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Cities the focus of bleak future

Some time this year a person will be born whose arrival will mark a tipping point in the history of human life on Earth.

"It may be in London. It may be in Lagos. But for the first time, more people will live in cities than live in rural regions," says Lord May of Oxford, the Australian physicist turned biologist who was Britain's chief scientist for five years from 1995 and is now president of the world's oldest scientific academy, the Royal Society.

As the world's population grows from today's 6.3 billion to the 9 billion predicted by 2050, almost all these extra people will dwell in urban areas. But rather than cities being industrial focuses for spreading prosperity, as in the past, many will become "dumping grounds" for unskilled and unprotected workers.

"We live in the best of times and the worst of times. And we have to ask ourselves what kind of tomorrow we want to create," said Lord May, who will give a free public talk, "Hard Questions about Tomorrow's World", at the University of NSW this evening.