Some viewers may find the following image disturbing.

This photo depicts the merging of Hong Kong and the Shenzhen-Guangzhou area of China to become the worlds first Mega City - Home to an incredible 120 million people, an absolutely staggering number. This photo came to me as a clipping from The Guardian (23/03/10). Ever since I have been haunted by it.
Scotland's population is currently just over 5 million with the UK as a whole at around 60m. In 1801 the population of the UK was 8.3m in 1901 following the effects of the industrial revolution it had risen to 31.5m.
I still find it quite incredible that the infrastructure exists to reliably service both the needs and the greeds of the UK. I also find it quite worrying that in the event of a collapse in the supply chain like, for example a lorry drivers protest over fuel prices, that we are apparently 7 days from starvation (local resilience is obviously the key here)

Considering the needs of a city of 120 million people is properly mindboggling. The flow of services, food and water must be staggering- just imagine providing 240 million shoes for a starter! The energy demands of air conditioners,cars, heating systems and all those myriad other things must be just phenomenal.

This picture also bothers me because I grew up reading the comic 2000AD one of whose most famous characters was Judge Dredd. He brought a "tough love" form of justice to a futuristic city where everyone lived in tower-blocks. It was called Mega City One and it looked just like the place in the photo really. I have often enjoyed good Sci- Fi Films as well, kinda suspecting that in the future humans will live in a "Bladerunner" type world. The all encompassing diversely populated, sleazy, dirty city where it always rains and everyone talks pidgin dialects dominates the film and appears to be what the future has become, the last few minutes show countryside as the city is left behind (my apologies for spoiling the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it by the way).

I believe that humans have always lived in times of change. Talking about the latest development, be it the wheel, metal, windows, money, coffee, travel etc has probably been as constant a topic as the weather. I kind of suspect however that the age of change we are living through now is moving not just at a pace that is unparalleled, but is whirling in so many directions. 200 years ago it was (arguably) really just Europe that was developing, now everywhere something seems to be going on or wrong depending on your perspective.
Its always a bit weird to find the fantastic futuristic visions of the future appearing in your time.

Incidentally - I have noticed that the pics on the blog sometimes get chopped or squashed by the formatting. If you put your mouse over the pic and right click, choosing view image you will see the pics in full.