I’ll be posting occasionally about books that have made an impact on me, usually by presenting new ideas, but other times by their luscious writing. Here’s one:
Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World Kindle Edition
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FGMCTM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title
There are plenty of reviews of the book as a whole. What I want to leave with you is why the book matters to me. The key point that stuck was the description of many of the people who flock to the edges (and sometimes slums) of these megacities and the vitality that they add to the economy, cultural life, and more. Immigrants, by definition, have decided not to settle for what was at home. Rather, they’re willing to undergo the potential dangers of travel and to struggle in a highly competitive environment for their future and for those of their families. Since my government is now doing its best to exile immigrants already in the United States and make it almost impossible for those not born here to come, I think this book is worth a reread for yet one more proof of the value of fresh blood from ambitious and driven individuals. We need these people, even perhaps somewhat desperately.
And, also on this topic, this short, but pithy, article from Axios:
https://www.axios.com/population-of-world-cities-growing-urbanization-14703668-bab5-4b42-b28b-2dd8c5abe3f2.html
As of 2000, the population of Lagos, Nigeria, was roughly 7.2 million, somewhere between those of greater Philadelphia and Chicago. By 2030 it will be 24 million, nearly as large as metropolitan New York and London — combined.
Why it matters: We’re in the midst of a global megacity boom, and nowhere are cities growing faster than in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of citydwellers will triple by 2050 to 1.3 billion. Rapid urbanization and everything that comes with it — economic opportunity, social turmoil, environmental upheaval — is reaching nearly every corner of the globe.