For those of you who have played the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon you will not be surprised to learn that a team at Microsoft proved that we are all 6.5 degrees of separation from each other – across the entire global population of 7.5 billion people. 

It is an intriguing idea that holds some charm for the city dweller. Clearly, we love to gather together and be connected in a close network and for all sorts of reasons the world’s population continues to be drawn towards city living. An estimated 3 million people every week move into a city; city dwellers now form well over 50% of the entire population and the proportion is expected to reach 68% by 2050. By 1851, around 50% of people in Britain lived in a town or city – that figure is today 83%, and that shift is likely to continue throughout the world for the foreseeable future.

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