| Faster than ever before, the human
world is becoming an urban world. By the millions they come, the ambitious and
the down-trodden of the world drawn by the strange magnetism of urban{{U}}
(41) {{/U}}. For centuries the progress of civilization has been{{U}}
(42) {{/U}}by the rigid growth of cities. Now the world is{{U}}
(43) {{/U}}to pass a milestone: more people will live in urban areas
than in the countryside. Explosive population growth{{U}} (44) {{/U}}a torrent of migration from the countryside are creating cities that dwarf the great capitals of the past. By the{{U}} (45) {{/U}}of the century, there will be fifty-one "megacities" with populations of ten million or more. Of these, eighteen will be in{{U}} (46) {{/U}} countries, including some of the poorest nations in the world. Mexico City already{{U}} (47) {{/U}}twenty million people and Calcutta twelve million. According to the World Bank,{{U}} (48) {{/U}}of Africa's cities are growing by 10% a year, the swiftest{{U}} (49) {{/U}}of urbanization ever recorded. Is the trend good or bad? Can the cities cope? No one knows{{U}} (50) {{/U}}. Without question, urbanization has produced{{U}} (51) {{/U}}so ghastly that they are difficult to comprehend. In Cairo, children who{{U}} (52) {{/U}}might be in kindergarten can be found digging through clots of ox waste, looking for{{U}} (53) {{/U}}kernels of corn to eat. Young, homeless thieves in Papua New Guinea's Port Moresby may not{{U}} (54) {{/U}}their last names or the names of the villages where they were born. In the inner cities of America, newspapers regularly report on newborn babies{{U}} (55) {{/U}}into garbage bins by drug-addicted mothers. |