Cities Across the World
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| megacity/ˈmeɡəsɪti/ | An urban agglomeration with at least ten million inhabitants, rather than necessarily ten million within one administrative city boundary. |
| informal settlements/ɪnˈfɔːml ˈsetəlmənts/ | Residential areas developed partly outside formal planning, land-tenure or building systems, often with insecure tenure or limited services. |
Urban worlds differ
- Cities in developed and developing regions grow differently.
- Developed cities urbanized slowly, long ago, and are now stable.
- Developing cities are urbanizing fastest today, often through migration.
Developed or developing city trait?
Sort each feature as typical of a developed or a developing-world city.
The fastest urban growth in the world today is in developing regions.
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Asia, Africa, and Latin America lead urban growth today.
Select all features typical of fast-growing developing-world cities.
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Migration, informal settlements, and housing shortages fit; shrinking population does not.
Megacities and beyond
- A megacity 特大城市 has over 10 million people.
- A metacity has over 20 million.
- Most fast-growing megacities are now in the developing world.
The hierarchy of world cities
A city with more than 10 million people is a...
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A megacity exceeds 10 million people.
Match each term to its meaning.
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Megacity = 10m+; informal settlement = slum; metacity = 20m+.
Informal settlements
- When cities grow faster than housing, informal settlements 非正规住区 (slums) form.
- They often lack clean water, sanitation, and secure land rights.
- They house a large share of people in many fast-growing cities.
Unplanned, self-built housing with poor services, formed when cities grow too fast, is called an ____ settlement.
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Informal settlements (slums) form when housing lags behind growth.
The fastest urban growth today is in the developing world, not the developed. Do not picture urbanization as a mainly Western story — the biggest new megacities and the largest informal settlements are in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
A developing-world capital doubles in a decade as migrants arrive from the countryside. Housing cannot keep up, so vast informal settlements spread on the edges — a fast-growing megacity with millions living without secure services.
Developing cities urbanize fastest today, mainly by migration. A megacity exceeds 10 million people. Where growth outpaces housing, informal settlements (slums) form, often lacking water, sanitation, and land rights.
Write from 12 million as a megacity
- A city's population is 12 million.
- The threshold used in this lesson for a megacity is over 10 million.
Does this city qualify as a megacity?
Over 10 million people is the megacity threshold used here.
What is a city of 12 million?
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12 million is above 10 million.