I visited Tate Modern today, and if you are in London any time before 27th August I highly recommend the Global Cities exhibition. Some of the facts and figures it highlighted were staggering, and dramatically highlighted in the installations - such as:
- In 2007 for the first time in history one out of every two people on earth will be living in a city
- One out of three city dwellers nearly one billion people currently live in slums
- Cities produce 75% of the world's carbon emissions
- Shanghai is the eighth fastest-growing city in the world, adding 29.4 new residents each hour
- Los Angeles is growing at a rate of 10.1 people per hour - half the number of Cairo!
- In Egypt half its inhabitants live within a 100 kilometre radius of Cairo - which has a residential density of 36,500 people per km2 (London 4,500 people per km2)
- Sao Paulo is ethnically diverse and young: 66% of its population is under 20
The Tate web site also has some good information, for those unable to make it.
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/globalcities/default.shtm
