Future Cities

More than 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by 2050. Cities in Africa, Latin America and Asia in particular are growing like never before. Photographer Yvonne Brandwijk and journalist Stephanie Bakker travelled to five of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Not to Mumbai or Shanghai, but to the up-and-coming cultural, creative and economic hubs of tomorrow: Kinshasa, Lima, Yangon, Medellín and Addis Ababa. 

In this book, they share five years of travel, insights into urban development and encounters with trend-setters, pioneers, visionaries and up-and-coming talent transforming the fortunes of their cities. The personal stories of these people open an intimate window onto the world behind the statistics of urbanisation and growth and provide insights into what it takes to develop inclusive cities that offer space for unique individuals and personal growth.

Stories from the Future Cities project have appeared across a wide range of international media (including newspapers de Volkskrant, die Welt, El Pais, Le Monde, de Morgen). Commissioned by the United Nations, an exhibition was put together for the Habitat3 urban summit in Quito, Ecuador, and the interactive Future Cities documentary won a World Press Photo Award for Digital Storytelling.