Mesmerizing aerial images show the growth of cities like Beijing and Las Vegas over the last 3 decades
A street market in Beijing, China.Stuck in Customs on flickrOver the last three decades, much of the world's population growth has centered in urban areas, where 4.1 billion people â around 55% of the world's population â live today.
By 2030, the United Nations predicts that cities will house 60% of people globally, and one in every three people will live in cities with at least half a million inhabitants.
NASA satellites have visualized this growth through its Landsat program, the longest-running initiative for collecting satellite imagery of Earth. Landsat satellites have captured images of cities across the world since 1972.
The imaging startup Descartes Labs recently compiled these photos to create fascinating timelapses â from the 1980s to today â of five large cities, including Beijing and Las Vegas.
Take a look below:
