LA in 2019 as depicted in the movie "Blade Runner"(1982)
The cities of the world are growing. The largest are growing into "megacities" with more inhabitants of more than ten million people in the metropolitan area alone, more than a small country. In 2011 there are 21 megacities in the world.
The biggest of the all is Tokyo with more than 33 million inhabitants. The amount of people alone is a problem itself. In the megacities of India a third of the population is homeless and crime is at an all time high. There is an enormous gap between the wealthy and the poor.
This also leads to gentrification issues. The poor are being economically forced out the inner city to slums on the outskirts. Traffic congestion is a major issue, that also brings environmental challenges and smog.
There is also speculation that with so many inhabitants from diverse cultures the native language and customs will fade out creating it's own culture different from the rest of the country, like in LA in "Blade Runner" where almost every neon sign is in Chinese.
The megacities and their outskirts and suburbs will slowly merge together creating a megalopolis or mega-region. Travelling between mega-regions is informally known as "mega-loping". Some of megalopolises even cross borders like "Centrope(southern Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic). The Mega-region around Istanbul reaches over two continents!
"The Tower of Babel" from "Metropolis"(1927)
