Uncontrollable megacities
Pascal Maitre
Pour Paris Match
Dhaka, Kinshasa, El Alto. Three cities on the verge of major expansion, heralding the world of tomorrow. They are urban giants, insatiable titans. They fascinate with their myriad possibilities, drawing millions of souls looking for a better life into their depths.
According to the United Nations, by 2050, two out of every three humans will live in a city. Twice the current number, or an additional 2.5 billion people. Urbanization is growing at an unprecedented rate, particularly in the Global South. In Africa, the urban population is due to increase by 91% in 25 years, reaching 2.6 billion by 2050. In Asia and South America, it will rise from 2 billion to 4 billion. A number of factors explain this huge growth: economic migration from rural areas, the reduction in child mortality, people fleeing conflict, and hope for a better future. The related challenges are enormous and are already evident: pollution, climate-related threats, unregulated construction, disease, crime, street children…
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And yet, each of these megacities, crowded with people and dreams, has its own unique characteristics and its own resistance mechanisms. In Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, poverty has not stifled the artistic creativity of a people resigned to the negligence of corrupt authorities. Left to its own devices, with its potholed roads and its exhausted people, the city of 17 million – probably more as there has not been a census since 1984 – pulsates with life, desire and the wish to forget. In El Alto, Bolivia, members of the Aymara indigenous community continue to arrive, adding to the population of this megacity that was once just a neighborhood. At an altitude of 4,300 meters, with the risk of paralysis due to exponential growth, El Alto is modernizing rapidly while remaining faithful to its traditions. In Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, 2,000 migrants arrive each day fleeing climate disasters and poverty. Shanty towns have spread into the heart of the city, which has the highest population density in the world – 40,000 inhabitants per square kilometer. Here, hope depends on hard work, in conditions that are reminiscent of the early 20th century.
Infernal and fascinating, these megacities are our modern-day sirens. Within the chaos there is a risk: that they will become divided cities, where a tiny fringe of the population appropriates the wealth while millions of humans live like animals.
Florence Broizat / Paris Match
