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Creating Humane and Sustainable Cities

[Marc Pokempner/Getty Images]

The United Nations has estimated that sometime during 2007 the global balance between rural and urban populations will finally tip, and, for the first time in human history, the majority of the world's population will be living in urban areas.

While urbanization is nothing new, the immense scale and speed with which it is now occurring--the vast conglomeration of such enormous numbers of people--is altering society socially, politically, economically and spiritually, in ways that will ultimately impact all of us.

Cities are the crucible of human diversity, a diversity of culture, lifestyle, life experience and expectation. They are the locus of humankind's richest achievements and greatest deprivation. While cities bring members of the human family into close proximity, they also make evident the often vast gaps and disparities that separate us from one another. And even while the city's infrastructure links our lives together more intimately, it can strain and tear the spiritual fabric in which our lives are woven together in harmony with those of our fellow humans and with the natural environment.

The challenges and promises of urbanization are numerous, but they can be distilled as the question of how we can build healthy and flourishing communities. The challenge of urbanization is, in the end, the challenge to become more human.

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