By 2050, 75% of the world’s population will be living in cities with billions of urban dwellers living in the growing economies of the Global South. While cities provide jobs, security and potential they also create challenges in terms of the environment and social inclusion. One out of every three new urban residents will live in slums without access to basic infrastructure and three quarters of the global C02 emissions will come from cities.
The megacities session at LSE Asia Forum will explore these themes in the context of major urban development in the Global South. City-leaders and urban specialists from Malaysia and the wider region will outline the major problems – pollution, congestion, exclusion – that face cities today and explore how urban environments can be planned, managed and governed to be more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.