WEBVTT

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- Today, over half the world calls cities their home.

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Each week, around 2 million more people

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leave rural areas and join cities.

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By 2050, the Earth's urban population

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is expected to reach 70% of all humanity.

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Urbanization at this scale

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is a recent human phenomenon.

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We used to be a rural planet

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with most humans occupied with agriculture

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in small scattered communities.

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Today's mega cities

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are a product of the industrial revolutions.

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It seems fitting that they're gradually reflecting

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the characteristics of the fourth industrial revolution.

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Let's quickly review how we got here.

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In some form, cities have existed for thousands of years.

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Damascus, the capital of Syria,

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thought to be the oldest,

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continuously inhabited city in the world

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was founded around 11,000 years ago.

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Back then, cities like Damascus, however,

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were the exception rather than the norm.

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From about 1600 onwards,

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larger organized urban settings

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began to be more commonplace.

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Even still, the global population

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was pretty small and didn't reach 1 billion

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until around 1804.

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The first industrial revolution

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beginning around 1750,

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resulted in both increased urbanization

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from rural immigrants

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and a notable growth in the birth rate.

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Increasing economic opportunities, primarily from factories,

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pulled people away from farms

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and they established themselves

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in housing complexes

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next to these new jobs.

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At first, conditions were pretty poor

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but over time things improved.

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Institutions like the police

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and unions were established.

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Improved sanitation reduced disease.

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This period was coupled with medical breakthroughs

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that improved the quality of life

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for many.

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British cities began to grow quickly,

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as did other industrializing

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areas across Europe and in the United States.

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By the early 1900s,

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the global population doubled to 2 billion

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and would hit 3 billion by 1960.

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This urbanization trend has continued

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all over the world

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as countries have developed.

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These organizing structures

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have provided lots of jobs,

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predictable services,

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significant economies of scale,

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increasing prosperity

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and the emergence of a rich, diverse culture.

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Cities have lifted billions of people

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out of extreme poverty.

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Today's cities dominate the human experience

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of every major economy on the planet.

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China alone has over 160 cities

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with a population of over 1 million people.

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Cities have provided many positive contributions

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to our human wellbeing

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and some maintain that they are

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the single most important human creation.

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Unfortunately, they have created

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and are sustaining significant problems too.

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The price of two industrial revolutions

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has been costly.

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Many cities are near breaking point

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and many are already failing

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in key areas such as basic services.

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In fact, it's believed that cities

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are now the biggest contributor

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towards our global climate crisis.

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Thought of another way,

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if we're going to save the planet

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from overheating and becoming unsustainable for life,

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we're going to have to fix our cities.

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The work to repair our cities

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and prepare them for the next 100 years and beyond

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has started.

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The effort to create smarter and more sustainable cities

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will require bold choices

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in how we want to live

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and also reassessment

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of our behaviors and expectations.

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Smarter cities are all about strategies

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to improve livability,

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workability and sustainability.

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Technology is at the heart of delivering

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new ideas and solutions

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to some of the most intractable issues

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such as those related to transportation,

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energy,

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water

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and public safety.

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Foundational fourth industrial revolution technologies

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such as high speed, fixed and wireless internet.

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The internet of things,

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artificial intelligence,

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autonomous vehicles, digitalization,

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big data and many more are becoming

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the building blocks of our future cities.

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I argue that cities are the ultimate manifestation

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of this new revolution.

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Our future belongs to cities

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and it's where most of humanity

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will experience their lives

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over the next century and beyond.

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Understand our cities

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and you can understand our future.

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That's where the opportunities and challenges will live.