From one of Canada's leading journalists comes a major book about how the movement of populations from rural to urban areas on the margins is reshaping our world. These transitional spaces are where the next great economic and cultural boom will be born, or where the great explosion of violence will occur. The difference depends on our ability to notice.
The twenty-first century is going to be remembered for the great, and final, shift of human populations out of rural, agricultural life into cities. The movement engages an unprecedented number of people, perhaps a third of the world's population, and will affect almost everyone in tangible ways. The last human movement of this size and scope, and the changes it will bring to family life, from large agrarian families to small urban ones, will put an end to the major theme of human history: continuous population growth.
Arrival City offers a detailed tour of the key places of the "final migration" and explores the possibilities and pitfalls inherent in the developing new world order. From villages in China, India, Bangladesh and Poland to the international cities of the world, Doug Saunders portrays a diverse group of people as they struggle to make the transition, and in telling the story of their journeys - and the history of their often multi-generational families enmeshed in the struggle of transition - gives an often surprising sense of what factors aid in the creation of a stable, productive community. MAP: ARRIVAL CITIES AND THEIR VILLAGES
PREFACE: THE PLACE WHERE EVERYTHING CHANGES
1. ON THE EDGE OF THE CITY
Liu Gong Li, China
Tower Hamlets, London, U.K.
2. OUTSIDE IN: THE LIVES OF THE NEW CITY
Kolhewadi, Ratnagiri, India
Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Shenzhen, China
Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
3. ARRIVING AT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID
Los Angeles, California
Herndon, Virginia, and Wheaton, Maryland
4. THE URBANIZATION OF THE VILLAGE
Tatary, Poland
Shuilin, Sichuan, China
Dorli, Maharashtra, India
Biswanath, Sylhet, Bangladesh
5. THE FIRST GREAT MIGRATION: HOW THE WEST ARRIVED
Paris
London
Toronto and Chicago
6. THE DEATH AND LIFE OF A GREAT ARRIVAL CITY
Istanbul
7. WHEN THE MARGINS EXPLODE
Emamzadeh 'Iza, Tehran
Petare, Caracas
Mulund, Mumbai
8. THE NEW CITY CONFRONTS THE OLD WORLD
Les Pyramides, Evry, France
Kreuzberg, Berlin
Parla, Spain
9. ARRIVAL'S END: MUD FLOOR TO MIDDLE CLASS
Jardim Angela, São Paulo, Brazil
Mumbai
10. ARRIVING IN STYLE
Slotervaart, Amsterdam
Karail, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Thorncliffe Park, Toronto
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX.
