In 2018, the United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs reported that 55% of the world’s population was living in urban areas, and estimated that the figure will reach 68% by 2050. Billions of additional people will be flooding into cities, creating a need for responsible policy-making.

 

This relentless rural-to-urban shift will add 2.5 billion people to cities, coming in search of a better life, new opportunities, and excitement. As a result, cities will face massive challenges: insufficient decent and cheap housing, expanding waste management needs, growing demand for access to clean water and employment, and worsening traffic congestion.

 

Technology can help, as policy-makers seek to meet the needs of diverse populations representing different ethnicities, cultures, religions and ages, while at the same time they attempt to address inequality. Singapore, for example, is a mosaic of multi-racial and multi-religious communities, carefully managed through the city state’s policies designed to encourage inclusivity - such as the allocation of public housing done in a way that avoids ghettoization, and education and public service programs that foster integration.

 

While the population diversity that must be addressed in developed countries like Singapore is largely attributable to international migration, in developing nations it is mostly a result of internal migration. Internal migration remains a significant feature of East Asian countries in particular, according to the International Organization for Migration.