Sustainable cities and communities

Primary School Resources

Why is this important?

• Half of humanity – 3.5 billion people – lives in cities today and 5 billion people are projected to live in cities by 2030.
• 95 per cent of urban expansion in the next decades will take place in developing world
• 828 million people live in slums today and most them are found in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.
• The world’s cities occupy just 3 per cent of the Earth’s land, but account for 60-80 per cent of energy consumption and 75 per cent of carbon emissions.
• Rapid urbanization is exerting pressure on fresh water supplies, sewage, the living environment, and public health. 
• Cities account for between 60 and 80 per cent of energy consumption and generate as much as 70per cent of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions
• 90 per cent of urban growth is forecasted to happen in Asia and Africa in the next 30 years.
• By 2050 70 per cent of the world population is predicted to live in urban settlements.

Resources