The rise and rise of the Asian megacity (and why 'metacities' are the next big thing)
Asia's rapid urbanisation is changing the very shape and nature of what we think of as a city, writes Vanessa Collingridge, in the first of a three-part series
Looking out from any one of the skyscrapers that dominate Shenzhen's central business district, it seems as though the city never ends.
As far as the eye can see, there's an almost unremitting jumble of shiny tower blocks and lower-rise offices, warehouses and arterial highways with their nose-to-tail traffic. These are the classic hallmarks of an urban landscape that, in the words of Disney's Buzz Lightyear, seems to stretch "to infinity and beyond!"
But what's less obvious is that this cityscape represents one of the most remarkable changes in human history - in any era. In the West, you get large cities such as London and Paris but, in Asia, witness the rise - and rise - of the megacity.
Megacities are generally defined as those with more than 10 million inhabitants. Back in the early 1950s, there were only two on Earth - New York and Tokyo; by 2010, according to United Nations figures, this number had shot up to 24 - and by 2025, the UN predicts, there will be 39 of these supersized cities. These numbers tell a remarkable story about the way we are choosing to organise our lives but, look deeper into the data, and an equally fascinating trend reveals itself: the new urban areas are growing fastest not in the traditional powerhouses of Europe and America but in Asia and the "global south".In 2010, just nine of the world's megacities were located in Asia; scroll forward 15 years and 21 of the projected 39 megacities will be situated here, with the biggest growth in population expected to take place in the new or lesser-known cities in South and East Asia.
But it's not just the rapid increase in their numbers or their sheer size that makes these megacities fascinating. They look, feel and behave differently, too.
"The word I'd use is 'energy' - both from a human and a commercial angle - and I especially feel this in Asia," says Christopher Dent, professor of East Asia's international political economy at Britain's University of Leeds. "The physical features of these megacities are not necessarily like the classic Manhattanesque skyline: Hong Kong is high-rise and so is Singapore, but some of the new cities don't have many skyscrapers at all. However, what they do all have are vibrant central business districts and vast amounts of human traffic that give an energy to the place.