Gamification for Resilience

2 Critical Infrastructure Systems at Risk

2.1 Introduction

The global human population had reached eight billion by the end of 2022. And the number is projected to escalate steadily to 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100. India is expected to outnumber China four to six years from now (United Nations 2015, 2017). Cities have been the centers of human culture and economic activity for centuries, attracting skilled workers and productive businesses worldwide. In the upcoming years, most major cities’ populations will continually increase (Rockefeller Foundation 2014). Many more people from remote and rural areas will flow into the cities to seek opportunities for a better lifestyle and quality of life.

Regarding this information, Dobbs et al. (2012) projected that between 2010 and 2025, an estimated 600 million inhabitants would populate only around 440 cities, which are expected to generate roughly half of global GDP growth. These people are drawn to cities by job opportunities, economic activities, and modern productivity. Moreover, more than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and the United Republic of Tanzania. Disparate growth rates among the world’s largest countries will reorder their ranking by size (United Nations 2022). In Africa, the extreme population growth is driven ...