Seven Cities Megasprawl
Climate transition and explosive population growth has driven the exponential urbanization of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Seven Cities, located on the eastern shore of Angola, is one of the continent's (and world's) biggest sprawls by accounted population (47 M), along with Niamey (56 M), Khartoum (57 M), Dar es Salaam (74 M), Kinshasa (84 M), and Lagos (88 M).
Human migration followed the water. No wonder that the spot where the two rivers - Mira and Bona - merge, attracted scores of people. And what once was seven separate and fairly unknown settlements expanded and molded into one densely populated urban landscape.
Even though the first unified master construction plan was signed into action only in 2075, Aerbright , Longfield , Redridge , Swash , Port Stanley , Sterling , and Valley have rich history of colonial exploitation, industrial ascent and decline, technological wonders and human failings, bitter rivalry and inspiring cooperation. They are forever seven and forever one, singular and single, separate and same.
47 million people, 90 kilometers from end to end, a staggering fusion of ethnicities, cultures, industries, philosophies, and ways of life, 7C offers something for everyone, and claims what it wants in return.
Inter-city cooperation Seven Cities always had deep economic ties - resident of Aerbright couldn't sell their goods to foreigners without going to Port Stanley, and they couldn't get there without going through Longfield. When Port Stanley and Longfield developers wanted to reclaim the land on their shores, spoil tips of Sterling were logical place to look for material. Modern era of even deeper cooperation began with construction of the fusion power plant. Prospect of incredibly cheap, clean electricity in a time when power was scarce, gave decisive push to the cities' administrations to - at first - unite power grids. However, very soon the need for unified power management tools arose and was successfully implemented. Following this example, the other city services were consolidated for efficiency - waterworks and sewage treatment, garbage collection and recycling. As more and more people began to lead their lives in two or more cities, need for coordinated traffic management and police databases arose. In 2068 the Urban Management Agency was founded as one center for such united operations. Inter-city rivalry With millions of people living in Seven Cities, some of them will inevitably have the same jobs and compete for the same resources. Rivalry between Stanley and Swash fishermen is probably the most vivid example - occasional clashes at sea are not unheard of. Likewise, Florence and Talus compete for the same contracts in the oil industry, and Sterling and Redridge enterprises often find themselves competing. Same is true on a higher level - airports try to outbid each other for airline flights, and city tourism boards are constantly trying to undermine each other.
Maps
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Seven Cities Megamap
Founding Date
1830s
Alternative Name(s)
7Cs, 7Cz, 7C
Type
Megalopolis
Population
46,833,000; official population density 27'460 residents per sq km
Included Locations
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