The animated maps that reveal in 60 seconds how cities have exploded in size over the last 130 years

Animations part of a project to show how cities are expanding

Plan to expand the project to 60 cities worldwide

They are an incredible reminder of just how quickly the world's major cities are expanding.

These new animations show Paris, Los Angeles, São Paulo and Chicago expanding over 130 years - all condensed into a 60 second animation.

Researchers behind the project hope that making the expansion so visible they will force city planners to look ahead more.

Los Angeles in 60 seconds

THE EXPANSION OF CITIES In 2010 more than half of the world’s total population lived in cities, and this share is expected to increase to 70 percent or more by 2050.

The world’s urban population is expected to increase from 3.5 billion in 2010 to 6.2 billion in 2050, and almost all of this growth is expected to take place in less-developed countries. Cities in developed countries will add only 160 million people to their populations during this period, while Cities in developing countries will need to absorb 15 times that number, or close to 2.6 billion people, thereby doubling their total urban population of 2.6 billion in 2010. Given the expected decline in urban densities, these cities are likely to more than triple their developed land areas by 2050.

The animations were created by the NYU Stern Urbanization Project.

The animations, created using information from The Atlas of Urban Expansion, clearly show the extremely rapid expansion in global cities in the 19th and 20th centuries.



'Particularly striking is the growth in the latter half of the 20th century, in which many cities increased their built-up area by more than 10 times,' said Patrick Lamson-Hall of the project.

'This is in keeping with the theory of falling density, which holds that as cities have grown bigger and the world has urbanized, densities have been steadily falling.



'As a result, cities require more urban land per person, meaning total growth in the city area is much greater than population growth.'

The expanding colors on the maps represent the expansion of 'urban land,' or land developed for residential, commercial and public use.



The white space represents rural areas, forests and pastures.

The full set of animations will be launched at the upcoming World Urban Forum 7, in Medellin, Colombia.

Brandon Fuller, the deputy director at the Urbanization Project, described the maps as 'a plea for some long-term planning' in a phone interview with The Huffington Post.



'When you tell a policymaker that we need to start getting ready for five-fold, six-fold, seven-fold expansion in a city, they're often in disbelief,' he said.



'But when you can actually see how dramatically [cities grow] over time, it becomes much more real.'

According to the Atlas of Urban Expansion, in 2010 more than half of the world’s total population lived in cities, and this share is expected to increase to 70 percent or more by 2050.



The world’s urban population is expected to increase from 3.5 billion in 2010 to 6.2 billion in 2050, and almost all of this growth is expected to take place in less-developed countries.

Cities in developed countries will add only 160 million people to their populations during this period, while Cities in developing countries will need to absorb 15 times that number, or close to 2.6 billion people, thereby doubling their total urban population of 2.6 billion in 2010.