A field of brilliant green rice paddies sits next to an area marked for development in Guangzhou, China. In the distance, rows of apartment buildings stretch across the horizon.

While China’s population growth may have slowed, its rate of urbanisation is far above the world average. In the last eight years alone, the rate of urbanisation has increased by 10%.

In 1953, the population of Guangzhou was 1.6 million and today, it around 13 million. It now forms part of the largest contiguous urban environments in the world. The area called the Northern Pearl River Delta contains a population of 46.5 million people.