Across the globe and in a short amount of time, we’ve given up the tractor for the city bus, the open landscape for one of brick and mortar. We are now an urban planet. In fact, by 2008 over 50 percent of the global population was living in urban areas. It was 3 percent in 1800. Throughout history, cities have attracted people as centers of culture, religion, learning, and economics. Looking back, the first wave of urban migration took place in what are today’s more developed countries, especially in Europe and North America. But looking ahead, 90 percent of the future urban increase is expected to take place in Asia and Africa, and it is projected that close to two-thirds of all people will be calling cities home by 2050.

Urbanization is often linked with economics – increased job opportunities, a centralized market, better pay and higher individual wealth have all drawn people into cities. And for a long time, these pull factors are what caused cities to grow. The Industrial Revolution caused a shift from agriculturally based societies to industrial, and thus geographically centered, societies. But that dynamic is changing. Today, most urban growth is natural increase – due to more births than deaths among those already dwelling in cities. Additionally, formerly small settlements are being reclassified as urban areas as the populace living there grows from within.

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