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Urban Supersprawl
Mexico City, Mexico
Some 20 million people live in Mexico City, the world’s fifth largest metropolitan area. In 1800 the urban fraction of the global population was 3 percent. Today it is 50 percent and rising. In crowded shantytowns, the need for clean water and sanitation is urgent. But urbanization has an upside: Per capita, cities use less energy and pollute less than rural areas.
Photograph by Pablo López Luz
