Look around: the largest migration in human history is under
way. For the first time ever, more people are living in
cities than in rural areas. Between 2007 and 2050, the
world’s cities will have absorbed 3.1 billion people.
Urbanization is the mass movement that will change our world
during the twenty-first century, and the “arrival city” is
where it is taking place.
The arrival city
exists on the outskirts of the metropolis, in the slums, or
in the suburbs; the American version is New York’s Lower
East Side of a century ago or today’s Herndon County,
Virginia. These are the places where newcomers try to
establish new lives and to integrate themselves socially and
economically. Their goal is to build communities, to save
and invest, and, hopefully, move out, making room for the
next wave of migrants. For some, success is years away; for
others, it will never come at all.
As vibrant
places of exchange, arrival cities have long been indicators
of social health. Whether it’s Paris in 1789 or Tehran in
1978, whenever migrant populations are systematically
ignored, we should expect violence and extremism. But, as
the award-winning journalist Doug Saunders demonstrates,
when we make proper investments in our arrival
cities—through transportation, education, security, and
citizenship—a prosperous middle class
develops.
Saunders takes us on a tour of these
vital centers, from Maryland to Shenzhen, from the favelas
of Rio to the shantytowns of Mumbai, from Los Angeles to
Nairobi. He uncovers the stories—both inspiring and
heartbreaking—of the people who live there, and he shows us
how the life or death of our arrival cities will determine
the shape of our future.
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