19.20.21: Studying the Rise of Supercities
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 02.28.08
Over half of the world's populations now live and work in cities. This trend will continue during the 21st century, creating "supercities" out of places like New York, Los Angeles, London, Moscow, Beijing, Mumbai, Mexico City and more. These supercities will become "vast, intensely urban hubs [that] will radically redefine the world's future macroeconomic and cultural landscape." These assumptions are both the inspiration and basis for a project called 19.20.21, spotted by TreeHugger head honcho Graham at the TED conference.
19.20.21 is a vast, global project that will take 19 of the world's largest cities -- those that will have 20 million people in them during the 21st century -- as case studies to explore the impact of the "supercity" phenomenon. Their hope is that by better understanding population's effect on urban and business planning and its impact on consumers around the globe, they can help the world prepare for a whole new ballgame that will occur as supercities swell and affect change on the global cultural landscape. And there are a ton of things they're going to have to consider.
The growth of these cities -- 19 of those above will be chosen for the study -- has huge implications in a tremendous variety of global environmental considerations; not least of those is the world's most precious resource: water. Not only in industrial systems like shipping and food supply, but in planetary systems like meteorological patterns and (oh, yeah) global warming; almost all of these burgeoning supercities are on the coast, and will be affected by rising sea levels.
But, wait; aren't cities supposed to be more sustainable? "There are those who predict that the model of denser population will provide a better quality of life and will actively result in environmental solutions. Virtually no one is prepared to really comprehend the impact of this surging trend, yet none of us can feel equipped for life in the 21st century without that understanding." So, perhaps there can be too much of a good thing; we'll have to stay tuned.
When all is said and done, 19.20.21 will "provide a roadmap for understanding the world ahead," and seems like a tremendously interesting big-picture project. They'll be disseminating their findings via a variety of media, including the web, TV, print and in seminars and exhibits. Can the planet sustain itself in a supercity culture? Will the world's biggest cities be swallowed by rising seas? Stay tuned. ::19.20.21 seen at ::TED
See also: ::Underwater City Proposed for Amsterdam, ::America's 50 Greenest Cities: Popular Science Ranks 'Em, ::Cities Changing Before Our Eyes and ::Wayback Machine 1932: How Long Will Our Cities Last?
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As the population urbanizes, it looses connection with the land...."food comes from a store, right?" How will this impact the earth I wonder?
The average rural person of the same living standard almost always has a larger impact on the earth as compared to urban dwellers
If you go back only 100 years we were mainly agriculturally. Now its mainly city dwellers. I think it may swing back the other way so people can grow there own food and energy.
I realize that Beijing and Shanghai are believed to be china's only cities at times, but Chongqing is actually the largest city in China.
To expand on what surfcam said, you need 4 major inputs to live and maintain your current lifestyle. Air, water, food, and energy. When you live in a city you can only harvest 1 of those 4 yourself (air). If you are one of the lucky few that lives in a detached/semi-detached home or own a high-rise and that location has good sun exposure you may be able to harvest some of your own energy, but its unlikely even if all the elements are in place that you can harvest enough for all of your needs (heating, cooling, transportation). So in the end you import much of your inputs from outside of the city. Your water is pumped in, your food is trucked in, your electricity is wired in, and your air most likely (if you live in a multi-unit building) requires lots of extra energy to artificially blow it into your home.
If you live in a suburban or rural setting the odds of you being able to harvest all 4 inputs yourself rises sharply. You can dig a well or find a local stream for water, plant a large garden, raise an animal or two, and put up a large solar PV and/or solar thermal system. Your air doesn't have to be pumped in and if you want to heat it or cool it your solar systems cover that energy input. Self-sufficiency on your own acre or two.
Many love to say how much more energy-efficient it is to live densly in a city. You'll never convince me that all that pumping, trucking, wiring, blowing and the embodied energy in all that concrete is more efficient than living on 2 acres in the country in a wood-framed/hay-bale/packed-earth house (all have a lot less embodied energy than concrete and steel).
I've actually written a lot on the development of the megalopolis and could go in in length, but taking a look not just at the developing metropolis, but how they're merging together. New York is not exactly New York, it's part of the BosWash corridor [Boston/Providence/New York/Philadelphia/Baltimore/Washington DC]. It's not so much that people are exactly moving to the city, but the city is expanding to the people.
This sounds like an interesting article though. There are a million points of discussion on environmental sustainability in cities v. countryside.
Mega-Ciites such as these can not long exist without strong and reliable public health measures, such as provision of trash pickup and wastewater collection and treatment to at least secondary standards. Already, the poor barios fringing many of these lack these provisions. There is significant risk of pandemic.