Rural-To-Urban Shift Brings Quick Growth To Smaller Cities

"Not long ago, Block 8 was all dust and thorn trees and scrubland. Today, it is pure sprawl, with ever-sprouting apartment blocks, single-family homes, and shopping centers. Wander through Block 8, chockablock with construction workers such as Mokwe, and it's not difficult to imagine how, over the past 15 years, the population of Botswana's capital has ballooned more than 50 percent to over 200,000. It is expected to grow to 500,000 by 2020."

"This rapid population increase is not unique to Gaborone."

"The continent's sprawling megacities, such as Lagos, Nigeria, Kinshasa, Congo, and Johannesburg will absorb many of these new city-dwellers. Already, population pressures in these metropolises have city officials scrambling. In Johannesburg this year, for instance, there have been several riots in the crowded townships, with people protesting what they see as their government's inability to provide basic services such as water and electricity."

"But according to the UN report, it is smaller cities such as Gaborone that will bear the brunt of the world's rapid urbanization. According to the study, more than 52 percent of urban-dwellers live in cities with fewer than 500,000 residents, and these smaller cities are growing far more than large ones."