Years ago, I spoke to the head of a large factory in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. She was worried that more than 100 of her workers lived in riverside slums around the building. Their homes were on land at risk of flooding, but the workers were more afraid of being expelled from them.
On 8 June, leaders from the largest advanced economies will gather for the annual Group of Seven (G7) summit to discuss the most pressing challenges the world faces. Most of the items on the agenda – from climate change to inequality – resonate particularly strongly for people living in urban areas, who comprise 54% of the world’s population. And yet, municipal governments will not be represented in any official capacity during the G7 meetings.
When the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to undergo large-scale urbanisation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the process transformed its economy and society. Today, India is facing a similar transformation, only it is happening at 100 time the pace.
