Megacities, megacity-regions, and the endgame of urbanization

Abstract

This chapter introduces the major questions posed to the contributors to this Handbook: What place do megacities and megacity-regions occupy in a world of cities? How do they interrogate current thinking about urban theory, urban society, and urban policy? What environmental, governance, and social sustainability challenges do they pose? And what role will these largest urban places play in shaping humanity’s future? The current global urban transition from 50 per cent urban to fully urban, and then to population decline, is projected to be completed during the current century, with many countries reaching that tipping point much sooner. What are the roles and consequences of the rapid growth of mega-urbanism in these final stages of the transition from a primarily rural to an overwhelmingly urban world? We argue that megacities are important, distinctive in their governance, environmental, liveability, and economic challenges, and that now is not the time to assume that different scales, densities, and configurations of urbanization are all the same. On the contrary, it is time to further focus our critical and analytical lenses on the particularities and distinctive urban challenges and policy issues associated with mega-urbanization processes.