Megacities are gaining importance as hubs of globalisation processes in a world increasingly
dominated by cities. A deeper understanding of the multiple causes and drivers of their
development is needed in order to shape the global urban transformation towards sustainability.
The interdisciplinary research programme Megacities - Megachallenge: Informal Dynamics of
Global Change” aimed at understanding the connections between informal mega-urban processes and
global change by investigating the situation in the two mega-urban areas of the Pearl River
Delta China and Dhaka Bangladesh. The research focused on processes and interactions in four
fields with high development dynamics and social relevance: new forms of governance and
self-organisation differentiation of urban economies dynamics of matter and resource flows
and informal settlement development.
