Urbanization (0) HAS been a constant factor in human development for the past ten thousand years. 1 there has always been the necessity for a minimum – sometimes a very substantial minimum – of the population to work the land, such surplus individuals as can be sustained have tended to gather in cities. Two thousand years ago, the cities of antiquity formed an administrative center for the surrounding area and a refuge from attack. In the Middle Ages, it was the city folk 2 were the first to break the stultifying grip of feudalism, and it was in the cities of Northern Italy that the phenomenon of the Renaissance was born. Today only a fraction of mankind lives in the country and the proportion which does so is decreasing. Mega-cities with populations exceeding ten million are common, and they will become even 3 so over the coming decades. While many aspects of city life are unattractive – pollution, stress, and separation from nature to name but a few – more and more of humanity 4 to be choosing an urban existence. Adjusting 5 this fact is going to be 6 of the major challenges of the coming century. And 7 of the country? The chances are that its relative decline will be reversed as the information revolution spreads, it is possible to enjoy the benefits of social contact 8 needing to leave one’s rural residence.