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It’s a collection of slides — similar to a PowerPoint presentation (a decent one, thank ghad):

No two cities in the world, or even cities within the same country, ask the same questions that result in data that describes themselves. No two cities create maps to the same scale, or with identical legends.

And along with an actively ticking total world population clock…which has us at about 6.89 Billion (when I visited last).

In 1800, less than 3% of the world lived in cities. Most people lived their entire lives without ever seeing one.

In 1900, 150 million people lived in the world’s cities. That number now surged past 3 billion and last year crossed another tipping point: more than half the people on earth now live in cities. By 2050 – it will be 2/3 of us. Humans are now an urban species, cramming into vast urban agglomerations.

The population, including the public and private sector, is currently not prepared for life in these intensely urban hubs, nor have communication strategies been honed to handle the resulting clutter in the urban marketplace.

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The biggest city listed (in 2005)? Tokyo at over 35 million… that’s more than all of Canada.

I recently traveled through and flew over #24 on the list: Shenzen, China just north of Hong Kong.

It was listed as 7 million + in 2005; however, is now listed at over 8 million. It is also considered one of the fastest growing cities in China — if not the world.

And then throw in Guangzhou, China just a little to the northwest of Shenzen with more than 8 million.

Curiously, Shenzen, China and Hong Kong are defined as separate cities.

And really, they are politically. There’s still a border crossing between the two.

But really, there is not much geographic distance between the two. About an hour and a bit drive from downtown to downtown.

Hong Kong has a population of approximately 7 million and is considered one of the most densely populated places in world, as well as the world’s largest shipping port.

Shenzen is the third largest shipping port behind HK and Shanghai.

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With these three cities alone, this means a population of well over 25 million (30 million with surrounding areas) in a small geographic region.

How many cities in the 19,20, 21 project in Canada?

Zero.

How many in North America?

Three: New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico City.

I suppose it’s important to try and keep our reality in check…