Urbanization is reshaping the global landscape of human life. Since 1950, the share of the world’s population living in urban areas has surged, and it is projected to continue rising through 2050. The United Nations has documented this transformation in their 2025 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects. Part of the report is dedicated to the localised future projections of built-up area and population that were generated with the CRISP model VU helped develop. The report received a lot of attention in news media around the world, including the Guardian and the Dutch news site NOS. Most attention focussed on which city is now considered to be the largest.
Beyond its role in the UN projections, the CRISP model opens the door to numerous other applications in global change research, urban planning, and policy analysis, providing a flexible framework for mapping long-term demographic and spatial trends.