In The City

Expanding slums are a characteristic of 21st Century urbanisation. (Photo-AP)

The United Nations estimates that about 180,000 people are being added to the urban population every day. This means the world's urban infrastructure has to absorb the equivalent of the population of two Toykos each year. Greater Tokyo, the world's biggest city, has expanded from 13 million residents in 1950, to today's figure of 35 million. In 1950, less than one-in-three people lived in urban areas. The world had just two so-called "megacities" with populations in excess of 10 million: New York and Tokyo. Today, there are at least 20.

Thinking of that cottage now, aren't ya?