SAISPHERE IS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY BY THE PAUL H. NITZE SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Vali Nasr

Ours is the century of cities. Already by 2010, 50.5 percent of the world’s population was living in urban areas. In a few decades that number will rise to 70 percent. During the 21st century, the world as we know it will be defined by the tempo, geography and challenges of city life. Cities will be hubs of commerce, culture and technology. This is not entirely new to world history. Going back to medieval burghers of northern Europe and grand cities of China, India and the early Islamic empires, cities have been where culture and innovation have shaped civilization. But the pace and manner in which the realities of city life will define politics, economics, global relations, climate change, energy consumption and integration of our world into one shared global reality is new. It represents the next frontier in human development.

Features

Town & Gown

Ronald J. Daniels

Baltimore was the sixth-largest city in the United States in 1950, home to nearly 1 million people. But over the next 50 years, nearly a third of that population seeped away. The city fell out of the nation’s top 10 and wrestled painfully with the challenges of urban decline.

City Statesman

If we are in the midst of the "century of cities," then the world's mayors will be in the spotlight more than ever before as they try to solve the most pressing urban problems. That has been the case for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has made headlines for bold approaches to issues such as public health and climate change. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy this past fall, Bloomberg, a 1964 Johns Hopkins University graduate, took time to answer SAISPHERE's questions about rebuilding a city in the wake of a natural disaster, as well as the roles cities and their mayors must play in leading policy change to benefit the public.

Opening the Doors: Rural-to-Urban Migration

Leo Feler

For the first time in history, more than half of the world's population lives in cities. An estimated 200,000 people move from rural to urban areas every day—about enough to create a new New York City every month. More than 90 percent of this migration is occurring in developing countries.

Additional Features

Smart-City Technology

Kenneth H. Keller

The term “smart cities”has come into vogue in recent years and, like many short-hand expressions—sustainability, globalization, the digital age, to name a few others—it is an important concept, but neither simple nor well defined. Although most commentators build into their description of a smart city the wide use of information and communication technology (ICT), they argue, sometimes consistently, and sometimes not, that a smart city is more than a digitized city—that is, more than a city with a well-developed ICT hardware infrastructure.

Urban Infrastructure: Who Pays?

David J. Jhirad

An initiative launched in 2011 by U.S. President Barack Obama and Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff stands at the vanguard of policy innovation to spur inclusive and equitable economic development through sustainable and resilient urban investment. Showcased at the Rio+20 Conference in June, the U.S.-Brazil Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability (JIUS) aims to catalyze infrastructure investment in “smart cities,” beginning with Philadelphia and Rio de Janeiro. Building on Philadelphia’s aspiration to become a leading “green city,” and recognizing the reality that Rio de Janeiro must undertake extensive infrastructure investment before the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, the JIUS (pronounced “juice”) strives to create a new paradigm for integrated urban investment that is socially and environmentally sound.

Tapped Out

Tanvi Nagpal

On July 30, seven states in Northern India went completely dark. A catastrophic power failure brought commerce and daily life to a complete halt. But that was not all. On a scorching hot summer day, the main water stations in New Delhi also shut down, leaving nearly 17 million people with dry taps.

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