2021-04-122012-01-01http://hdl.handle.net/10784/28104The globalisation era in which we live has made the world an interconnected space with several global trends. We find developing countries with very high growth rates, what helps to find world economic convergence. As a complement to this trend, within those countries there is a dramatic growth pattern of cities into megacities, as economic activity concentrates in space to exploit agglomeration economies. According to UN-Habitat, in the next two decades the global population living in urban areas will move from 50 % to 70 %. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012.Springer Natureinfo:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart2021-04-12