Global Settlement Dynamics

Book excerpt: There are currently over eight billion people on Earth: how did we arrive at the current distribution of humans on the planet? What shape is it taking, and how will it evolve? This book proposes an original answer to this, which is based on the explicit desire to place settlement at the heart of its questioning, by varying the level of analysis from global to local. After recalling how humans colonized the entire planet, this book presents their current distribution, which is predominantly urban. Population dynamics (birth rate, death rate and migration) are driving changes – including the demographic decline of certain regions – which are presented and explained from the angle of residential mobility and international migration, as well as the impact of ongoing climate change. Global Settlement Dynamics concludes with a discussion of the future of these settlements, based on data from the United Nations, and the question of the sustainability of human settlements on Earth.