Editorial introduction: urban management in developing economies: challenges for public policy

It is projected that developing economies will continue to urbanize rapidly in the coming decades. In 2007, global urban population exceeded global rural population for the first time in history. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population is projected to be urban, with 90% of the increase in urban population occurring in Asia and Africa. In 1970, only Tokyo and New York were megacities (cities with over ten million population); by 1990 there were ten megacities and by 2016, thirty-one. Most of the megacities (twenty-four) are in the “global South”. Cities are the principal source of wealth as well as pollution. They account for more than 80% of global GDP, close to 2/3 of the world’s energy consumption and more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions and a disproportionate share of government’s revenues (United Nations 2014, 2016)