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China: the new superpower by This article provides quick summary of the megacities in China, including their population and some of their biggest industries.
This article describes the history of Tokyo from the Edo period to the 21st century and includes a timeline.
Provides a detailed overview of Shanghai's history from the 5th century to the modern day city.
This article provides a very brief overview of the history of Dhaka.
This article provides a very brief overview of the history of Mumbai.
Provides a brief overview of Jakarta from the 5th century through to today.
Since the birth of Chinese civilization, different towns of varying size and import have stood at or near the site of today’s Beijing. This article looks at the long history of this city.
As one of the five National Central Cities of the People's Republic of China, Tianjin enjoys a favoured status. It is China's sixth-largest city and one of the country's hubs of advanced innovation, industry and financial reform. Divided into a historic old city district and the more modern Binhai New Area, Tianjin and its history offer an interesting mix of ancient China and the economic tiger the world knows today.
Provides a brief overview of the history of Guangzhou through to 2000.
When Leo Houng arrived in Shenzhen in 1974, it was an unremarkable Chinese settlement that ‘smelled of countryside’. Since then, he has witnessed the city rise up at a bewildering rate – with little regard for the families caught in its path
Chongqing is one of the four municipalities directly under the central government at southwest of China. Chongqing is an ancient cultural city with a history of 3,000 years. It is the cradle of the Ba culture, and has been as the capital of a country for 3 times. It was used named Jiangzhou, Bajun, Chuzhou, Yuzhou and Gongzhou.
Bengaluru (also called Bangalore) is the capital of India's southern Karnataka state. India's tech hub and one of its biggest metropolitan cities, Bangalore is hundreds of years old and has a rich, royal and bloody history. The site of many wars, a seat of erstwhile British power and as my grandparents' will vouch- a once beautiful garden city famed for its lakes and parks. This is the story of how it came to be.
For centuries, Delhi was at the heart of the Mughal Empire, and its many historic monuments stand testament to its former glories. This articles provides a brief overview of the history of the city.
With its beginning as a central city under British rule in India, Kolkata has flourished into a thriving mega-city.
Chennai is stated to be an important contributor towards the administrative, military, and economic centre since the 1st century. This article describes its history from the 1st century through to the modern day.
During the history of Iran, the capital has been relocated many times, and Tehran is the 32nd national capital of Iran, although it has been the capital of Iran for about 220 years.
Stretching along Osaka Bay and crisscrossed by rivers and canals, Osaka is known as the “city of water.” Osaka’s connection with water stretches back to its very beginnings. The city is situated on alluvial deposits of the Yodo and Yamato Rivers. Sediment accumulated over millennia, forming a small peninsula called the Uemachi Plateau and producing numerous sandbars known collectively as Naniwa Yasoshima.
Karachi originally was a small fisherman village settled by the Baloch tribes from Balochistan and Makran. Their first settlement was near the delta of the Indus River which they named as 'Kolachi’ village. The people of the original community yet inhabit the area on small island of Abdullah Goth situated near Karachi Port. The well-known neighbourhood ‘Mai Kolachi’ of Karachi still reminds the original name of the city.
The origin of Lahore can be traced back somewhere between 1st and 7th centuries A.D. It is, however, inferred by historians that Lahore was actually founded by Loh e son of Rama, characterized as the Hindu god in Ramayana. According to Sir Robert Montgomery, Lahore rose to importance between 2nd and 4th centuries. According to the Greek geographer, Ptolemy, Lahore was founded somewhere at the end of the 1st century. According to the book ood-e-Aalamahore appeared as a town in 882 AD. The people of Lahore, when they want to emphasize the uniqueness of their town say "Lahore is Lahore". The traditional capital of Punjab for a thousand years, it had been the cultural center of Northern India extending from Peshawar to New Delhi. This preeminent position it holds in Pakistan as well. Lahore is the city of poets, artists and the center of film industry. It has the largest number of educational institutions in the country and some of the finest gardens in the continent.
The City of Manila occupies a unique position in Philippine political geography, for it is both a chartered city, and also it fulfills the functions of a province for the four cities and thirteen municipalities composing its metropolitan area. But then, Manila has always been an exceptional case, defying just about every political formula devised to govern other towns, cities and provinces. It has required special laws and governmental systems to rule it, practically from the beginning of the Spanish rule of the Philippines in the 16th Century up to the present.
This article gives a brief overview of the history of Bangkok.
Provides a brief overview of the history of Ho Chi Minh City.
This article lists China's megacities, providing a brief summary of population, industry and attractions in the city.
Mumbai (previously known as Bombay until 1996) is a natural harbor on the west coast of India, and is the capital city of Maharashtra state. It is India's largest city, and one of the world's most populous cities. It is the financial capital of India. The city is the second most-populous in the world. It has approximately 14 million people. Along with the neighboring cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration.
Tokyo (東京 Tōkyō, "Eastern Capital") is on the island of Honshu. Tokyo is the center of the Japanese government. The Imperial Palace is in Tokyo. Tokyo is the center of business, trade, and industry of Japan and also of Asia. The city is the center of the largest metropolitan area in the world. It faces Tokyo Bay.
Shanghai is one of the four municipalities of the People's Republic of China. It is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze, and the Huangpu River flows through it. With a population of 24.2 million as of 2018, it is the most populous urban area in China and the second most populous city proper in the world. Shanghai is a global center for finance, innovation, and transportation, and the Port of Shanghai is the world's busiest container port.
Economically, Jakarta plays several roles. It can be identified first as the national capital and a central place of control for the national economy, then as an administrative centre in its own right, and as a significant industrial hub. In addition, its location as a port makes it an important centre for trade. This article looks at the major industries of Jakarta and the economy of Jakarta.
Bangladesh, located in South Asia, is the world’s 8th most populous country as well as one of the world's most densely populated. Most of the country is covered by the Bengal Delta. The country is considered a middle power and a developing nation. It has the 43rd largest economy by nominal GDP and 29th largest by purchasing power parity. Since independence, the country has achieved a tremendous growth rate in its industrial production and economic growth.
Beijing, formerly known as Peking, is the capital of the People’s Republic of China, and the country’s political and cultural center. Situated in northern China, Beijing is a directly-controlled municipality surrounded by Hebei Province to the north, east, and south, and Tianjin municipality to the southeast. These three regions together form the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan region, also known as Jing-Jin-Ji, one of the three prioritized mega city clusters in China. As the second largest first-tier city in terms of GDP, Beijing is home to the headquarters of most of China’s largest state-owned companies and houses the largest number of Fortune Global 500 companies in the country. The city also boasts of the top two higher education institutions in China – Peking University and Tsinghua University.
Tianjin is a metropolis in the northeastern coast of mainland China. It is one of the four autonomous municipalities in the country, along with Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, that are under the direct administration of the central government. It is northern China’s most important manufacturing centre and leading port.
Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, is an important political, economic, industrial, and cultural center in the South China region. North of Hong Kong, Macau, and the South China Sea, Guangzhou’s location in the Pearl River Delta has long secured the city’s position as the southern gate of mainland China. As the origin of the ancient Chinese Maritime Silk Road, it was the oldest foreign trading port in mainland China and the only one that has never been closed.
The third largest city in mainland China and a designated "National Center City", Guangzhou is an economic powerhouse, inextricably linked to the qualities of openness, development, and innovation. As one of the first cities to be involved in the economic "reform and opening" transformation of the 1980s, Guangzhou has developed swiftly over the last three decades, becoming a key transport hub, manufacturing core, and trade center in South China today.
Often dubbed China’s “Silicon Valley”, Shenzhen is China’s fastest-growing city. It is ranked by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as the mainland’s top city for “overall economic competitiveness” and is China’s premier Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for foreign investment as well as a sub-provincial class city.
One of the biggest cities in the world, with over 30 million people, Chongqing is an exciting metropolis. Few places in China, or anywhere else can claim an annual GDP growth rate of at least 10 percent for well over a decade. For me, Chongqing is rather like a small province, with a core city of over 8 million people. Economic growth began to take off spectacularly since Chongqing became its own municipality, separate from Sichuan province in 1997.
Bangalore is home to a wide range of heavy and light industries, as well as high-tech and service industries including information technology (IT) and electronics, telecommunications, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, automobiles, banking and finance, mining, steel, and cement production. Given the city’s reputation as the country’s garment capital, textiles and local handicrafts are also prevalent in the city’s economy.
Delhi is an important commercial capital in Asia. The service industry contributes the largest chunk of the State Domestic Product (SDP)- about 70% followed by manufacturing (25.2%) and agriculture (3.85%)
Lists the major industries of West Bengal, most of which are centralised in Kolkata.
The automobile is one of the major industries in Chennai. It is also popular for software, electronic hardware as well as engineering and procurement industry. It is also well known for hardware manufacturing and financial services, petrochemicals, textiles, and apparel. The city has a fully computerized stock exchange called the Madras Stock Exchange. It is also known for its high-quality living standard among all metro cities. Here is some information about Industries in Chennai.
More than half of Iran's industry is based in Tehran. Industries include the manufacturing of automobiles, electronics and electrical equipment, military weaponry, textiles, sugar, cement, and chemical products. It is also a leading center for the sale of carpets and furniture. There is an oil refinery south of the city.
Provides a great pie chart of the major industries in Osaka.
Karachi city has a large industrial base. The major industries of Karachi are Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Steel and Automobiles. Apart from these, Karachi is also called as software outsourcing hub of Pakistan.
A report from the Australian Government which lists the major industries in Pakistan, and specifically in Lahore.
Lists the major industries of Manila.
South Korea is an independent state found in Eastern Asia and forms part of the larger Korean Peninsula. North Korea is the only country it shares its borders with. The country's capital city is Seoul, which is among the major global cities, which is home to about half of the country's population. Seoul is the world’s 4th largest urban economy. Currently, South Korea is one of the highly developed democracies having the highest rank regarding freedom of press in the whole of Asia. In 1996, the country joined the OECD and in 2006 it joined the development assistance committee of OECD. South Korea is also a member of the Paris Club and the G20.
Bangkok is the center of Thailand's economy and the country's principal port. Bangkok is the country's financial center, home to over one-third of Thailand's banks, as well as the Bangkok Stock Exchange.
The economy of Ho Chi Minh City consists of industries ranging from mining, seafood processing, agriculture, and construction, to tourism, finance, industry and trade. The state-owned sector makes up 33.3% of the economy, the private sector 4.6%, and the remainder in foreign investment. Concerning its economic structure, the service sector accounts for 51.1%, industry and construction account for 47.7% and forestry, agriculture and others make up just 1.2%.
A list of some of the most popular tourist destinations in Tokyo.
Shanghai, China's largest city, offers many exciting sightseeing opportunities for travelers. Despite having a population of more than 24 million, this always busy city offers a number of quieter historic districts and places to visit alongside its many newer tourist sites. One of the world's busiest container ports thanks to its position at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city also provides opportunities for exploration by water along the Chinese coast and its inland waterways.
Jakarta, the bustling capital of Indonesia, is a cultural melting pot. A diverse mix of traditions, from Javanese and Malay to Arab, Indian, and Dutch swirl together in this megalopolis. The result is a dynamic, lively city with its own intriguing flavor.
A list of some of the most popular tourist destinations in Tokyo.
Having served as the capital of China for more than 800 years, Beijing is home to some of the finest remnants of China's imperial past and is a China culture hub. Interest in visiting Beijing is largely to explore its glorious past, but also to feel its modern era prestige. Local experts have journeyed to every corner of the city and uncovered the best things to see and do in Beijing.
Tianjin has its own distinct character that makes it stand out from any other Chinese metropolis. Thousands of colonial buildings from the 19th and early 20th-century foreign powers, along with multiple relics from centuries of traditional Chinese culture, are either still intact or have been recreated. Tianjin is now a modern financial epicenter of China, considered one of the top cities in the nation. Here are the 20 attractions you can see from ancient times, yesteryear, and today that define Tianjin. Includes an interactive map.
Guangzhou in southern China is a huge metropolis that combines old and new, offering sights and attractions for everyone, no matter if you are a history buff or looking for a family-friendly holiday destination. Here are the must-visit attractions in the City of Five Rams.
Shenzhen is an active and innovative city. When talking about Shenzhen, people always mention its fast-growing and advanced economy but many may not know that Shenzhen is also a treasure box for travelers. From skyscrapers to ancient relics, from luxury shopping malls to artistic urban villages, and from lively theme parks to solemn churches, you will never get bored in Shenzhen.
Located in Southwestern China, Chongqing’s population of over 28 million people has earned it a reputation as the country’s largest municipality. This sprawling metropolis is home to spicy food, friendly locals, and a rich cultural history. Positioned alongside the Yangtze River, Chongqing offers plenty of attractions for travelers, including delicious cuisine, cultural museums, and even UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
A list of the major tourist attractions in Bangalore.
Delhi serves up an astounding cornucopia of history, culture, cuisine, commerce and street life, with countless sights and activities to keep visitors thoroughly engaged.
Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, is the educational, commercial and cultural centre of the Eastern part of India, and is the third most populous metropolitan city of India. Kolkata is a pioneer in the field of drama, arts, theatre and literature with several nobel laureates contributing to the Kolkata culture. This article explores the best local and cultural sights and activities.
Once known as Madras, this is the centre of India’s cultural and artistic heart, as made apparent on our list of best things to do in Chennai.Classic South Indian fare, fashion and hospitality are on offer from the historic centre of Mylapore to the seaside of Marina Beach. If you’re looking for a party, best head out of town to nearby Mahabalipuram. But if you want to understand how ancient India lives on within a bustling urban city, then Chennai has plenty to see and do.
Though neither Iran’s oldest or prettiest city, the bustling metropolis of Tehran is not without its own compelling charm. Home to over 10 million Iranians, the largely concrete skyline is set against the breath-taking backdrop of the Alborz mountains which rise out of the smog below. Often underrated as a tourist destination, nowhere will you sample a flavour of contemporary Iranian life more than Tehran.
Provides a list of the top tourist attractions in Osaka.
Karachi, which was once the prehistoric humble abode of Sindhi fishermen, is now a roaring urban economy that sustains the country with its large seaports. Always up and running, the streets of Karachi are a cacophony of colourful buses, impatient people and the infectious energy of its daily hustle.
Lahore, Pakistan, is popular for its array of tourist activities. From seeing priceless artifacts to historical sites to shopping places to a variety of restaurants, the options are endless.
More than just an in-between when flying to the Philippines’ beautiful beaches, Manila is a buzzing metropolis with lots to offer. When visiting the country’s capital, expect to find beautiful historic spots, amazing sunset views, bang-for-your-buck shopping, and to-die-for culinary experiences!
A list of some of the top tourist attractions in Seoul.
A list of some of the major attractions in Bangkok.
Ho Chi Minh City is an overwhelming place – and not just because of the traffic. There’s so much do here, whether you’re a lover of history, art, cuisine, culture or nightlife. With so many great options, many travelers worry they’ll leave something out. But don’t fret, here’s what you should do.
What attracts people to move to a megacity? Find out by watching this clip, which tracks Jakarta's rapid population growth and the issues inherent in living in a megacity, such as overcrowding and access to health and education services. Listen to the story of a family who made the rural-urban shift, and hear from people in Jakarta providing support.
Urbanisation is fuelling China's strong economic growth. With millions of people migrating away from rural areas, the nation's cities are expanding rapidly, in some cases at the expense of farmland. At what point will China's urbanisation threaten its food security?
China is experiencing rapid urbanisation. Rural workers are on the move, searching for new opportunities in China's largest cities. This process is fuelling China's economic growth and improving the wellbeing of its citizens. But is the rate of change too fast? Are there pitfalls on the road to prosperity?
One cause for immigration to megacities can be the displacement of rural communities due to large construction projects. This 2008 clip demonstrates how the building of the Three Gorges Dam in China caused a mass internal migration to Chongqing.
The Chinese government has announced it will move 250 million people from farming areas to the cities by 2025. Listen to guests Sally Sargerson and Jane Golley and host Cameron Wilson as they discuss the reasons behind this policy.
Mumbai's urban population is estimated to be over 22 million, and the densely populated city is the largest in India in terms of population, trade activity and business. The metropolitan area has experienced an explosion in growth over the past 20 years, a common occurrence with metropolitan areas in India. The rapid population growth is attributed to migration from other regions in the country, with migrants seeking business and employment opportunities.
During the current ordinary session of the Diet, the Japanese government plans to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act in order to prevent the long-term detention of foreign nationals. To this end, a cabinet decision to revise the legislation was made on February 19, 2021. The revision of the legislation was influenced by domestic and international criticism against Japan’s immigration and refugee policy.
In 2018 net migration to Tokyo totaled 79,844 people, an increase of 9.2% over the previous year. The 2018 Report on Internal Migration in Japan issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications shows that only eight prefectures saw a net increase in population: Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba, Aichi, Fukuoka, Osaka, and Shiga. The influx of population to Tokyo is particularly striking, with no signs of an end to the trend toward population overconcentration in the capital.
Every day, another 2,000 people move to the Bangladeshi capital. It’s nothing new – for generations Dhaka has been a magnet for those escaping rural poverty – but now climate change is accelerating the race to the city.
Millions of poverty-stricken people are leaving their rural homes and migrating to Dhaka and Chittagong in search of better livelihood opportunities. Dhaka is already the most densely populated city on Earth according to the latest Demographia World Urban Areas Index, with over 17.4 million people and a population density of 47,400 people per sq km. Despite these grim statistics, more people are arriving in the capital every day. The city’s population density has risen by 3.7% from a year ago, according to the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), an affiliate of Dhaka University. A recent RMMRU study found Dhaka receives three out of every five (59.2%) migrants from rural areas, with one in five (20.1%) preferring the port city of Chittagong.
Beijing’s population has dropped for the first time since 2000 as migrant workers are driven out amid a campaign to ease the strain on the sprawling, overcrowded capital city.
Two Chinese megacities implemented population caps last year – and official data shows the policy might already be having an effect.
Tianjin’s urban population is the 4th largest in China, coming in behind Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. As of 2015, the municipality has a population of over 15 million. According to data from 2009, almost 10 million people in Tianjin were permanent residents. The majority of residents live in the urban area, which has seen rapid growth over the last few years. Tianjin is split into 15 districts and three counties.
China's economy depends on a system regulating workers from around China and beyond. In Guangzhou, the migrant metropolis, Mukul Devichand hears stories of anger and reform.
The region around Guangzhou is known for its massive influx of migrants, with up to 30 million additional migrants living in the area for at least six months out of every year. This vast influx of people from other areas, called the floating population, is due to the city's fast-growing economy and high labor demands.
Since the 1980s, Shenzhen has grown from a fishing town of 30,000 people into a world city and a centre for manufacturing, specialising in electronics and telecommunications. It is part of the Greater Pearl River Delta, which stretches from Hong Kong to Shenzhen to Guangzhou. In 1979 it became one of China’s first Special Economic Zones and began attracting increasing numbers of people in search of employment, leading to overpopulation.
A Yangtze River boomtown reveals the dark side of China’s rapid urbanization. The skyline looks like another Hong Kong, with towering modern buildings and soaring bridges, but a closer look reveals worsening social stratification. By focusing on short-term economic gains, Chinese leaders risk creating divided cities with expansive slums and ghettoes of extreme wealth.
Bengaluru was a city that was made on a call for migration. Kempegowda, the founder of the city, made a clarion call for traders and other craftsmen to make the new city their home in 1537 after laying its foundation. Centuries later, Bengaluru is one of the most cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual cities in the country. Historians say three waves of migrations made the city what it is today.
Almost half the population of Bangalore are listed a migrants, according to recent census data.
Among all states, however, Delhi has the highest share of inter-state migrants in its total population, an indicator of the attraction it holds for outsiders.
More people are flocking to Kolkata from other states than people from other districts in Bengal, a recent study finds.
Kolkata, the largest city of India until 1990, has been showing a persistent trend of outmigration over the last decade. Exacerbating impacts of Climate Change like accelerated sea level rise, impact of cyclones, rising temperature, high rainfall events and waterlogging, with high density of poor population in slums, Kolkata has been assessed as one of the most vulnerable cities of the world.
Chennai's 2021 population is now estimated at 11,235,018. In 1950, the population of Chennai was 1,491,293. Chennai has grown by 263,910 since 2015, which represents a 2.41% annual change. These population estimates and projections come from the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects. These estimates represent the Urban agglomeration of Chennai, which typically includes Chennai's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas.
Provides a historical look of migration trends in Tehran up until the 1990s.
Due to its political, economic, educational and other advantages, Tehran has always attracted Iranians from other provinces. Migration to the capital city to work, study, or live temporarily or permanently has been a common phenomenon over the years, which led to the city’s population growth and a series of environmental issues in the process. However, statistics show reverse migration, i.e. from Tehran to other provinces, has gained momentum in recent years, Financial Tribune’s sister publication, the Persian economic weekly Tejarat-e Farda, reported.
The population of Osaka has declined in recent years, and the declines have been attributed to residents moving from the city into the suburbs. In 1930, Osaka was the largest city in Japan, outnumbering Tokyo by over 400,000. The city saw a peak population of over 3.2 million in 1940. Osaka, like other cities in Japan, is experiencing a decline in population. The 2015 census that tracks the period from 2010 to 2015 shows that Osaka’s decline was the city’s first in almost seven decades.
The increase in Karachi’s population from 450,000 in 1947 to over 20 million in 2015 has been mainly due to migration from India at the time of Partition and subsequently from other parts of Pakistan (especially from KP). Migration to Karachi during the last decade has continued and new reasons for it have emerged. (Go to page 2 of the report for information about migration)
Environmentalists have expressed concern over a massive climate-induced migration in various parts of Pakistan and the government's apathy toward tackling a serious problem.
The Philippines has undergone rapid urbanization which continues to this day. From 2000- 2010 the urban population increased at an annual average of 3.3%, making it one of the fastest urbanizing countries in the Asia-Pacific. In the last 50 years the urban population has increased by over 50 million, and in 2050 102 million people (over 65% of the total population) will reside in cities (World Bank 2017a). In 2010, 41.9 million of the Philippines’ population of 92.3 million lived in urban areas (Philippines Statistics Authority 2013)1 , cities accounted for over 70% of GDP, and the seven largest urban areas hosted 54% of formal jobs (World Bank 2017a).
In December 2020, Reuters reported that at least 522 Thai migrant workers in South Korea had died since 2015. According to the news agency, the vast majority were undocumented, and approximately 40 percent died of unknown causes; the other 60 percent died from health issues, accidents, or suicide. On Jan. 4, South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that the South Korean population officially declined for the first time, decreasing by 20,838 (0.04 percent) since 2019, making the 2020 total 51,829,023. This decline was caused by a 23,787 (0.09 percent) drop in the male population; the female population grew, but the rate of growth was just 0.01 percent, 0.09 percent down on last year. South Korea’s population decline is a major contributing factor to its need for immigration, and that need is growing. However, major flaws in South Korea’s immigration policies for blue-collar workers create deadly vulnerabilities for the migrant workers they desperately need. These immigration policy flaws likely contributed to the deaths of many of the 522 Thai migrant workers.
he proportional increase of the urban population began in the early colonial period, but urbanization in its modern sense had to wait until 1960. In the 1960s, a massive flight of farmers to cities was caused mainly by poverty in rural areas, and the proportion of the urban population increased from 28% to 41% between 1960 and 1970. The primary destination of these migrants was Seoul. From 1960 to 1965, about 5% of the rural population left for the cities, 70% of whom headed for Seoul; from 1965 to 1970, 13.6% left for the cities, 61% of whom went to Seoul.
Internal migrants in Thailand constitute a substantial population: According to the 2010 Thailand Population and Housing Census, 8.3% of the Thai population had migrated internally during the previous five years, and overall 21.8% of the population did not live in their home town (National Statistical Office 2010b). This significantly outstrips international migrant stocks (inflows and outflows from Thailand), estimated at just under 4.5 million in 2017 (UNDESA 2017).
Ho Chi Minh City's 2021 population is now estimated at 8,837,544. In 1950, the population of Ho Chi Minh City was 1,213,224. Ho Chi Minh City has grown by 235,227 since 2015, which represents a 2.73% annual change. These population estimates and projections come from the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects. These estimates represent the Urban agglomeration of Ho Chi Minh City, which typically includes Ho Chi Minh City's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas.
Slums aren't often considered to be the most picturesque locations, but this clip proves that Jakarta's slums can be an important subject for photography. Children who live in the slums are being encouraged to tell their story through photos.
Can you imagine what it would be like if the air we breathed became so polluted that we couldn't go outside? This is what happened in India in November 2016. The air pollution was so bad that people were advised to stay indoors and some schools were shut down.
Every day, 9000 metric tonnes of waste goes to the 134-hectare Deonar dumping ground in Mumbai. The life expectancy of people living around the dumping ground hovers at 39 years, as against an urban life expectancy of 73.5 years in the state. Better implementation of solutions, political will, stronger leaders and citizen responsibility is required to bring Deonar’s residents out of the dumps.
As more youth move to cities in hopes of getting a job, does the government have the housing capacity to fit them all?
Earmarked for demolition, these buildings appear to be ruins at first sight. Look again, though, and it becomes clear that they are inhabited ruins. A lone light shining from a window; a freshly painted front door: the houses are dwarfed by high-rise tower blocks and outshone by the bright lights of the big city, but still hold their own. They are the ‘nail houses’ of Shanghai, taking their name from a Chinese neologism referring to so-called ‘stubborn nails’ who refuse to make room for development.
They have no lifts, shops or medical services – yet they are home to mostly poor, elderly people. Guardian Cities and the Waseda Chronicle investigate Tokyo’s massive ‘homes for solitary death’
To live in Dhaka is to suffer, to varying degrees. The poor are crammed into sprawling shantytowns, where communicable diseases fester and fires sporadically raze homes. Slum-dwellers make up around 40% of the population. The middle and upper classes spend much of their time stuck in interminable traffic jams. The capital regularly tops “least liveable cities” rankings. This year it sat behind Lagos, Nigeria, and the capitals of war-ravaged Libya and Syria.
Sebastian Keitel’s photo series, Provisional Installations, looks at the confined and colorful makeshift living spaces that define the poorest neighborhoods in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Property prices in China have become some of the most expensive in the world, having more than quadrupled since 2000. By early 2018, the average price-to-income ratio for a house in one of China’s top cities was a startling 34.9 years—meaning that it would take nearly 35 years of an average salary to pay for an average home. Even while China’s middle class continues to grow, the rising cost of housing has doubled that of disposable income. Compounding this issues is that not only are housing prices rising to unaffordable heights, but larger down payments are being required and mortgage interest rates are going up, making buying a home seem more and more like a far off dream for the average Chinese millennial. Meanwhile, rent is still very affordable. For example, as of June 2018, the average monthly cost of a mortgage in China’s top cities was 16,000 yuan per month, while the average rent was less than half that at 7,000 yuan, according to a JLL report.
China is in the midst of an urban revolution, with millions of migrants moving into cities every year. Since 2011, for the first time in history, more than half of China’s 1.3 billion population (690 million people) are living in cities. Another 300-400 million are expected to be added to China's cities in the next 15-20 years. New Premier Li Keqiang recently proposed accelerating urbanisation in China and said it was the “main driver” of China’s future economic growth. Yet, China’s urban dream may be derailed by the lack of affordable housing in cities for the existing urban poor and the massive influx of migrants.
China’s booming economy can’t keep up with its demographic crisis, as millions of new college graduates are unable to find good jobs. Graduates live by the thousands in “intellectual slums” on the outskirts of Beijing, according to France 24. Many residents are stuck in the slums, burdened with heavy student loans and a saturated job market.
The world’s largest eco-city is rising from wastelands in China, with Tianjin trialing a sustainable urban living project.
In August, Chinese homes were ranked as the world’s most expensive in global property consultant Knight Frank’s Q2 Prime Global Cities Index. For the third consecutive quarter, three Chinese cities placed in the top five of the 41 cities tracked around the world. But the city with the fastest-growing property prices wasn’t Beijing or Shanghai, but Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city and a port town on the Pearl River located 75 miles north of Hong Kong.
Guangzhou, Guangdong province’s capital and the third largest city in China, is known as the factory of the world. Skyscrapers and trade fairs bring beauty to the city as Guangzhou edges out competitive cities and sets itself up to become China’s technology leader by 2020.Guangzhou wasn’t always this successful; in fact, it was once a rural area of China where poverty hit hard. As a matter of fact, all of China was once recognized as one of the poorest countries in the world to live in, and the city of Guangzhou wasn’t exempt to this status.
Showcasing China’s reform and opening-up, 13 public housing projects – 11,000 apartments – are being constructed in Shenzhen. Total investment is estimated to be more than 13 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion).
Provides a summary of the different suburbs in Shenzen.
The hukou system, or household registration system, is a method of accounting for the country's population by requiring each citizen to officially register his or her place of residence. Possessing an urban hukou in a large city means that one is an official 'resident' of that city and eligible to receive benefits such as access to medical insurance and education as well as the right to purchase property. This poses a problem for the floating population of rural migrants to cities who are not afforded similar benefits due to their lack of an official urban hukou.
With approximately 32.8 million residents, the Chongqing municipality offers an example of the steep socioeconomic divide in China. The area is home to rapid urban development as the largest inland city in China, but it is also part of the largely rural southwestern mountain region. The rural parts of this area show the nation’s highest concentration of poverty. Chongqing is included in the China Western Development Strategy, along with six other cities. This urbanization hopes to provide relief for migrant workers in rural western regions of China. The municipality includes the booming city center as well as rural areas, and poverty in Chongqing includes both of these vastly different areas.
Bengaluru's rental housing market is facing an unprecedented crisis as the work-from-home culture, job losses and the general economic distress caused by the pandemic have pushed many people out of the city.
In 2017, Bangalore had an estimated population of 12.34 million and nearly 25 percent of this population live in slum areas. A rapid shortage of housing and increased demand for manpower in the city has led to the growth and emergence of slums in Bangalore. Here are 10 facts about poverty in Bangalore.
Using satellite imagery and machine learning, a multi-agency study on the state of slums in Bangalore has uncovered startling discrepancies in social data: the city has over 2000 slums, but the government only recognises 597.
India’s capital and other metros have performed woefully in this regard, even as their global counterparts have progressed
Every year, parts of our city disappear as bastis built informally by the poorer citizens continue to be evicted. The Missing Basti Project is an initiative to archive past and ongoing evictions in Delhi to question as well as mobilize action for the prevention of further evictions. It is an attempt to document what has been lost in the name of development, and what still remains, forming an integral part of the city.
There are more than 700 slums in Delhi and although it is difficult to be exact, most reports estimate that between one third and half of the 20 million population of Delhi lives in a slum. Sanjay Colony is a slum in South Delhi situated in the Okhla industrial area. The total area of the slum is around 25 acres and about 60,000 people live and work there.
Poverty in Kolkata is widespread. Situated in Kolkata is one of India’s poorest slums, which is home to many impoverished families.
While India's economy continues to boom, its 360million poorest citizens remain among some of the most impoverished in the world. Now these astonishing pictures - of a community living amid the dangers of an active train track - reveal the country's slum conditions at their worst.
Chennai has taken the wrong lessons from examples such as Delhi, where a large section of the poor were forcibly resettled during the Commonwealth Games, Mr. Rajagopal said. Due to the existence of poorly-constructed resettlement colonies like Semmanchery on the city’s outskirts, Chennai gives the impression of an “apartheid city”.
The number of people in slums in Chennai is increasingly rapidly; this article explains why and why this is a problem.
Hashem Shakeri's work Cast Out of Heaven takes a look at the largest state-funded housing plan in the history of Iran and seeks to underline the negative domino effects linked to massive population growth in new towns outside the country’s capital.
The average purchase price per square metre of residential housing units in Tehran soared 91.5 percent in the 12 months ending on July 21, 2019, according to the data released by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The situation has become so acute that aspiring homeowners who qualify for mortgages can see the market move just beyond their financial grasp by the time their applications are approved.
Forty percent of families in Tehran live under the line of poverty in terms of housing and 20% are slum dwellers, a Tehran renovation official reports.
While there are many amazing places to explore away from Japan’s main cities, for a lot of overseas visitors to Japan the itinerary stays on the well-worn route between Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. With so many tourists staying in the heart of these cities, accommodation close to tourist hotspots can be expensive and hard to find, leading some travelers to seek out cheaper options outside of the usual travel-guide-recommended areas. In Osaka, that’s led to an influx of foreign visitors staying in the Nishinari neighborhood, located in the city’s Airin district. For decades, this area has been described as a slum, with high rates of homelessness and crime, and records of riots amongst day laborers dating back to the ’60s.
Within Japan, a slum exists that is a prime example of foreign global poverty. It is a small area, only .24 square miles. The city itself cannot be found on maps of Japan. It is where the poorest people in Osaka, Japan reside. It is the largest slum in Japan: Kamagasaki.
All it takes is a short train ride to be transported from the affluent, neon-lit streets of central Osaka to the grinding poverty of Japan's biggest slum. However, you won't find Kamagasaki on any official maps. Osaka's bureaucrats would rather the world knew as little as possible about the maze of dingy streets, tarpaulin-covered parks and high-rise dosshouses that symbolise growing social inequality in the world's second-biggest economy.
Formal housing in Karachi has been a highly coveted but largely unavailable commodity for decades now. As early as 1978, 55 percent of the city’s population was already living in katchi abadis and slums because the city government simply could not keep up with the housing demand of incoming migrants. Even today, according to a report titled, Pakistan’s Urban Issues published by Arif Hasan, more than 60 percent of Karachi’s population lives in katchi abadis or informal settlements. By numbers alone, this is in fact Karachi’s vast majority.
Recently, Prime Minister Imran Khan called for developing high-rise (vertical) buildings across the country. This policy, it has been reported, aims to address the housing crisis in Pakistan. The PM further stated that avoiding unplanned settlements would ease the country’s urban housing problems; cautioning that arable land is presently being ‘eaten up’ by residential developments.
Lahore, a large region in Pakistan, is considered to be one of the most populated urban areas in the world and is one of the largest cities in the Islamic world. According to Index Mundi, as of January 2015, Lahore has an estimated 10 million people living in the region. The size of the region poses a bilateral problem; on the one hand, Lahore’s population and size contributes to its wealth and prosperity, while on the other hand, with a large city comes overpopulation and underdevelopment. Large cities such as Lahore often have another side to their urban development: the underdevelopment of parts of the region called the slums. Similar to the slums in various parts of India, Indonesia and Kenya, slums in Lahore are densely populated with areas lacking in basic necessities such as clean water, electricity, security and health care.
Since as early as the mid-1900s, impoverished citizens of Manila, Philippines have resided in informal settlements known as slums. The metro Manila area has several of these slums which houses much of the poor population of the city.
Just steps away from Seoul’s glitzy Gangnam district, residents who scavenge bottles for $10 a day are teaming up with landowners demanding more than $1 billion for the last remaining slum in the South Korean capital.
The city of Khlong Toey, if you will, sits on land owned by the Port Authority of Thailand. Many of the residents first relocated here in the 1950s, looking for work. Cheap labor was needed in the capital at the time. The city had established a sort of land rent system, in which people moving into the city to find work could settle on land at a very low cost. However, Bangkok grew exponentially in the 1970s, and this program essentially ceased to exist as landowners started to put condominiums or other new developments on their land instead of these people. They also neglected to collect rent, for the most part. The illegal squatter settlement continued to grow, and now it is one of the largest slums in the city.
In 2016, the 1% richest Thais (500,000 people) owned 58.0% of the country’s wealth. In 2018, they controlled 66.9%, overtaking their peers in Russia whose wealth share fell from 78% to 57.1%,” he wrote.
Within a decade, Vietnam witnessed a rapid economic transformation, yet at the same time, the country’s inequality is increasingly widened. Roughly 210 super-rich individuals in Vietnam had a combined wealth of around $20.72 billion in 2014 — an equivalent to 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, or half of Ho Chi Minh City’s GDP. The gap between the rich and the poor is best illustrated in the urban landscape of Ho Chi Minh City. Clusters of informal settlements made up of houses as small as 3 square metres (m2) — smaller than the size of a double bed — lean into the shadows of freshly-built skyscrapers and high-end complexes.
How vital is water to food production? What would happen if we ran out of readily available water? This is a real possibility for some countries that rely heavily on groundwater to grow crops and sustain local population. By observing the gravity of the Earth, NASA satellites have been able to track the changes in the amount of groundwater present in aquifers in northern India over a period of time.
By some estimates, Mumbai has the largest slum population of any city in the world, with more than half of its 12 million people living in informal settlements. Access to water is crucial for the health and safety of these residents, but due to complicated legal systems, many residents are facing a water shortage.
As Shanghai has spread out and rapidly industrialized over the past several decades, many of its waterways have become heavily polluted. Just 3 percent of the water in the city is clean enough to drink or use for aquaculture, one census of water resources found. Meanwhile, Shanghai’s population has swollen to roughly 24 million people. To help meet the growing demand for fresh water, the city opened Qingcaosha Reservoir on Changxing Island in 2010. On July 20, 2016, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this image of the reservoir. The second image shows the same area in 1984. The reservoir, which spans about 70 square kilometers (27 square miles) and has a capacity of 430 million cubic meters, supplies about 70 percent of Shanghai’s tap water.
With a population of 264 million people, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and claims Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The capital, Jakarta, continues to expand as an international hub; however, rural communities and residents of informal settlements in urban areas struggle in terms of poor health and infrastructure. For many households, water sources are distant, contaminated or expensive, and household sanitation is unaffordable.
A slideshow providing an overview of the water sources for Jakarta.
It may seem strange that a sprawling metropolis such as Tokyo would offer some of Japan’s finest drinking water. But before a single drop reaches consumers it must clear 51 strict quality standards set by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, including checks for toxicity and harmful contaminants, along with tests to ensure a palatable tint, clarity, and smell. In fact, Japan’s regulations for public water supplies are more stringent than those governing bottled spring water. What takes Tokyo’s water a step higher, though, is the metropolitan waterworks’ strict treatment regimen that includes roughly 200 parameters for safety and quality.
Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) provides water across a service area of about 400 square kilometers in Dhaka City and its surroundings. It has been relying heavily on groundwater as a source of water supply, but current groundwater abstraction is beyond sustainable yields, as evidenced by a rapidly falling water table. This and DWASA’s plan to further expand its service area to cater to a growing population make it essential to increase the surface water supply. However, the water quality in rivers surrounding Dhaka, such as Buriganga and Sitalakhya rivers, is rapidly deteriorating and the quantity is not adequate.
Contaminated tap water puts millions at risk in Bangladesh’s capital because of the city’s vast network of damaged underground pipes and lack of waste disposal.
After depleting groundwater reserves, China’s capital is becoming increasingly reliant on water pumped from the country’s flood-prone South.
A water crisis could be the biggest threat to China's rise as a superpower, undercutting the growth and stability so prized by the Government. In unusually blunt terms, former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has warned the lack of water threatened the very survival of the Chinese nation itself. Most of northern China suffers from acute water shortage. The statistics are alarming: in the past 25 years, 28,000 rivers and waterways have disappeared across the country.
This research focuses on the transformation of Tianjin’s water supply and drainage system from the 1860s to the twenty-first century. It sheds light not only on modernization and technical progress in the region, but also on the changing urban lifestyle and its influence on the environment.
Listed as one of the nine "at risk" provinces by China Water Risk - a Hong Kong-based nonprofit research organization - Guangdong is neither water-rich nor scarce. Protecting the Pearl River Delta's natural waterways from careless waste and pollution, therefore, is imperative to ensuring the province evades a water deficit. Unfortunately, starting in the 80s, South China's special economic zone has consistently favored industrial development over environmental sustainability.
Shenzhen encompasses 11 water systems consisting of 362 rivers, each with a basin area exceeding 1 km2 and summing to a combined total length of 1,255 km. Seven of these rivers have a basin area of over 100 km2. The city has built 183 reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 973 million m3. The water surface area totals 81.84 km2, accounting for some 4.1% of the gross land area of Shenzhen. To date, 26 water conservation zones have been designated to cover a total area of 361.6 km2, taking up 33% of the areas circled by the basic ecological control line. Out of these zones, first-grade and second-grade classifications occupy 115.91 km2 and 134.49 km2, respectively.
Chongqing, known as a mountain city, is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with fresh water resources and water quality far higher than the national average level; however, because of its unique geographical features, the city is troubled by difficulties with water transportation and high cost.
Years of rapid urbanisation, a swelling population and poor water management have led to drying taps, falling groundwater levels.
Severe drought threatens the country, and poor infrastructure is making it worse. But there are potential solutions.
In India, only 32 percent of households have tap water supply from treated sources, as per Census 2011. About 18 percent or 6,25,000 households in the capital city, Delhi, do not have piped water supply. Yet, this city has one of the highest percentages of households with piped water among all of India’s states and union territories. Only seven of India’s states and union territories have tap water supply in over 80 percent households.
On a crisp Delhi morning, dozens of women, men and children in one of the city's poorest areas gather on the side of the road holding plastic bottles and buckets. They're waiting for a water truck to arrive, clearly identifiable with its large tank on the back and hoses sprouting from the top like tentacles. When it does, the residents will have just a few minutes to fill their containers as much as possible to hopefully secure enough water for the day. In winter, when Delhi is cool, the situation is relatively calm. But in summer, when temperatures surge past 40 degrees Celsius, the situation becomes much more desperate. Fights have broken out. People have been killed.
Kolkata, one of the most water-abundant cities in India naturally, is becoming water stressed due to bad planning and criminal activities.
Dried-out taps, shutting down of schools, restaurants and hotels running out of business, police protection for protecting water resources, water being transported by train and tankers are not isolated events taking place in faraway places but are increasingly taking place almost every year in our neighbourhoods. This year, it was Chennai that ran out of water.
Rapid population growth, industrial expansion and urban migration are threatening Iran's water resources. Dr. Mohammad Taghi Sheykhi of Al-Zahra University in Tehran proposes water management initiatives to solve water shortages.
The Advanced Water Treatment System is applied in Osaka city. Conventional water treatment system uses coagulo-sedimentation basins as well as rapid sand filters. In order to improve drinking water quality, ozone contact basins and granular activated carbon filters are used for further treatment. It removes musty odors and reduces trihalomethanes.
Residents of Karachi, one of the largest cities in the world, are being held hostage by a ‘mafia’ that makes millions of dollars out of their need for water.
Water levels in Tarbela and Mangla dams have continued to decline due to no snow melting and almost no rainfall in the catchment areas in the ongoing and previous months. There may be 30 to 40 per cent of water shortage in the country if the situation persists till April.
Faced with fast-depleting groundwater supplies, Lahore - Pakistan’s second biggest city - began rationing water during 2018 and instituting a range of new conservation measures. Lahore relies on groundwater to fill its taps but groundwater levels are now falling at a rate of about 2.5 to 3 feet (0.7 to 0.9 meters) a year, according to WWF-Pakistan. The water table in the center of the city is now 130 feet (40 meters) down and is expected to fall below 230 feet (70 meters) by 2025, WWF researchers noted in 2017. “If the trend continues the situation will become even worse by 2040,” they predicted. To try to avoid a crisis, Lahore’s Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) on Tuesday began turning off the city’s 700,000 water connections 12 out of each 24 hours.
Since early March, the Manila metropolitan region has been in the grips of a water shortage, as the El Nino phenomenon has contributed to a 60% decline in rainfall, compared the country’s long-term average, across half the country’s provinces in the first part of the year, according to the government.
Manila Water obtains 97 percent of its raw water from rivers, streams and lakes, which represent high quality sources of surface water. Given its heavy reliance on surface water, protecting the watersheds that feed into the rivers and reservoirs is essential to its operations.
Seoul sources all its water from the Han River. After treatment, it is piped to taps all over the city. The raw water the city uses comes from intake points located in Seoul (Gangbuk, Jayang, Pungnap, Amsa) and the City of Namyangju (Gangbuk).
Increasing population, urbanization, agricultural and industrial expansion is impacting the water quality of various water sources. Pollutants from human activities also contribute to the degradation of the water quality. The severe flooding in the rainy season and extreme drought in the dry season could become two major sources of Thailand's water crisis.
The Ho Chi Minh City Service of Communication and Public Works (SCPW) admitted in September 1998 that the city's decades-old water supply system is incapable of meeting the growing demand. According to the SCPW, the water consumption is estimated to be 800,000 cubic meters per day, but the combined daily capacity of its two water treatment plants at Thu Duc and Hoc Mon, and of underground wells in the city, stops short at 750,000 cubic meters.