For six months in 2010 the city of Shanghai is hosting the largest, most spectacular and most expensive World’s Fair ever. Held just two years after the Beijing Olympics, the Shanghai Expo is expected to attract a staggering 70 million visitors by the time it closes in October. At a cost of around US$45 billion dollars, and involving the relocation of 18,000 families and 270 factories, the Expo will permanently transform large areas of central Shanghai. Perhaps more significantly, the Expo, with its theme of Better City, Better Life, is being held in a country currently experiencing a level of urban growth unparalleled in history. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, many of which face uncertain futures, this mega event also confronts some of the key challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century.