It is estimated that more than 8 billion people live on Earth and the population is likely to hit more than 9 billion by 2050. Approximately 55 percent of Earth’s human population currently live in areas classified as urban. That number is expected to grow by 2050 to 68 percent, according to the United Nations (UN).The largest cities in the world include Tōkyō, Japan; New Delhi, India; Shanghai, China; México City, Mexico; and São Paulo, Brazil. Each of these cities classifies as a megacity, a city with more than 10 million people. The UN estimates the world will have 43 megacities by 2030.Most cities' populations are growing as people move in for greater economic, educational, and healthcare opportunities. But not all cities are expanding. Those cities whose populations are declining may be experiencing declining fertility rates (the number of births is lower than the number of deaths), shrinking economies, emigration, or have experienced a natural disaster that resulted in fatalities or forced people to leave the region.This Global Cities map layer contains data published in 2018 by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). It shows urban agglomerations. The UN DESA defines an urban agglomeration as a continuous area where population is classified at urban levels (by the country in which the city resides) regardless of what local government systems manage the area. Since not all places record data the same way, some populations may be calculated using the city population as defined by its boundary and the metropolitan area. If a reliable estimate for the urban agglomeration was unable to be determined, the population of the city or metropolitan area is used.Data Citation: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. Statistical Papers - United Nations (ser. A), Population and Vital Statistics Report, 2019, https://doi.org/10.18356/b9e995fe-en.

The catchment area of a city is a group of municipalities, of a single enclave and enclave, which defines the extent of the influence of a cluster of population and employment on the surrounding municipalities, this influence being measured by the intensity of commuting to work. Urban area zoning follows the zoning into urban areas in 2010. An area consists of a pole and a crown. — Poles are determined mainly on the basis of density and total population criteria, using a methodology consistent with that of the municipal density grid. A threshold of jobs is added in order to prevent essentially residential municipalities with few jobs from being considered poles. Within the pole, the most populous commune is called the center commune. If a pole sends at least 15 % of its assets to work in another pole of the same level, the two poles are associated and together form the heart of a catchment area. — Municipalities that send at least 15 % of their assets to work in the pole are the crown of the area. The definition of the largest catchment areas of cities is consistent with the definition of “cities” and “functional urban areas” used by Eurostat and the OECD to analyse the functioning of cities. Zoning into catchment areas thus facilitates international comparisons and makes it possible to visualise the influence in France of major foreign cities. For example, seven areas have a town located abroad (Bâle, Charleroi, Geneva, Lausanne, Luxembourg, Monaco and Saarbrücken). The areas are classified according to the total number of inhabitants of the area in 2017. The main thresholds selected are: Paris, 700,000 inhabitants, 200,000 inhabitants and 50,000 inhabitants. Areas whose pole is located abroad are classified in the category corresponding to their total population (French and foreign). Urban catchment areas, dated 2020, were constructed with reference to commuting known in the 2016 Census. Downloadable files provide the characteristics of the city’s catchment areas (size slice, number of municipalities) and the municipal composition of the city’s catchment areas.

A dataset listing Georgia cities by population for 2024.

The catchment area of a city is a group of municipalities, of a single enclave and enclave, which defines the extent of the influence of a cluster of population and employment on the surrounding municipalities, this influence being measured by the intensity of commuting to work. Urban area zoning follows the zoning into urban areas in 2010. An area consists of a pole and a crown. The poles are determined mainly on the basis of density and total population criteria, using a methodology consistent with that of the municipal density grid. A threshold of jobs is added in order to prevent essentially residential municipalities with few jobs from being considered poles. Within the pole, the most populous commune is called the center commune. If a pole sends at least 15 % of its assets to work in another pole of the same level, the two poles are associated and together form the heart of a catchment area. Municipalities that send at least 15 % of their assets to work in the pole are the crown of the area. https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/4803954

A dataset listing Indiana cities by population for 2024.

A dataset listing Florida cities by population for 2024.

Contained within the 3rd Edition (1957) of the Atlas of Canada is a map that shows the density of the Canadian population for 1951. The first map display Western provinces, while the second map concentrates on southern Ontario and the Maritimes. Only the most populous areas are covered. Population density is illustrated by denoting the number of inhabitants per square mile. It shows a significant difference in the population distribution across Canada, mainly in urban and metropolitan areas. The cities with greater inhabitants are clusters within Capital cities, and a even larger concentration south, near the U.S. border, in particular along ocean or inland coastlines.

A dataset listing Mississippi cities by population for 2024.

A dataset listing Oklahoma cities by population for 2024.

A dataset listing New York cities by population for 2024.

L_AIRE_ATT_VILLE_2020_ZSUP_FLA_000 Attractions of cities in 2020 in Corrèze and neighbouring departments. Objects located on the outskirts of neighbouring departments may not be complete if they overflow on the neighbouring deparetment. Sources: INSEE + GeoFLA IGN https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/4803954 The catchment area of a city is a group of municipalities, of a single enclave and enclave, which defines the extent of the influence of a cluster of population and employment on the surrounding municipalities, this influence being measured by the intensity of commuting to work. Urban area zoning follows the zoning into urban areas in 2010. An area consists of a pole and a crown. * Poles are determined mainly on the basis of density and total population criteria, using a methodology consistent with that of the municipal density grid. A threshold of jobs is added in order to prevent essentially residential municipalities with few jobs from being considered poles. Within the pole, the most populous commune is called the center commune. If a pole sends at least 15 % of its assets to work in another pole of the same level, the two poles are associated and together form the heart of a catchment area. * Municipalities that send at least 15 % of their assets work in the pole are the crown of the area. The definition of the largest catchment areas of cities is consistent with the definition of “cities” and “functional urban areas” used by Eurostat and the OECD to analyse the functioning of cities. Zoning into catchment areas thus facilitates international comparisons and makes it possible to visualise the influence in France of major foreign cities. For example, seven areas have a town located abroad (Bâle, Charleroi, Geneva, Lausanne, Luxembourg, Monaco and Saarbrücken). The areas are classified according to the total number of inhabitants of the area in 2017. The main thresholds selected are: Paris, 700,000 inhabitants, 200,000 inhabitants and 50,000 inhabitants. Areas whose pole is located abroad are classified in the category corresponding to their total population (French and foreign). Urban catchment areas, dated 2020, were constructed with reference to commuting known in the 2016 Census. Downloadable files provide the characteristics of the city’s catchment areas (size slice, number of municipalities) and the municipal composition of the city’s catchment areas.

My ArcGIS StoryMap is centered around The Green Book, an annual travel guide that allowed African Americans to travel safely during the height of the Jim Crow Era in the United States. More specifically, The Green Book listed establishments, such as hotels and restaurants, that would openly accept and welcome black customers into their businesses. As someone who is interested in the intersection between STEM and the humanities, I wanted to utilize The Science of Where to formulate a project that would reveal important historical implications to the public. Therefore, my overarching goal was to map each location in The Green Book in order to draw significant conclusions regarding racial segregation in one of the largest cities in the entire world.Although a more detailed methodology of my work can be found in the project itself, the following is a step by step walkthrough of my overall scientific process:Develop a question in relation to The Green Book to be solved through the completion of the project.Perform background research on The Green Book to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.Formulate a hypothesis that answers the proposed question based on the background research.Transcribe names and addresses for each of the hotel listings in The Green Book into a comma separated values file.Transcribe names and addresses for each of the restaurants listings in The Green Book into a comma separated values file.Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for the 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1966 publications of The Green Book. In total, there should be eight unique database files (1940 New York City Hotels, 1940 New York City Restaurants, 1950 New York City Hotels, 1950 New York City Restaurants, 1960 New York City Hotels, 1960 New York City Restaurants, 1966 New York City Hotels, and 1966 New York City Restaurants.)Construct an address locator that references a New York City street base map to plot the information from the databases in Step 6 as points on a map.Manually plot locations that the address locator did not automatically match on the map.Repeat Steps 7 and 8 for all eight database files.Find and match the point locations for each listing in The Green Book with historical photographs.Generate a map tour using the geotagged images for each point from Step 10.Create a point density heat map for the locations in all eight database files.Research and obtain professional and historically accurate racial demographic data for New York City during the same time period as when The Green Book was published.Generate a hot spot map of the black population percentage using the demographic data.Analyze any geospatial trends between the point density heat maps for The Green Book and the black population percentage hot spot maps from the demographic data.Research and obtain professional and historically accurate redlining data for New York City during the same time period as when The Green Book was published.Overlay the points from The Green Book listings from Step 9 on top of the redlining shapefile.Count the number of point features completely located within each redlining zone ranking utilizing the spatial join tool.Plot the data recorded from Step 18 in the form of graphs.Analyze any geospatial trends between the listings for The Green Book and its location relative to the redlining ranking zones.Draw conclusions from the analyses in Steps 15 and 20 to present a justifiable rationale for the results._Student Generated Maps:New York City Pin Location Maphttps://arcg.is/15i4nj1940 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/WuXeq1940 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/L4aqq1950 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/1CvTGj1950 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/0iSG4r1960 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/1DOzeT1960 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/1rWKTj1966 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/4PjOK1966 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/1zyDTv11930s Manhattan Black Population Percentage Enumeration District Maphttps://arcg.is/1rKSzz1930s Manhattan Black Population Percentage Hot Spot Map (Same as Previous)https://arcg.is/1rKSzz1940 Hotels Point Density Heat Maphttps://arcg.is/jD1Ki1940 Restaurants Point Density Heat Maphttps://arcg.is/1aKbTS1940 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/8b10y1940 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/9WrXv1950 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/ruGiP1950 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/0qzfvC01960 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/1KTHLK01960 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/0jiu9q1966 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/PXKn41966 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/uCD05_Bibliography:Image Credits (In Order of Appearance)Header/Thumbnail Image:Student Generated Collage (Created Using Pictures from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/the-green-book#/?tab=about.)Mob Violence Image:Kelley, Robert W. “A Mob Rocks an out of State Car Passing.” Life Magazine, www.life.com/history/school-integration-clinton-history, The Green Book Example Image:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library Digital Collections, https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=5207583&t=w. 1940s Borough of Manhattan Hotels and Restaurants Photographs:“Manhattan 1940s Tax Photos.” NYC Municipal Archives Collections, The New York City Department of Records & Information Services, https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/NYCMA~5~5?cic=NYCMA~5~5.Figure 1:Student Generated GraphFigure 2:Student Generated GraphFigure 3:Student Generated GraphGIS DataThe Green Book Database:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Listings Maps:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Point Density Heat Maps:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Road Trip Map:Student GeneratedLION New York City Single Line Street Base Map:https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/open-data/dwn-lion.page 1930s Manhattan Census Data:https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/UTP2/ncities.htm Mapping Inequality Redlining Data:https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=12/40.794/-74.072&city=manhattan-ny&text=downloads 1940 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1940" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1940, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/dc858e50-83d3-0132-2266-58d385a7b928. 1950 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1950" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1950, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/283a7180-87c6-0132-13e6-58d385a7b928. 1960 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Travelers' Green Book: 1960" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1960, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/a7bf74e0-9427-0132-17bf-58d385a7b928. 1966 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "Travelers' Green Book: 1966-67 International Edition" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1966, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/27516920-8308-0132-5063-58d385a7bbd0. Hyperlink Credits (In Order of Appearance)Referenced Hyperlink #1: Coen, Ross. “Sundown Towns.” Black Past, 23 Aug. 2020, blackpast.org/african-american-history/sundown-towns.Referenced Hyperlink #2: Foster, Mark S. “In the Face of ‘Jim Crow’: Prosperous Blacks and Vacations, Travel and Outdoor Leisure, 1890-1945.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 84, no. 2, 1999, pp. 130–149., doi:10.2307/2649043. Referenced Hyperlink #3:Driskell, Jay. “An Atlas of Self-Reliance: The Negro Motorist's Green Book (1937-1964).” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 30 July 2015, americanhistory.si.edu/blog/negro-motorists-green-book. Referenced Hyperlink #4:Kahn, Eve M. “The 'Green Book' Legacy, a Beacon for Black Travelers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Aug. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/08/07/arts/design/the-green-book-legacy-a-beacon-for-black-travelers.html. Referenced Hyperlink #5:Giorgis, Hannah. “The Documentary Highlighting the Real 'Green Book'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Feb. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/real-green-book-preserving-stories-of-jim-crow-era-travel/583294/. Referenced Hyperlink #6:Staples, Brent. “Traveling While Black: The Green Book's Black History.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/opinion/green-book-black-travel.html. Referenced Hyperlink #7:Pollak, Michael. “How Official Is Official?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Oct. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/nyregion/17fyi.html. Referenced Hyperlink #8:“New Name: Avenue Becomes a Boulevard.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Oct. 1987, www.nytimes.com/1987/10/22/nyregion/new-name-avenue-becomes-a-boulevard.html. Referenced Hyperlink #9:Norris, Frank. “Racial Dynamism in Los Angeles, 1900–1964.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 99, no. 3, 2017, pp. 251–289., doi:10.1525/scq.2017.99.3.251. Referenced Hyperlink #10:Shertzer, Allison, et al. Urban Transition Historical GIS Project, 2016, https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/UTP2/ncities.htm. Referenced Hyperlink #11:Mitchell, Bruce. “HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps: The Persistent Structure Of Segregation And Economic Inequality.” National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 20 Mar. 2018,

This map shows the relationship between major cites with a population greater than 1.5 million people and the plate tectonics which include convergent,divergent, transform, and unknown boundaries. To make this map easier for people to read I made the major city have a filter so that only cities with over 1.5 million people will show up on the map. I also made the major city dot bigger, red and a transparency of 40% so it is easier for people to see. I made it 40% transparent so people can still see the plate boundaries that cross paths with the major city dots. I changed the plate tectonic boundary lines to a darker color, a thicker line, and also made the lines 25% transparent so people can still see the map and cities under it. I also added arrows pointing to major cities that cross paths with transform boundaries. Most major cites are right on top of a transform plate tectonic boundaries which can cause a great effect to the people who live in those popular cities. Transform plates are mostly likely to cause damage and have a effect with major populated cities. Transform plate boundaries are more likely to have a great effect than the over boundaries like convergent and divergent because more cities seem to fall right on top of transform boundaries than the other boundaries. The pattern that seems to be present is that transform boundaries have a strong relationship with cities over 1.5 million people, while other plate boundaries do not have as many cities on them as the transform boundary does.

Supermarkets are one of the most popular and convenient ways in which Americans gain access to healthy food, such as fresh meat and fish, or fresh fruits and vegetables. There are various ways in which people gain access to supermarkets. People in the suburbs drive to supermarkets and load up the car with many bags of food. People in cities depend much more on walking to the local store, or taking a bus or train.This map came about after asking a simple question: how many Americans live within a reasonable walk or drive to a supermarket?In this case, "reasonable" was defined as a 10 minute drive, or a 1 mile walk. The ArcGIS Network Analyst extension performed the calculations on streets data from StreetMap Premium, and the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension created a heat map of the walkable access and drivable access to supermarkets.The green dots represent populations in poverty who live within one mile of a supermarket. The red dots represent populations in poverty who live beyond a one mile walk to a supermarket, but may live within a 10 minute drive...which presumes they have access to a car or public transit. The grey dots represent the total population in a given area.This is an excellent map to use as backdrop to show how people are improving access to healthy food in their community. Open this map in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online to use it as a backdrop to your local analysis work. Or open it in ArcGIS Explorer to add your favorite farmers' market, CSA, or transit line -- then share that map via Facebook, Twitter or email.This map shows data for the entire U.S. The supermarkets included in the analysis have annual sales of $1 million or more.Data source: see this map package.

In 2025, the degree of urbanization worldwide was at 58 percent. North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean were the regions with the highest level of urbanization, with over four-fifths of the population residing in urban areas. The degree of urbanization defines the share of the population living in areas defined as "cities". On the other hand, less than half of Africa's population lives in urban settlements. Globally, China accounts for over one-quarter of the built-up areas of more than 500,000 inhabitants. The definition of a city differs across various world regions - some countries count settlements with 100 houses or more as urban, while others only include the capital of a country or provincial capitals in their count. Largest agglomerations worldwideThough North America is the most urbanized continent, no U.S. city was among the top ten urban agglomerations worldwide in 2023. Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest urban area in the world that year, with 37.7 million inhabitants. New York ranked 13th, with 21.4 million inhabitants. Eight of the 10 most populous cities are located in Asia. ConnectivityIt may be hard to imagine how the reality will look in 2050, with 70 percent of the global population living in cities, but some statistics illustrate the ways urban living differs from suburban and rural living. American urbanites may lead more “connected” (i.e., internet-connected) lives than their rural and/or suburban counterparts. As of 2021, around 89 percent of people living in urban areas owned a smartphone. Internet usage was also higher in cities than in rural areas. On the other hand, rural areas always have, and always will, attract those who want to escape the rush of the city.

A dataset listing Idaho cities by population for 2024.

Vertical land motion (VLM), angular distortion, and building risks for 28 urban cities in the United States. The file also contains supplementary tables 1 to 8.Abstract: Land subsidence is a slow-moving hazard with adverse environmental and socioeconomic consequences worldwide. However, spatially dense subsidence rates to capture granular variations at high spatial density are often lacking, hindering assessment of associated infrastructure risk. We use space geodetic measurements from 2015 to 2021 to create high resolution maps of subsidence rates for 28 most populous US cities. We estimate that at least 20% of the urban area is sinking in all cities, mainly due to groundwater extraction, affecting ~34 million people. Additionally, more than 29,000 buildings are located in high and very high damage risk areas, indicating a greater likelihood of infrastructure damage. These datasets and information are crucial for developing ad hoc policies to adapt urban centers to these complex environmental challenges.

This map shows how commercial activity is distributed within urban areas and the impact of commercial services on the urban landscape, by mapping what proportion of stores (hence jobs) in an urban area that are found in industrial zones. Industrial zones are extensive areas zoned for industrial use that nowadays are home to wholesalers, big-box retailers and a variety of services and small office buildings. These are specialized destinations, often oriented to other businesses; not the kinds of places you stumble upon by accident. As the most recent form of commercial concentration, they are most often found in rapidly growing cities, especially the largest cities. Since industrial zones support a wide range of specialized activities they usually benefit from commercial specialization as indicated by the index of centrality. The distribution indicates that cities in Ontario and the Prairies have higher values than cities in Quebec, the Atlantic region and British Columbia.

A dataset listing Georgia counties by population for 2024.

A dataset listing Ohio counties by population for 2024.