Human Settlements: Urban Challenges and Future Development

Human settlements are comprehensive, i.e., shaped by human ecology and the relationship between humans as a social being and biological organisms and their interaction with their environments. This chapter explores urban morphology and landscape ecology as a pretext to a wider examination of the vast scholarship of why humans settle where they settle—with the focus on cities. The movement away from rural to urban is considered in conjunction with urban energy use, agriculture and food security, and sustainability. Maladaptation to climate change is considered in the context to urban environmental pollution, human health and well-being, and quality of life. Cities have a unique opportunity to advance policies that ensure the energy supply and food production are reliable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable. In terms of energy research, direct effects on people, communities, and countries in terms of economic growth, health, safety, the environment, education, and employment are investigated. Agricultural data is presented from a global perspective with specific land use and land cover specificities. Food security, food health, and food production are interfaced with regional populations and agricultural land use. An overview of cities from the Global North versus the Global South is assessed in terms developmental parameters—including city-to-city climate action. These city variances, specific to developed and developing countries, indicate megacities in the North have relatively high affluent and stable populations while those in the South have rapid expanding and overcrowded ones. Case-specific research into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on informal settlements is looked at in terms of direct and indirect impacts. The complexity of these issues signposts different types of human settlements and conditions and veers toward piecing together the urban challenges and future development of the twenty-first century.