Megacities

 Define the concept of megacities:  A city having a population of one million or more. 

The characteristics of megacities: Dynamics: Megacities have phenomenal growth rates. Bangkok, for example mushroomed 22from 67 km in the 1950s to 426 km in the early 1990s and Beijing has more than tripled in size over the last four decades. Scope of Economic, Environmental and Social Influence: Megacities have a major influence beyond the built up space of the city and there is a need to understand the relationship between the megacity and the corresponding economic region. Solving some of the underlying rural issues would help to stem the influx to the megacities. Density: To accommodate the large growth of population, megacities sustain the highest density of inhabitants, industrial assets and production, social and technical infrastructures. Settlement and Infrastructure: Due to the significant dynamics of megacities, urban planning and public infrastructure provision tends to be reactive rather than a guide to development.  Governance: Good governance is one of the greatest challenges for megacities.  Scarce Resources: Within developing countries capacity building is limited and there are scarce human resources to support effective growth management across megacities. Vulnerability: The concentration of inhabitants increases the risk of man-made and natural disasters. 

How the rise of the megacity is changing the way we live:  "The rapid increase in the number of cities home to more than 10 million people will bring huge challenges … and opportunities... " It's not just that more people now live in cities than in the rural countryside (for the first time in human history).  It's not just that major cities are growing increasingly more important to the global economy.  The rise of the megacities (cities over 10 million inhabitants) is a startling new phenomenon that really is something we've only seen in the last 50 years or so with the expectation that the number of megacities will double in the next 10 to 20 years (currently there are 23).  This reorganization of population entails wholesale restructuring of the economic, environmental, cultural and political networks.  The urban challenges that we face today are only going to become increasingly important in the future.        

MEGACITY.. CHALLENGES..SAFE FOOD & EDUCATION.. BEIJING

How does the challenge of safe food affect its surroundings and vice versa, both today and tomorrow? The increased reporting of food scandals has made the people aware of the problems with safe food with a lack of trust in the responsible departments and in the food industry as a result. This is a problem that can continue to grow in the future. The food issues are something that does not just affect a country or city locally, it can affect the world globally through export and import as well. Through reports analyzing the situation of China’s problems with lacking education, awareness and transparency of the food process it has become visible that these factors makes it possible for corruption and companies to tamper with the food. What types of ICT solutions exist today for the chosen challenge? From the research a wide range of different technologies and ICT solutions were discovered, both existing and more conceptual ones. Some of the solutions worked as a scanner for your smartphone enabling information about the foodstuff and were used in some cases for dietary listings and finding related news about the product. There were also apps used for increasing knowledge about sustainability and the food we are eating and the effect it has on the surroundings, trying to increase the awareness and in the end change consumer behavior. Other examples were ingredient explanation of E-numbers, farming apps, tracking food with RFID and futuristic concepts of city farming and analysis of the food substance. But there was no one single solution fitting all the different needs of the consumer in one place, and no easy link for the consumer to the producer and the government.

                    *Megacities*

Megacities