urbanization

Climate change is already having a profound impact on cities, as global urbanization pushes more and more people to live in them.

Hookworms, for example, used to devastate communities in the South, but they were by and large eradicated with the introduction of indoor plumbing and urbanization.

Still, it seems that technology and urbanization are rapidly outpacing efforts to curb the myopia epidemic, with people spending more and more time inside on their devices.

“Especially with rising urbanization, it makes sense to take a closer look at the coexistence of humans and animals in the city,” says Wolfgang Weisser, Professor of Terrestrial Ecology at TUM.

He described climate change and immigration as parts of the same problem and decried “rampant urbanization and industrialization, ever expanding cities and shrinking forests, a complete removal of man from nature.”