What’s bigger than a megacity? China’s planned city clusters

The crisis is spreading from India's cities to its countryside 

Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology China's city clusters 05.12.21 Good morning! Today: a look at China's plans to build five major city clusters to accommodate its growing urban population, and India's crisis is migrating to the countryside. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. What’s bigger than a megacity? China’s planned city clusters   China has urbanized with unprecedented speed. About 20 years ago, only 30% of the Chinese population lived in cities; today it’s 60%. That translates to roughly 400 million people—more than the entire US population—moving into China’s cities in the past two decades. And this migration isn’t over; 70% of China’s population is expected to be urban by 2035.  To accommodate the influx, China has shifted from expanding individual cities to systematically building out massive city clusters, each of which will be home to as many as a hundred million people. Cities in a cluster will collaborate economically, ecologically, and politically, the thinking goes, in turn boosting each region’s competitiveness. By 2035, five major city clusters are expected to be established in China: the Jing-Jin-Ji cluster in the north, the Yangtze River Delta cluster (east), the Pearl River Delta cluster (south), the Cheng-Yu cluster (west), and the Yangtze River Middle Reaches cluster in central China.  Some of these have already started to take shape, while others are still on the drawing board. Combined, these areas could one day generate about half the nation’s GDP and house half its urban population. And to connect the clusters, China aims to complete a grid of 16 new high-speed railway lines. Read the full story. —Ling Xin   This story is from the latest edition of MIT Technology Review, all about cities. Check out the full magazine, and if you haven't yet, subscribe! We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + This mesmerizing website lets you track sharks.    + Cauliflower is endlessly adaptable. These recipes help you to make the most of it.    + April's best science images.    + These paintings of the natural world by Teagan White are exquisite.    + Some amazing chemistry photos.   + We included no-knead bread yesterday and I am delighted to learn that no-knead focaccia is also a thing (thanks Stefan!) Sponsor Message Product design gets an AI makeover With artificial intelligence, simulation software makes engineers' jobs easier, improves production processes, and spurs innovation. Learn more here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The crisis is spreading from India's cities to its countryside The situation is endlessly harrowing. (NYT $)   + Experts say the B.1.167 variant could derail the UK's reopening plans. (The Guardian)   + Countries in Southeast Asia that had fared well are starting to report big increases in cases. (NYT $)   + How we prepare hospitals for the next pandemic. (The Verge)  2 The White House has approved the US's first major offshore wind farm Vineyard Wind will be over 20 times bigger than anything built in the US so far. (Ars Technica)   + We're entering a period of exceptionally fast growth for solar and wind energy. (The Verge)   3 Israel and Palestine seem to be on the brink of war And there's little standing in the way of it escalating. (NYT $)   + What life is currently like for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. (NYT $)  4 Several states have declared an emergency over the Colonial Pipeline shutdown The national average for gasoline prices has shot up to its highest level since 2014. (Axios)   + The US has ignored warnings that this sort of hack was likely. (Bloomberg $)   + What the hack can teach us about US national cybersecurity defense. (The Next Web)   + Ransomware hacks are now daily occurrences. DC's police department is grappling with a separate attack currently too. (Ars Technica)  5 People aren't "addicted" to wearing masks. They're traumatized. The last year has taken a huge mental and emotional toll. (Vice)   + Some anti-maskers are coming round to masks because they think they need to protect themselves from the vaccinated. 🤦‍♀️ (Vice)   + Bosses trying to force workers back into offices is giving people anxiety, too. (Axios)  6 The birth of Alexa A new book claims to have finally uncovered the identity of the woman who voiced the software. (Wired $)   7 TikTok… as a recruitment tool? So the social media platform mission creep begins. (Axios)   + It's also thinking about adding an in-app shopping feature. (Bloomberg $)  8 Germany has blocked Facebook's new grab of WhatsApp user data This update, due to come into force globally on May 15, has been controversial from the start. (TechCrunch)   9 "Buy now, pay later" companies are coming for your rent 💰 No matter how you frame it, this is just encouraging people to get into more debt. (Vox)   10 Why it's so hard to be evil in video games 😈🎮 This restores some of my faith in humanity. (Wired $) In just 4 weeks, join MIT Technology Review and Harvard Business Review virtually at EmTech Next.  Discover the technologies propelling organizational growth, the impact of AI and automation, the urgency to upskill the workforce, and more. Register today. Quote of the Day "Who cares about a platform where you can't even own the libs?" —Jeremy Blackburn, assistant professor of computer science at New York’s Binghamton University, tells NBC why Trump's blog is drawing a fraction of the audience of his once-powerful social media accounts. Top image credit: Charlottees from Pixabay  Second image credit: MIT Technology Review Please send sharks to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Don't settle for half the story. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review for paywall-free access to our journalism. 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