Title:
Cities Now Home to More Than Half of All People
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
Over half the world's people now live in cities. The
latest "Global Report on Human Settlements" says the
historic change took place last year. The report
came out in October from U.N. Habitat, a United
Nations agency. A century ago, fewer than five
percent of all people lived in cities.
By the middle of this century it could be seventy
percent, or almost six and a half billion people.
Already three-fourths of people in developed
countries live in cities. Now most urban population
growth is in the developing world.
Urbanization can lead to social and economic
progress, but also pressure on cities to provide
housing and services. The new report says almost two
hundred thousand people move into cities and towns
each day. It says worsening inequalities, driven by
social divisions and differences in wealth, could
lead to violence unless cities plan better.
Another issue is urban sprawl. This is where cities
expand into rural areas, sometimes at a much faster
rate than urban population growth. Sprawl is common
in the United States. Americans move a lot. In a
recent study,
Art Hall at the University of Kansas found that
people are moving away from the major cities to
smaller cities. He sees a trend toward
"de-urbanization" across America. But urban
economies still provide possibilities that rural
areas do not.
Sabina Deitrick at the University of Pittsburgh, in
Pennsylvania, is an expert on cities. She notes that
urbanization brings social change that can empower
women.
Sabina Deitrick has closely studied Pittsburgh from
the loss of its main industry, steel, to its rebirth
as a smaller city with different industries. She
says the reuse of existing land and spaces and the
reinvention of urban life is important if cities are
to succeed.
Professor Deitrick notes that a city's ability to
educate and train its people is important to jobs
and new industries. Even new industries based on old
deas.
Around the world, people leave rural farm jobs to go
to the city. Yet now there is growing demand for
farm products grown close to the cities where they
are used. Urban farming is taking hold in some of
the worlds biggest cities.
Sabina Deitrick says studies show that urban farming
is one area where women can earn more than men do.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report,
written by Mario Ritter. You can comment on our
reports at voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
