6.15.2007

megacities by the numbers







IEEE's* Spectrum Online's June 2007 edition is a special report on megacities, including an article on Megacities by the Numbers from which the above graph is culled.

The graph shows the GDP (PPP) of the 20 largest megacities in 2005 and their projected GDP in 2030.

Going by the graph, our megacity's economy currently rides the same pack as Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Istanbul and Mumbai (at about $100 billion); and is ahead of Beijing, Cairo, Jakarta, Kolkata (Calcutta) and Delhi.

Metro Manila alone accounts for more than a fifth of the national income -and taken by itself, our megacity's economy would rank 60th among the world economies -just behind New Zealand and ahead of Sri Lanka. (The country currently ranks 24th or 25th.)

By 2030, with the exception of Shanghai which will race ahead, our economy will keep company with the same pack of cities (at about $250 billion).

The special report ("A How-To Manual for Megacities") is a must read for students of urban development, and includes:


And for simcity fans, a feature on the man who came up with Arcologies.

And, since the Spectrum is an engineering journal, the special report also highlights Shanghai's plans for a new green city (Dongtan); Sao Paolo's complex transportation system; Mumbai's power generation and distribution system; Tokyo's earthquake management system; and, New York City's hi-tech crime monitoring center.


*Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
All GDP figures in PPP

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to se a per capita version of that graph. We'd probably drop several places downwards.

I think we can do it (create a new graph), if we could only get the raw data for the metropolis' GDP. Wikipedia already has the estimated metropolitan area population of these megacities.

Urbano dela Cruz said...

hey eugene,

possibly -but not by much. some quick back of the envelope guesstimates (eyeballed gdp vs. pop) show mumbai at about $850, manila at about $830 and beijing at about $670.

and remember the numbers are purchasing power parity.

rather than per capita GDP though, I'd be more interested in the comparative local GINI index.

also other measures of livability, like acres of public parks vs. population. relative walkability. average residential space per capita.

(this was my take on comparative density)

the big takeaway for me though is this: Metromanila's 639km2 of land produces about $158K/km2 -while the rest of the Philippines produces $1,170/km2. so how much energy are we putting into making sure the development in those 639km2 is sustainable?

Vitor Rodrigues said...

Good shhare

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