I view the issue of megacities in four ways – resource management, resource scarcity and environmental change, general urban security, and future opportunities of urbanization. Scarcity of resources, like water, sanitation, and energy are going to be major tests for the functioning and security of developing countries. One concept that immediately comes to mind is Garrett Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons”, as it provides the foundation for making the connection between urbanization, environmental change, and the future of sustainable development.

The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma in which multiple individuals – rational actors serving their own self-interests – share and will eventually deplete a limited resource despite the fact each actor knows this is not beneficial in the long-term. Advocates for sustainable development often cite Hardin’s theory, making the connection between environmental protection and economic and population growth.

Factors contributing to the tragedy of the commons are acquiring energy, population growth, and pollution. In particular, it is not so much the acquisition of energy itself, but how it is dispersed among the population, which is the unavoidable problem. It’s hard to calculate what the “optimum population” should be because there is no technical solution. Demographics are constantly changing and the tragedy of the commons is not going to be solved using science, but instead with politics and philosophy.

The tragedy of the commons calls peoples’ attention to the fact that dividing resources is necessary because it fits in with human nature. We as humans should not expect too much from it. For example, the expectation in the Marxist idea, “from each according to his abilities to each according to his need” does not work, and the reason being is human nature. Hardin argues this is the wrong standard to have, and instead proposes the idea “from each according to his abilities to each according to the degree to which he has earned”. One must work to earn – man must stop having a sense of entitlement. We’re in this together.

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