A. Delic’s research while affiliated with University of Zagreb and other places

According to 2005 United Nation Revision, the world continues to urbanize quickly. Between 2005 and 2030, the world’s population is expected to increase by 1.7 billion people, from 6.5 billion in 2005 to 8.2 billion in 2030. Virtually all this increase is expected to be concentrated in urban areas. In 1950 there was just two mega-cities, New York and Tokyo, but their number had reached 20 by 2005 and is expected to rise to 22 by 2015, of which 17 will be located in developing countries. As the world entered a new era of globalization in the last decades of the twentieth century, labour markets have become increasingly interdependent and mobility has increased, both in magnitude and complexity. Population migrations towards better conditions lead to a loss of homeland, abandonment of a cultural environment, while also prompting the need to create a new homeland. The families with different ethnic backgrounds have different lifestyles that they would like to protect. The time in which we live, \“the digital era”, is a time of constant and big change. Space is the only limiting factor in possible changes in the future. Changes and progress are an inseparable part of modern living, and they reflect a growing degree of education, the ever-rising living standards and wealth. Evolution in social behaviour leads us towards new concepts of approach to modern design of the city and housing, to new concepts of resolving the issue of housing units and environment. The entire process must be part of the ecological system of balancing life on Earth. Keywords: urbanization, megacities, sustainable development, ICT. 1 World Urban Population – UN prediction According to the United Nation 2005 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, the twentieth century witnessed rapid urbanization of the world’s population. The global proportion of urban population increased from a mere 13% in 1900 to

Gerhard Schmidt predicts that "architecture in 2010 will inevitably fall into three classes: physical, virtual and hybrid 'bits and bricks' architecture" (1). What does a hybrid house look like? Through our knowledge of development, we are trying to foresee what architectural future will be like. Is the future a concept of 'intelligent' environment, 'a smart dwelling of the future', which comprise a number of achievements of modern ICT, or does the future lie in experimental projects in which housing space represents continuing dynamic surfaces that change in accordance with inhabitants' needs and thus become active interfaces between the physical and the virtual? Living in parallel worlds - virtual and real - must reflect on the concept of modern housing. New housing concepts are being explored, in which flexibility, ecology (sustainable development) and virtuality are of crucial importance, demonstrating a new way of thinking about urban living, and offering a new way of life for the start of the 21st century.