The internet has created many new opportunities for people to get richer around the world.But are the benefits of access to the net filtering down to the very poorest in society? A shanty town in Brazil is a good place to find out. Babilonia is a favela, a slum district, of about 80,000 inhabitants, most of them very poor. It's located in Brazil's second city Rio de Janeiro, close to the world famous Copacabana beach.
An analysis by The Sunday Telegraph has identified twenty-seven towns and cities which have been chosen by Whitehall planners as locations where parts of the Green Belt should be reviewed or sacrificed to make way for a massive programme of house building.
Green belt threat to 27 towns and cities revealed - Telegraph
Every week the latest episode in this groundbreaking series is available to steam straight to your computer. You can also get a behind the scenes look at each film by reading the directors comments.
The world’s biggest cities are already victims of climate change. There are real economic and social impacts as climate refugees swell urban populations, food and water supplies are threatened and sea levels rise. “Hot Cities” travels the world from Lagos to Los Angeles, from Shanghai to Surat, from Dhaka to Durban to see if our cites can adapt and survive.
Tourists snapping up £20 guided walks around Nairobi's open-sewer streets
The streets of Kibera, Nairobi, are attracting the interest of tour operators - but critics say the residents are on parade like animals. Photograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA
The Dutch tourists came well prepared for the walking safari: strong shoes and sunscreen, backpacks and bottled water. Ahead lay an afternoon visiting one of Kenya's most recognisable sights – but one that rarely features in tourist brochures.
"It might seem a bit strange to come here," said Eric Schlangen, as the guide led him towards the sea of tin-roofed shacks that constitute Kibera, often described as one of the world's largest slums. "But I wanted to see how people live in this country, not just the animals."
Slum tourism is taking off in Kenya. Several local organisations have started selling guided trips through Kibera, a short drive from the luxury hotels that serve most foreign visitors in Nairobi.
For about £20, tourists are promised a glimpse into the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people crammed into tiny rooms along dirt paths littered with excrement-filled plastic bags known as "flying toilets", as one tour agency explains on its website.
Kenya's slums attract poverty tourism | World news | The Guardian
If you think it's impossibly complicated to make your town or city low carbon, think again.This website gives expert advice on planning, designing and managing a sustainable place. It cuts through the complexity with clear priorities for action. And it shows which places are getting it right.Getting it right means a more resilient economy, healthier residents, a more beautiful place and a better quality of life for everyone.
Films on LONDON and MUMBAI
Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment.
In a survey of 120 major cities, New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya Abidjan and Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognised acceptable "alert" line used to warn governments.
Mumbai - according to the UN - has a population of 19 million. And the UN forecasts that total will rise to more than 26 million by 2025. At that point, it would be the most heavily populated "urban agglomeration" in the world, apart from Tokyo and its surroundings. Mumbai's increase in population will partly be caused by increasing life expectancy and partly by migration from other, poorer, parts of India. Although Mumbai is India's commercial capital and rents for luxury apartments are some of the highest in the world, it is estimated that more than half the city's population live in slums. And controversial plans to redevelop the slums highlight some of the problems faced by mega-cities around the world.
For the first time in human history more people are living in urban than rural places. Over the summer of 2008 URBAN EARTH will be travelling on foot across Mexico City, London and Mumbai to witness our increasingly URBAN EARTH.
There are going to be 19 cities with over 20 million people in the 21st century.
Chapter 1: overview: tomorrow's crises today city of darkness/ city of light
Chapter 2: DELHI i: drinking the city dry water insecurity
Chapter 3: LAGOS: crisis of management governance and planning
Chapter 4: DHAKA: reaping the whirlwind vulnerability to natural disasters
Chapter 5: ADDIS: putting food on the table food insecurity
Chapter 6: RIO: fighting for the favelas human insecurity
Chapter 7: JAKARTA: battling to breathe pollution control
Chapter 8: CAIRO: sheltering the urban poor The housing crisis
Chapter 9: EL ALTO: labouring to survive employment insecurity
Chapter 10: LUANDA: living in the Hot Zone health and sanitation
Chapter 11: ULAANBATAR: painful transitions cultural change
The 15 locations shortlisted for the first new towns in England in 40 years have been revealed by the government.Bordon, Coltishall, Curborough, Elsenham plus Ford in West Sussex have made the list, as well as Hanley Grange, Imerys, Leeds and Manby. Marston Vale and New Marston in Bedfordshire, Middle Quinton, Pennbury, Rossington, Rushcliffe and Weston Otmoor make up the 15.
The 10 sites for the "eco-towns" will be finalised in the next six months.
New York. Shanghai. London. Mexico City. Johannesburg. Berlin. Mumbai. São Paulo. Istanbul. These cities will provide the testing ground for our urban future.
The late 20th Century was the age of economic globalisation. The first part of the 21st Century will be the age of the city, the ‘Urban Age.’ For the first time in the history of humanity, more than half of the earth’s population lives in an urban area. In China, India, Africa, and Latin America, urban populations are exploding and cities are growing exponentially. At the same time, many developed cities are shrinking and being radically restructured as a result of shifting economic bases and new patterns of migration. With investment in urban real estate, infrastructure and renovation becoming the driving force behind economic growth, the physical and social landscapes of the city are being powerfully altered.
It is one of the most seismic changes the world has ever seen. Across the globe there is an unstoppable march to the cities, powered by new economic realities. But what kind of lives are we creating? And will citizens - and cities - cope with the fierce pressures of this new urban age?
this is an interactive game that lets you shape a house to suit you. Change your stuff and see how it shapes the climate.
