Megacities Update - 10.30.2014

If you've seen my previous posts concerning the need for Megacities in the Globalist Agenda, you'll understand the context.

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Millennials Continue Urbanization Of America, Leaving Small Towns
October 21, 2014 6:38 AM ET

The Washington, D.C., suburb of Arlington, Va., was dubbed a top destination for millennials this year.
"Most of the young people that go to college go away, and then they don't come back," says Lee Bianchi, a retired engineer who lived in Clinton, Iowa (pop. 26,647), from 1961 to 2008.

That's long been the storyline in small-town America, which for decades has bled citizens — especially young ones — to the glamorous big cities. One might have thought technology would stanch the flow, at least among millennials: With Wi-Fi and telecommuting, young people theoretically could dodge overpriced real estate and ugly commutes and opt instead for a spacious house with a big yard and a broadband connection.

But it turns out the millennial generation is only accelerating the demographic shift. In fact, this may be the most "bright lights, big city" generation in history. While the number of millennials is ticking slightly upward in small towns and rural areas, it's nothing compared with the growth of their numbers in suburbs and cities.

"At this point, the prognosis does not look good for much of small-town America," writes William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.

The kids aren't just flocking to the city proper, either, but to the metropolis writ large, including the fancier suburbs. The top destination for millennials is the Washington, D.C., suburb of Arlington, Va., where their ranks grew by a staggering 82 percent between 2007 and 2013. Arlington's median home sale price is $557,250, and of the 290 Arlington apartments listed on Zillow, only 10 would let you live alone for less than $1,200 a month.

An enterprising millennial with a flexible employer might hop across the Chesapeake Bay to the historic district of Cambridge, Md., (pop. 12,690) with a porch overlooking the Choptank River. With a thriving downtown and arts district, Cambridge was No. 10 on Livability's list of Best Small Towns in 2013. Homes go for $164,154, and a monthly $1,200 rental will get you a detached house or a 1,600-square-foot townhouse.

But affordable real estate and waterfront views don't have millennials biting. They continue "a multigenerational pattern of young adults preferring more expensive urban areas over lower-cost rural ones because the lifestyles and opportunities in such places make the extra burden of cost worth it," says Robert Lang, professor of urban growth and population dynamics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Which is to say: Getting to a big city — or at least near one — still has the smell of success.

"We don't all hail from small Midwestern towns, but most came from places where they felt limited — small-town Maine, suburban west Texas, California's Central Valley and the Inland Empire," wrote twentysomething Brittany Shoot of her friends and neighbors in the San Francisco Bay Area. "It's easy to find people who will sneeringly complain about how trapped they felt as teenagers."
Small towns will have to hustle to recruit and retain millennials, experts say. The American Planning Association urges local planners to mimic the appeal of city centers by creating "density." That means keeping the walkable neighborhoods and traditional town centers that millennials say is key to making a community a desirable place to live.

Smart-growth advocate James A. Bacon sees opportunities to fight off "brain drain" and attract urban "escapees" who start small businesses, but he worries that towns aren't taking advantage. "Unfortunately, to date, local economic developers have stuck with the industrial-recruitment strategy that bears less and less fruit," Bacon writes.

But without economic opportunity — that is, good jobs — the most charming downtown in the world can't attract permanent residents. Small towns may have to reinvent themselves, according to experts like Frey of the Brookings Institution.

But all is not lost. The numbers that point toward the decline of small towns also show a positive narrative for millennials, and perhaps a sunnier economic outlook than you'd expect. Notwithstanding student-loan debt and the stereotype of living in their parents' basements, a RealtyTrac analysis released in September showed that this generation is moving where the rents and mortgages are high. Arlington is just the tip of it.

From 2007 to 2013, the 10 counties that gained the most millennial residents had a median home price of $406,800. And the average population of those counties was 587,522 — a far cry from small-town living. Baby boomers filled out the other side of the equation by downsizing to counties with average populations of 261,232 and a median home price of $144,875.

So the best answer as to why millennials are moving away from smaller towns may be simple: because they can. And small towns will have to rev up their sales pitch to convince young adults that they can live not just cheaply but also well in the places that older generations called home.

here:
http://www.npr.org/2014/10/21/357723069/millennials-continue-urbanization-of-america-leaving-small-towns

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The New Global Centers for Talent
London, New York, and Paris top the list of the world’s leading talent hubs—but not for the reasons you might think.
Richard Florida | Oct 16, 2014


London, the world's most popular work destination, according to a new survey. (Reuters/Paul Hackett)

Over the past couple of decades, talent has supplanted endowments of natural resources and the technological and industrial prowess of large corporations as the source of economic advantage for nations and cities. Jane Jacobs initially identified the economic power of talent clustering in cities, and a raft of economic studies has since confirmed that concentrations of human capital drive national and regional economic growth and development. But most studies have only identified and examined the role of talent clusters within nation states.

A new study released last week by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the recruiting firm The Network identifies the leading cities for global talent around the world. The study is based on survey responses from more than 203,000 people across 189 countries based on online and email queries. Specifically, the study asked respondents to indicate up to five cities in which they would “consider living abroad.” 

The graphic below, from the study, lists the top 30 talent hubs around the world based on these survey responses.

more here:
http://www.citylab.com/work/2014/10/the-new-global-centers-for-talent/381487/

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Interactive Infographic Tracks the Growth of the World’s Megacities
11 Oct 2014 | by Evan Rawn


Tokyo remains the world’s largest city, but is beginning to see competition from the world’s other megacities. Image © Flickr CC User Les Taylor

With more than 7 billion people now alive, the greatest population growth over the last century has occurred in urban areas. Now, a new series of interactive maps entitled “The Age of Megacities” and developed by software company ESRI allows us to visualize these dramatic effects and see just how this growth has shaped the geography of 10 of the world’s 28 megacities. Defined as areas with continuous urban development of over 10 million people, the number of megacities in the world is expected to increase, and while Tokyo still tops the list as the world’s largest megacity, other cities throughout Asia are quickly catching up. Find out more after the break.


Lagos, Nigeria 1900. Image via http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2014/growth-of-cities/

Perhaps not surprisingly, much of the most significant urban growth will take place in developing countries. Lagos, Nigeria is included in the series of interactive maps. Despite being the largest city in Africa, “two out of three residents live in slums, lacking viable access to clean water, waste, disposal, electricity and roads.” According to UN Estimates, Lagos will grow to become the world’s third most populous city by 2015.


Lagos, Nigeria Today. Image via http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2014/growth-of-cities/

It is striking to see how many of these megacities witnessed their greatest expansion in the last fifty years. Though many of these cities began as small clustered areas, quite often they fell victim to urban sprawl and expanded outwards rather than increasing in density.

found here:
http://www.archdaily.com/556088/interactive-infographic-tracks-the-growth-of-the-world-s-megacities/

Explore the full interactive map and learn more about the urban development of 10 of the worlds largest megacities here:
http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2014/growth-of-cities/

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How branding can help humanise our megacities
by Peter Knapp, 20.10.2014


How branding can help humanise our megacities

As cities grow faster, bigger, wider, taller we are all being dwarfed. In 2011, there were 23 urban agglomerations that qualified as megacities, with populations exceeding 10m inhabitants. By 2025, there will likely be 37, writes Peter Knapp, global creative officer at Landor Associates.

Along with the rise of megacities is the rise of equally mega developments. From East London to Guangzhou in China, huge faceless canyons of concrete and glass are springing up every year that dwarf what we are used to: a sense of human scale. City growth is of course a prerequisite of urban development, something that’s been going on for thousands of years. We can't stop it but how do we adapt to it?

The answer is to break these architectural jungles down into something that we can relate to. There is growing demand for a more profound sense of territorialism to our urban environments, a new age of tribalism if you like, and in order to meet that challenge we must create stronger and more distinctive regions, territories, places, districts, boroughs and landmarks.

The rate of city growth today means leaving it to organic progression, where it is driven largely by local citizens, is no longer realistic. A more robust, civic approach is required, with place branding principles at the heart.

more here:
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1316891/branding-help-humanise-megacities

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At Home in a Crowd
There are 28 urban areas worldwide with at least 10 million people. By 2030, 12 more are expected to enter the ranks of the planet's megacities.
Published Sep. 9, 2014

check out the map here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/infographics/2014-09-09/global-megacities-by-2030.html