World Cities Day – October 31, 2024

History of World Cities Day

The first-ever cities appeared in the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in a land known as Mesopotamia around 7500 B.C. These cities included Eridu, Ur, and Uruk. Soon, cities formed along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt, the Indus River in India, and the Huang He River in China. Cities grew in places with fertile soil, letting early humans abandon a more nomadic lifestyle. For the following millennia, cities continued to rise and fall across the world. Mesopotamia turned to rubble, the Indus Valley was deserted, and Rome rose and fell. But the institution of the city never went away.

Cities have been centers of trade, religion, culture, and education throughout history. However, the sheer scale of urban settlements today only became possible after the Industrial Revolution. The revolution drove people to cities in search of job opportunities in factories. Urban population growth has also been supported by technological advancements — these include the invention of steel, electricity conduction, elevators, etc. Over half the world’s population lives in cities now, and it’s more important than ever to make these people aware of how to sustainably co-exist within cities.

The U.N. has predicted that by 2030, there will be 41 megacities — cities with a population of over 10 million people. India, with its five megacities, is expected to house seven, other places that are bound to have megacities spring up include the likes of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Congo.