Research for Sustainable Development of the Megacities of Tomorrow
“Energy- and climate-efficient structures in urban growth centres”

A prominent example for global changes that no longer affect individual countries or regions alone but affect the whole of humanity is the trend towards urbanisation and the spread of “megacities”, especially in developing and newly industrialising countries.

In 1975 only 38 % of the world’s population lived in cities. In 2008, more than 50 % of the world's population is already living in cities, and this will increase to two thirds by 2030. These shifts and the increasing population density are unprecedented and are taking place at a pace (the present cities of the world grow by 60 Million per year) that is putting to test the strategic and innovative competence of politics, the economy and civil society. 

This trend culminates in so-called megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants. From only five in 1975, their number is expected to grow to 26 in 2015 with 22 of these in emerging economies. In addition, there are numerous other large cities and those with over a million inhabitants that are moving towards the 10 million mark.

Furthermore, there are mega-urban regions; this means large regions, which consist of interconnected, increasingly agglomerated cities and urban growth centres. These “megacities of tomorrow” are of special interest to politics, as there is still an opportunity to precautionary action and targeted urban development.

Steering urbanisation is a central challenge in the pursuit of the goal of global sustainable development. The formation of megacities and mega-urban regions are local processes with enormous global effects in all three dimensions of sustainability. They are closely interconnected with other global changes, i.e. land consumption, energy consumption, and the emission of greenhouse gases.

Globally effective potential of energy efficiency and climate protection presents itself especially in fast growing urban growth centres, especially in developing and newly industrialising countries.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s funding priority on the sustainable development of fast growing megacities is focussing on “energy- and climate-efficient structures in urban growth centres”. It is a global focussed component of the German Federal Government’s High-Tech-Strategy's priority on “Climate protection, resource protection, energy”.

The most important characteristic of this approach is its link to the concept of sustainable development. This approach is different from others insofar as the project themes are not orientated to individual issues. They are rather directed towards concrete areas of need and solution-orientated.

Ecological, economical and social aspects of the development of energy- and climate-efficient structures in urban growth centres are to be considered in a closed and long-term concept.