By 2050, 2.5 billion more people will be living in cities, with nearly 90 per cent of this growth taking place in Asia and Africa. China alone will be home to nearly 1 billion urban residents by 2030, and India is not far behind. However, nearly 80 per cent of the urban infrastructure that will exist in 2050 has yet to be built ; the decisions we make about it in the next decades will affect humankind for generations to come. The Urban Age project has investigated these changes for more than a decade, with two highly influential books, The Endless City (2007) and Living in the Endless City (2011), published as a result. Completing the Urban Age series, this richly illustrated volume brings together authoritative research and fresh insights that explain the complexities of urbanization. With 37 essays by leading policy makers, practitioners and scholars, this volume offers new perspectives on the dynamics of urban change. It tracks how cities such as Addis Ababa, London and Delhi have transformed since 1990 and compares patterns of growth, inequality and energy consumption of other global locations, including New York, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro. Shaping Cities in an Urban Age does more than put cities on the map. It identifies current trends that are making them more fragmented, less equitable and environmentally more damaging, and argues powerfully for a more integrated social, environmental and spatial approach that can inform and inspire the city makers who are shaping an increasingly urban world.