THE CITIES AND SUSTAINABILITIES

Running head: CITIES AND SUSTAINABILITIES
CITIES AND SUSTAINABILITIES
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1CITIES AND SUSTAINABILITIES
Introduction
Urban Challenges in truest sense denotes the challenges faced the residents of the city
owing to rapid modernization of the cities and with the advent of more and more people from
the villages to the cities. It is estimated that by 2050, the population of the earth will be
doubled and with this rapid increase in population clubbed with economic advancements,
industrialization and modernization, serious sustainability issues and challenges will rise up
(Childers et. al., 2014). All the above mentioned factors will raise the sustainability issues to
a great extent in terms of poverty, environmental degradation, inequalities in both economy
and bio diversity, spatial segregation and many more.
Description
Sustainability in an urban century
In the era of globalization and modernization, more and more people are leaving their
villages and settling in major town and cities in search of better opportunities in terms of job,
income and standard of living. This is creating an upward pressure on the population of the
cities and is giving birth to major sustainability challenges that the cities have ever
experienced (Elmqvist et. al., 2019). The major sustainability issues that can be identified
includes, crowding, lack of living space, fiscal difficulties, public education, crimes,
pollution, traffic, environmental degradation and many more.
This modern era can be well identified as an urban century with increasing
sustainability challenges. The cities in today’s world are the source of more than 70% of
global emissions of greenhouse gases and at the same time these cities are vulnerable to a
global sustainability challenge of increasing water levels owing to 90% of such cities being
situated along the coastlines (Vojnovic, 2014). With every passing day, urbanization is
accelerating at a rapid pace as never before and it has become a challenge to address the

2CITIES AND SUSTAINABILITIES
increasing sustainability issues associated with this urbanization. Addressing such
sustainability issues will require cautious resilience consideration while implementing such
steps. The sustainability challenges relating to economic, social and environmental
sustainability have enhanced multifold in today’s era, that the need to achieve sustainable
development has been the one of the main agenda of the United Nations 2030 Development
program and all of it concerns urban areas. With the increasing global need, deep uncertainty
and complexity of the situations and challenges in urban century, there has been an increasing
demand for new approaches to achieve a global sustainability transformation.
Cities in history
Sustainable transportation in truest sense means the object which helps the dwellers of
a city or town to move from one place to another and at the same time be cost effective,
provides employment to many, takes part in supporting a vibrant economy, less polluting,
consuming lesser fossil fuels thereby contributing to a greener environment. Sustainable
transportation is a burning issue in today’s world and especially in cities which is dominated
by the major sustainable challenges as discussed above. The cities with lush greenery is
history now. The cities before the industrial revolution was characterized by heavy vegetation
cover, very less population. People were carried by horse carts hence there were very less
pollution with greenery everywhere. The industrial revolution began in Australia around
1800’s and with the introduction of Railways in 1854, more and more people flogged into the
major cities from all parts in search of jobs and better living making it crowded
(Libguides.mhs.vic.edu.au, 2020). Railways in Australia spread very fast creating new
townships and urban localities wherever it spread into. Railways reduced transportation cost
by a great extent enabling people travel in all parts of the country. The beginning of the 19th
century brought with it electric modes of transportation in terms of electric engines for
railways and trams making the modes of travel faster and greener. The ownership and driving