has urbanisation proved to be as boon or as bane ? discuss in light of the effects on the environment.
Answers
Answer:
Origins of Urbanization
Urbanization has been happening ever since the 18th century due to industrial revolution. At that time, which was the beginning of industrial revolution, only 3% of the world’s population were living in city areas. In the 1900s, there were thirteen cities that has populations exceeding 1 million. Other than Tokyo, all the other cities were in Europe and North America, which are mostly the western countries. Now, almost half of the world’s population live in city areas and the largest cities in the world are Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Mexico City, Osaka, Manila, Mumbai and Jakarta. As we can see, majority of the top ten most populous cities are in Asia, and not in Europe or North America.
The causes of urbanization has been largely linked to economic reasons and to improve one’s standard of living in the past. Majority of the movement is from rural areas to urban areas. Cities are portrayed to be full of better economic activities and people from less developed parts of the country would want to migrate there as the wealth of the country is centralised there. It would be a good opporunity for them if they are able to find a job there. Furthermore, cities have better facilities and amenities that they do not have in the rural areas.
Is urbanization a boon or bane then?
I feel that urbanization is a bane for many cities socially. Urbanization would inevitably increase the number of people coming into the country, be it from the rural areas or the other urban areas. This would result in overcrowding of the city area and there is a constant flow of people into the cities, but there is only so much space a city has. The city would not be able to provide enough job opportunities and even housing or basic sanitation for the people. This would mean that many who come to the cities in hopes to seek better employment or job opportunities would be left jobless and homeless.
One example I can give is Mumbai, India. Mumbai is one of the megacities. many rural migrant in Mumbai are unable to find adequate work and thus they cannot afford decent housing. According to the World Bank, about 54 per cent of Mumbai’s resident live in slums. Thats about close to 8 million people living in slums. Other cities in India, such as Delhi and Calcutta, are also experiencing the same problems as well. Almost everywhere with a spare piece of land in Mumbai is turned into slums, and it has become unsightly as the slums are just beside train tracks and highways and even sidewalks.
These rural migrants are lowly skilled and are most likely not able to find jobs that pay alot. Thus, they would be trapped in this viscious cycle or poverty and they would not be able to higher their standards of living unless they are able to improve their skills or educational attainment. Slum conditions are poor and the residents there do not even have basic amenities such as clean water, sanitation and lighting, thus the residents have poor quality of life.
The city has to deal with this pressing problem as the number of slums would increase and the overall quality of life of the city would drastically drop if they do not take action. Since 54% of the Mumbai population is living in slums, it is important to take immediate action. The slum areas are also breeding ground for diseases such as tubercolosis. The city should first provide the slum residents with the basic amenities to ensure that their health is taken care of and they have a close to decent standard of living. The city needs to take action fast as Mumbai’s population would constantly grow and if they do not solve the problems of the slums now, it might be to late in future when the problem becomes larger scale.