Asia has dominated the emerging world for the past 40 years. First the four tigers - Singapore, Hong-Kong, Taiwan and South Korea - then China and finally India have taken off and completely change the face of the world and the balance of power on earth.
But the place where demography is going to change the most by the end of the century is Africa and the weight of the continent will increase accordingly, economically, humanly and culturally. Demography is usually quite reliable to give us long term insights. It is written and will happen.
Just ask yourself what the top 3 cities in the world could be in 2100? Well right now, only one African city, Cairo, is in the top 10. But by the end of the century, most analysts believe that Africa might trust the first 3 spots, with gigantic mega-cities. The first one, Lagos, comes as no surprise. Nigéria will probably be the first country in Africa with 700 million people, out of which potentially more than 80 millions in Lagos... The next two cities are more surprising. They are not very well known to the general public outside of Africa. Kinshasa (Congo) could be number 2 and even more surprisingly Dar-es-Salam (Tanzania) number 3, with Mumbai (India) relegated to number 4. Both "Kin" and "Dar" could reach more than 70 million people!
For as much as Africa has been inventive in the last few years, white rather little money, in fields such as mobile payment or green energy, it will have to be even more inventive to come up with an operating model for the Smart City of the future. If not, these gigantic cities could collapse on themselves. The future of urbanism is in Africa. How to make sure that everybody has lodging, food, clean air and clean water, education, jobs, transportation in a safe environment ? That is a colossal task.
Another major issue is education. Hundreds of millions of young people will need schools and universities. The African population has double since 1990 (1.25 billion now vs. 640 millions). It could double again before 2050. Nowhere else in the world there is so much at stake for a new education system to be born.
So much is happening in Africa that we decided to create a special page about the future of Africa. You will find a list of the top 250 links about innovation and futuristic things on the continent. The largest resource center about the future of Africa on the web!!!
Check out our new page here: https://www.futuria.io/the-future-of-africa
Please do not hesitate to suggest other great links so that we constantly improve our page. Thanks in advance for your input.
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