#urbanisation

Two billion people cannot be relocated to cities. Yes, China’s rural population has fallen from 80 per cent in 1980 to 35 per cent – but China is unique. Even in neighbouring India, the rural population remains at 65 per cent, or 900 million people. The entire world’s manufacturing, construction and mining currently employ only 800 million people: clearly, the global peasantry cannot be absorbed into industry. We need to realise that, in the absence of exceptional levels of industrialisation, nothing can sustain large populations so well as the land. We need to stop seeing urbanisation as the main index of developmental progress, and realise that it is, in many cases, the sign of a major disaster: the destruction of rural life by big agriculture and industry, and the loss of irreplaceable human and ecological systems.

It might be true that our parents went through harder times than us. But here's the thing- when one goes through a difficult time in the urban, isolated culture, it's phenomenally different from when our parents faced these same burdens.

Wdym "urban studies" degree isn't focused on optimizing the cities and having them work more smoothly. Wdym its just urban architecture. Running a city is hard and complicated and there are countless elements to it, surely there is more than one person in a 0.5 milion city who's job it is to make sure everything works. Surely there is a team who manages that, a team of educated people.