Cities are growing faster than ever, but upgrades don’t reach everyone equally
In this commentary, Dan Novaes outlines how more than half of the global population now lives in cities—a share that continues to rise. He explains that dense urban areas are becoming the primary hubs for new jobs, cultural activity, and innovation, making cities the central stage of modern life. At the same time, cities bear the brunt of global challenges such as heat waves, floods, air pollution, housing shortages, and traffic congestion, prompting local governments to experiment with climate‑resilient planning, public transport, and smart‑city technologies. Novaes highlights research showing that these upgrades are distributed unevenly: digital services, cleaner streets, and safer neighborhoods tend to appear first in already advantaged districts, while poorer neighborhoods experience deteriorating infrastructure, higher climate risk, and limited access to new services. The overall message is that the future of urban living hinges not only on making cities bigger and smarter, but on ensuring that the benefits of those improvements are shared equitably across all residents.
Chapters
More from Dan
A robot "attacked" a customer in a Russian store, and the truth is more interesting than the video.
