Cities

• [New] Post COVID-19, the Asia-Pacific and Japan region is expected to offer high market growth opportunities owing to the increasing urban population, the growing market penetration of internet farming practices, and the rising favorable government investments.
• [New] China is expected to have 5G network coverage in major cities by the end of 2020, with over 600,000 5G base stations.
• [New] Hidalgo has been leading the transformation of Paris for years, previously announcing that every street will be bike-friendly by 2024 and that all cars with combustion engines will be banned from the city centre by 2030.
• [New] Serious social and environmental challenges remain unsolved in many urban areas, particularly in Africa and Asia, in which 90% of the growth in cities by 2050 will take place.
• [New] Arguably nowhere has provided quite the insight into how age-friendly cities in the UK might shape up as the high-rise-packed metropolises of Asia, where cities will be home to 60% of the aging population by the year 2030.
• [New] Levels of urbanisation are increasing rapidly, with large cities set to account for 85% of global GDP by 2030, and more than two-thirds of the world's population forecast to live in urban areas by 2050.
• [New] Glasgow faces a significant undersupply of high-quality rental accommodation and, within the coming decade, will see its population increase as it continues to establish itself as one of the UK's best cities to live and work.
• [New] China continues to lead in the rollout of publicly accessible chargers, particularly fast chargers, which are suited to its dense urban areas with less opportunity for private charging at home.
• [New] Smart Cities: Smart cities will create significant business opportunities with a market value of $2.46 trillion by 2025.
• [New] Based on recent studies, projected changes to storm tide climatology in New York City will contribute a relatively minimal (below 10% relative) impact on changing extreme water levels compared with SLR by the end of the 21st century.
• [New] If there is no move to grant access, EU banks would be unable to use the City of London beyond the end of 2020, increasing the threat of a disorderly unwinding of contracts before the end of the year.
• [New] The Islamic State continues to be a threat in many areas that were under its control during its takeover of large territories in the country six years ago.
• Middle-class growth driven by urbanization and education should help counter the effects of the rapid population aging trend in many economies, including China
• The number of food insecure people reached 7.7 million in Zimbabwe in the first quarter of 2020, and WFP projects 8.6 million people to be food insecure by the end of 2020 (3.3 million in urban areas).
• In the worst-case scenario visualization, the number of days in Phoenix per year that hit at least 32 °C may reach 199 by 2100 - compared with an average of 158 days per year during the 20th century.
• At least 20 major cities globally have said they plan to ban diesel or gasoline powered vehicles from their centers by 2030.
• The number of US smart city deployments is expected to fall seven percent in 2021 due to COVID-19.
• VanMoof will launch the Bike Doctor Network in beta later in 2020 in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Berlin, before arriving in more than 40 global cities by the end of 2021.
• The world's unprecedented shift in demographic trends means that almost all population growth projected by 2050 will be in the urban areas of less developed countries.
• In 30 years, cities and towns will contribute two thirds of world economic output and consume 80% of the planet's natural resources.

Last updated: 24 October 2020