Sustainable Urbanism: Heritage Landscapes

Urban areas around the world are facing challenges of a magnitude never before seen in human history.  As sea level rises and weather patterns change, the United Nations Habitat group indicates that 60 percent of the largest cities are at risk from storm surges and tsunamis and all are threatened by the effects of climate change.  Despite this threat the populations of urban areas are growing at an accelerated rate.  In fact according to the 2014 revision of the ‘World Urbanization Prospects Report' by the United Nations Population Division, for the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population live in urban areas.  The report indicates the percentage of people living in urban areas has grown to 54 percent of the globe’s population.  It goes on to project the migration into urban areas will continue growing at a rapid pace reaching 70 percent by the year 2050.  This phenomenon is projected to be greatest in the emerging economy nations of Asia and Africa where 95 percent of the urban expansion is expected to take place.  China has been leading the way in this growth pattern and now official government policy plans to accelerate this trend. Urban growth, whether it is formal or informal, is consuming more and more land in its wake, removing adjacent agricultural land from production in some instances and occupying environmentally fragile land in others