Megacities
Megacities,
Level 3
NGV International
View on map
PROJECT
Driven by unprecedented urban population growth, the dynamics of how people live today, and will live in the future, is going through a process of change. At the start of the twenty-first century more than half of the world’s population lived in cities, including those urban environments with more than ten million inhabitants – megacities. This new reality has captured the imagination of people working in urban design, architecture and creative industries globally.
Megacities is a project that identifies ten of the world’s most populous cities – Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Lagos, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Dhaka, Mexico City, Seoul and Jakarta – and presents the work of ten photographers who live and work in these environments. The photographers were invited to consider the question, ‘If, in the twenty-first century, the city represents the dominant human ecosystem, what does this mean for life in a megacity?’ Their work, centred on the built environment and the behaviour, activity and experiences of urban populations, extends the descriptive and didactic capacities of photography to the realm of creative, interactive engagement and reflection, offering a dynamic account of how and where we live today.
The NGV warmly thanks the Orloff Family Charitable Trust, and Barry Janes and Paul Cross for their support.