Introduction More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities, and another 2.5 billion citizens are expected to join them by 2050.1 The United Nations (UN) predicts that nearly all population growth up to 2030 will be in cities, with 96 per cent of this increase occurring in Asia and Africa.2 This incredible surge in the urban population demands that we urgently re-evaluate how cities are designed and built to best meet the needs of future inhabitants. Cities have tended to evolve gradually in response to incremental changes in their population, density, wealth, trading opportunities and availability of resources, as well as to trends related to lifestyle choices, affordability, transportation, infrastructure, education and safety. In recent decades, however, many conurbations have developed at breakneck speeds as people gravitate to places experiencing booms in trade, commerce and industry. The rate at which cities are growing presents numerous challenges for stakeholders involved with urban development. The following are just some of the many complex questions that planners, policymakers and designers are required to address. How can established metropolises continue to expand while offering the same quality of life to all future inhabitants? Can we quickly create new districts or entire cities to successfully accommodate increasing numbers of urbanites? How might new technologies make city living smarter and more efficient? And how can we achieve all of this while preventing further damage to our planet’s fragile ecosystem?
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United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Urbanisation Prospects: The 2018 Revision. 2 UN-Habitat, World Cities Report 2020: The Value of Sustainable Urbanization.