What If Your City’s Population Exploded 10 Times Bigger Overnight?

What If Your City’s Population Exploded 10 Times Bigger Overnight?

We consider the scary stories about the overpopulated world a myth. It seem unreal to us and we don’t think that it could be real. But what overpopulated world would look like? Let’s imagine that the population of your city increased 10 times. What would happen then?

Okay, it’s 6 a.m. You leave the apartment building and join the rushing crowd outside. There’s a huge traffic jam on the road nearby. The crowd of pedestrians is too big, so you have to walk slowly. In about an hour, you get to the subway and stand in line to get inside — it’ll take another 40 minutes or so.

Underground, you have to wait for your turn to hop inside the train. They come every 5 minutes, but there are so many people that even cramming doesn’t help: you only manage to get on after another 20 minutes, the doors catching the hem of your jacket. You stand flat against the doors, pushed into them by the press of the people. When you finally get to your station, you’re already exhausted. It’s 9.20, you’re late, as expected, and there’s still some way to go. The crowd of late-runners like you is even larger in the city center, so you take a deep breath and dive in…