The Urbanizing World

Urbanization is an important process in the development of human society. The more developed countries have already achieved a high level of urbanization and have entered a stage of mature urbanization. The less developed countries are just accelerating their pace of urbanization and are in a stage of expanding urbanization. The number of urban population in the poor and less developed countries overtook that of the more developed countries in the early 1970s. By the year 2025, every four out of five urban population will be in currently less developed countries. Rapid urbanization in the developing countries has already resulted in widespread unemployment, poverty, and housing shortages. Due to limited natural resources on the earth, it is impossible that the world’s urban population could enjoy a similar life style of high consumption as in developed countries. The development of an equitable, urbanized, and prosperous world needs a new form of technology and fundamental changes in the life styles of rich countries. The article discusses the idea of moving toward a less energy-intensive urban form and progress in cleaning the urban environment.