the present, and especially future. Within the past 5 decades, there has been an outstanding addition to the amount of cities with more than 10 million people. First it was New York City, but to date there are at least 28 across the world and they will certainly continue to grow, and fast. I see these cities as a place of opportunity and options, where people can come alone or with families and make a living. The best part of urban dwelling is everything is in close proximity and usually in walking distance. Though there is a downside to all of the convenience that comes within the cities. Density can become a problem to where there are just simply too many people and this forms congestion, pollution and other spatial and environmental hazards. On the outside looking into these cities, we see expansion and possible revitalization; take Chengdu in China as an example. There are people who have lived here forever, and with a growing city, comes expansion of already- built land which can lead to gentrification. I’m sure the current citizens aren’t too fond of all the building and additions to a place they once knew, and are now being redone to accommodate foreign people of rural and other areas. Though it’s great to modernize infrastructure and a sense of place, sometimes these cities are better off being left alone. Population has to be spread out more, and people have to realize that flocking to a city which may pose great advancement in a short amount of time can also be a hidden hazard for the future.
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This article links the growing global population with the rise of megacities in the developing world.
The largest megacities are: 1. Tokyo 32.5 million 2. Seoul 20.6 m 3. Mexico City 20.5 m 4. New York 19.8 m 5. Mumbai 19.2 m 6. Jakarta 18.9 m 7. Sao Paulo 18.8 m 8. Delhi 18.6 m 9. Shanghai 16.7 m 10. Manila 16.3 m Delete the scoop?
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Read the Transcript: http://to.pbs.org/b6sR86 The capital of the South Asian country Bangladesh, Dhaka, has a population that is booming. However, it stands ...
Seth Dixon's insight:
This is a great introduction to the demographic explosion of the slums within megacities. This is applicable to many themes within geography. Tags: Bangladesh, water, pollution, poverty, squatter, planning, density, South Asia, development, economic, megacities. 
Lauren Jacquez's curator insight,
April 8, 9:00 PM
Another look at a growing megacity and its shantytowns. 
Chris Magee's comment,
April 28, 3:40 PM
As Tony Hall says, this is a very sobering and educating video. This shows how much a population boom and high birth rate can create problems for a developing country. With all of the people there it is hard for enough jobs to be available and most are forced to work for pennies. The migration to Dhaka, about 4000 people a year, can create a huge issue for the city in the future as we have seen how extremely dense populations can effect a city.
These changes will shape the country for many years to come. The political geography will have to adapt to the booming population. How will new policies be put into effect to handle this growing population? The population will become more diverse and less unified as it is taking in new people from many neighboring cities. 
Peter Siner's comment,
April 30, 5:37 PM
A city that is home to 15 million people… this is a scary thought especially since the idea of massively overpopulated cities is a new trend around the globe. The megacities help house those who cannot live in the rural areas surrounding them. It also shows how growing populations can have quite negative effects. While the city is growing quickly there is also widespread poverty and the city is riddled with slums. High poverty rate generally converts to high crime rate. The impacts of overpopulation have lasting effects on not only the land use but also consumption rates. The example we are given is a small family in which their income was based off of a farm that was washed away, now they are forced to move to Dhaka.
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Explore the cities and emerging urban clusters that will drive dramatic growth and demographic changes over the next generation. A McKinsey Quarterly Economic Studies article. In the next 13 years, 600 cities will account for nearly 65 percent of global GDP growth. That is reason enough to explore this global dataset with over 2,600 metropolitan areas. Delete the scoop?
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From TD-architects Theo Deutinger Rotterdam.
Rome was the first city with one million residents, with that occuring in 5 BC. Over a thousand years later, London and Beijing joined that group as industrialization became the impetus for wide-scale urbanization. Today we are seeing an explosion of "million cities" throughout the world. Tags: urban, megacities, unit 7 cities. 
Seth Dixon's comment,
September 21, 2012 1:51 PM
The data is from 2006, so it's a little dated, but still useful.
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mixed used train-tracks/market place...
I've used similar videos in my classes and students are usually quite shocked to see how a city like Bangkok, Thailand operates. I've used this as a 'hook' for lessons of population growth, urbanization, economic development, sustainability, megacities and city planning. Delete the scoop?
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Documenting the megacities of our time....
Over half of humanity is living in cities and that statistic is likely to reach 70% by 2050. Studying the urban environment, especially the 'megacities' (cities with populations over 10 million people) which are growing especially fast, becomes increasingly important. This photo gallery of the worlds 23 megacites employs long exposure images, with highlights the movements and dynamism of the urban networks. To see the gallery and this stunning image of Jakarta's rush hour traffic, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/05/06/sunday-review/06METROPOLIS.html?ref=sunday#4  Delete the scoop?
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By 2030, 2 out of 3 people will live in an urban world, with most of the explosive growth occurring in developing countries. For a review of the future, the last in the Challenges for Humanity series explores São Paulo, Lagos, Bangkok and Hyderabad. Via dilaycock Delete the scoop?
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Many cities are large; the rate at which these ten cities highlight a distinct spatial pattern and separate them from the rest. Which regions have the fastest growing cities? Which regions don't? Why geographic factor account for the rapid growth? CITY Increase by 2025 1. Delhi 6.4 million 2. Dhaka 6.3 m 3. Kinshasa 6.3 m 4. Mumbai 5.8 m 5. Karachi 5.6 m 6. Lagos 5.2 m 7. Kolkata 4.6 m 8. Shanghai 3.4 m 9. Manila 3.3 m 10. Lahore 3.2 m
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More than 1 million of Delhi’s residents have been displaced through demolition of slum neighborhoods over the last 10 years.
www.thisbigcity.net is a great source for information on urban geography, but this particular post was selected because it highlights two merging issues in today's megacities: the rise of automobile culture dictating urban planning policies as well as the dilemma surrounding squatter settlements around the globe. Delete the scoop?
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Over half the global population lives in cities, and the problems confronting these megacities will loom large for future sustainability issues--both at local and global scales. This list ranks the cities by city limits and governance jurisdiction (not by the expanded metropolitan area).
This is an interesting article, but it doesn't say how they came to their numbers. It seems like they may only be talking about within the 'city' limits, or some very old data. http://www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html has some very different numbers as of the beginning of this year, their numbers however are the entire aggomeration and not just the 'city' limits.