Interesting article:

Economist.com | Urbanisation

Most of these megacities are in developing countries that are struggling to cope with both the speed and the scale of human migration. Estimates of the future spread of urbanisation are based on the observation that in Europe, and in North and South America, the urban share of the total population has stabilised at 75-85%. If the rest of the world follows this path it is expected that in the next decade an extra 100m people will join the cities of Africa, and 340m the cities of Asia: the equivalent of a new Bangkok every two months. By 2030 nearly two-thirds of the world's population will be urban.

In the long run, that is good news. If countries now industrialising follow the pattern of those that have already done so, their city-dwellers will be both more prosperous and healthier. Man is a gregarious species, and the words “urbane” and “civilised” both derive from the advantages of living in large settlements.

Of course, popular myth ignores history, believing that we were better off in the forest, growing our own crops, etc. Bummer for myth.

These same forces seem at work against Norman Borlaug, an excellent article about whom may be found as Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity. The results of his work in high-yield farming have been phenomenal, and have directly resulted in putting the lie to many of the claims of Paul Ehrlich, who had written in "The Population Bomb" (1968) that India would never be able to feed itself.