Urbanization as Opportunity

16 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Brandon Fuller

Brandon Fuller

New York University (NYU) - Urbanization Project

Paul Romer

Leonard N. Stern School of Business - Department of Economics

Date Written: May 1, 2014

Abstract

Urbanization deserves urgent attention from policy makers, academics, entrepreneurs, and social reformers of all stripes. Nothing else will create as many opportunities for social and economic progress. The urbanization project began roughly 1,000 years after the transition from the Pleistocene to the milder and more stable Holocene interglacial. In 2010, the urban population in developing countries stood at 2.5 billion. The developing world can accommodate the urban population growth and declining urban density in many ways. The most important citywide projects -- successes like New York and Shenzhen -- show even more clearly how influential human intention can be. The developing world can accommodate the urban population growth and declining urban density in many ways. One is to have a threefold increase in the average population of its existing cities and a six fold increase in their average built-out area. Another, which will leave the built-out area of existing cities unchanged, will be to develop 625 new cities of 10 million people -- 500 new cities to accommodate the net increase in the urban population and another 125 to accommodate the 1.25 billion people who will have to leave existing cities as average density falls by half.

Keywords: Population Policies, Urban Housing and Land Settlements, National Urban Development Policies & Strategies, City Development Strategies, ICT Applications

Suggested Citation

Fuller, Brandon and Romer, Paul, Urbanization as Opportunity (May 1, 2014). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 6874, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2439696

Brandon Fuller (Contact Author)

New York University (NYU) - Urbanization Project ( email )

New York, NY
United States

Paul Romer

Leonard N. Stern School of Business - Department of Economics ( email )

269 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10003
United States

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