The Endless City

A new series on BBC 1 begins this week, entitled 'Andrew Marr's Mega Cities' in which the presenter will look at 5 of the worlds largest and most intense urban environments.  The series will explore Dhaka, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Mexico City. With more people now living in Cities and predictions that if present trends continue 75% of the planet will be urbanised by the end of the century, this should be a really interesting program.


On a personal note I am fascinated by the Mega-City, especially at the speed at which many in the Eastern hemisphere are growing almost undetected by the West. In a previous article I explored Chongqing in China, a City of 31 Million people and one of the fastest growing places in the world.


The Pearl River Delta in China's Southern Guangdong province is another such Mega-City region, comprising a area about twice the size of Wales this is one of the most populated places on Earth, with 10 Cities with populations of over 1.5 million,  of which two Shenzhen and Guangzhou have populations of around 10 million. The total population of the region is estimated to be around 100 million .


The main areas of concern are undoubtably the pollution and landscape and ecosystem damage that such dense urban sprawl will produce, and the impact that this will have on the its residents.  The Pearl delta is one of the most polluted water systems on earth, according to a 2009 Green-peace report which attributes it on increased indultrialisation within the region and the pumping of toxic waste into the delta. While increasing car ownership and relaxation of the Hukou registration system which can limit movement within the region, especially for rural migrants, will all bring further pressure.


 On a footnote the drive for growth has brought some bizarre developments notably the New South China Mall, the worlds largest Shopping Mall with 2350 units of which 6 years since it fully opened only 47 are occupied, a result perhaps of a misunderstanding of Chinese demographics on the developers behalf, its location in a peripheral area of Dongguan alongside a toll road, a highly industrialized and one of the least wealthy cities within the region.

The South China Mall: Build it and they will come.. maybe not (google)

Whether the South China Mall will prosper over time remains to be seen, but it certainly could be argued it was simply ahead of its time, increased economic development and movement within the region will certainly not harm its chances, especially as the region looks towards encouraging less polluting and better paid high-tech industries.