World Population Day 2007: A New Urbanite Every Two Seconds

Every two seconds, one person joins the planet's expanding urban population, and in 2008, for the first time in human history, a majority of people will live in cities. Last week, the UN Population Fund released its State of World Population 2007 report, which calls for a "revolution in thinking" to help cities unleash their potential to spur economic growth and solve social problems.

in this video of the launch event in Washington, D.C., Worldwatch President Christopher Flavin discusses the imperative of developing our urbanizing world sustainably in order to meet the needs of the 1.1 billion people projected to join the world's population between now and 2030. Over half of these people may live in under-serviced slums, according to Worldwatch's recent report State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future.