Urban World: Cities and the Rise of the Consuming Class

A wave of urbanization propelling growth across emerging economies is a welcome fillip for a world economy that continues to have pockets of acute fragility. Cities have been the world’s economic dynamos for centuries, attracting skilled workers and productive businesses and benefiting from economies of scale. But what is different about today’s wave of mass urbanization is its unprecedented speed and scale. It is not hyperbole to say that we are observing the most significant shift in the earth’s economics center of gravity in history.