This paper discusses sustainable urbanization in terms of Housing, Social Amenities, Transport and Urban Areas Management. It presents a possible way of life at a future time when there will be a 100% urban population.
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CRITICAL REFLECTION ON URBANIZATION1 CRITICAL REFLECTION ON URBANIZATION Student’s Name Code + Name of Course Professor’s Name University City (State) Date 1
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CRITICAL REFLECTION ON URBANIZATION2 CRITICAL REFLECTION ON URBANIZATION Urbanization is a term used to define the transformation from a rural to an urban setup. This transformation can be viewed in two main ways; change occurring in an area and the movement of people (Tacoli, et al., 2015). In change occurring in an area, urbanization can be viewed as the transformation of a rural area into an urban area through development. Infrastructure (which is characteristic of urban areas) is developed in an originally rural area. Such development eventually transforms the rural area into an urban area. In movement of people, urbanization is viewed as the process by which people move from rural areas to urban areas (rural-urban migration). This is regarded as urbanization since an increase in the number of people in an urban area necessitates an increase in the infrastructure of the urban area in question. This increase in infrastructural development is an aspect of urbanization. Urban setups present opportunities for better lives, which attracts people from rural areas. The opportunities available in urban areas include employment, proper health care and better education. The potential economic returns associated with urban areas also attracts investment towards urbanization (Cohen, 2015). This investment can be public, private or public-private joint. Investment-induced urbanization come in the form of planned and smart cities. It is projected that, as a result of pursuit of opportunities combined with investment- induced urbanization, the global urban population will rise from 55% in 2018 to 68% in 2050 (United Nations, 2018). A majority of this increase in urban population will be in Africa and Asia. Whereas urbanization does provide opportunities and economic gains, it also presents a challenge of sustainability (Brenner & Schmid, 2015). Rise in resource exploitation and population growth have put stress on nature. This implies that the available natural resources are not able to sufficiently meet the global population requirements. Due to this, a sustainable approach has to be adopted to ensure that global population needs are met without overexploitation. The sustainable approach extends to urbanization. This paper will look at sustainable urbanization in terms of Housing, Social Amenities, Transport and Urban Areas Management. The housing provided in urban areas should meet three key sustainability criteria; decency, affordability, and environment friendliness. With regards to decency, there is need to ensure that slums and homelessness are done away with. The average minimum wage in an 2
CRITICAL REFLECTION ON URBANIZATION3 urban setup should also be considered when setting the house price ranges, this will ensure that they are affordable. To comply with environment friendliness, the construction firms should inspect their supply chains and ascertain that environmental pollution and degradation are kept at their minimum. Social amenities include learning institutions, recreational facilities, water, sanitation and waste management facilities, electricity and health facilities. Urbanization should prioritize the provision of these amenities in order to ensure good general wellbeing of the urban population. However, these amenities have to be provided in a sustainable way. Education needs to be available, affordable and of high quality. The same applies to the health facilities. The planners of the urban settlements should consider recreational facilities when designing and subsequently developing urban areas. The presence of recreational facilities is essential for the mental health of any population. Facilities such as public parks and gardens are especially important when considering sustainability. These two types of recreational facility bring the aspect environment friendliness into urban planning. With the projected increase in urbanization, proper water, sanitation and waste management facilities will be required. These facilities are huge determinants of both the environment and health of the urban population. With a global shortage of clean water, proper water management is crucial to prevent water wastage in the urban areas. Improper sanitation and waste disposal lead to environmental pollution and thus availability of these facilities is important. On the other hand, lack of clean water, improper sanitation and waste disposal pose health risks for urban residents (Eckert & Kohler, 2014). This further emphasizes on the importance of these facilities. Electricity can be described as the backbone of urbanization in the modern age. Therefore, the availability of sufficient and reliable electricity becomes a priority for urban setups. There is need however, to consider renewable sources of energy to power urban areas. These sources (such as solar and wind) help in providing sufficient and reliable electricity that is sustainable and environment friendly. The biggest sustainability challenge facing transportation is air pollution. The transportation vehicles and vessels are the second largest contributors to air pollution after industries (Sachs, et al., 2018). Encouraging the use of renewable sources of energy can significantly reduce carbon emissions from transportation vehicles. Provision of these renewable 3
CRITICAL REFLECTION ON URBANIZATION4 sources (such as ethanol fuel stations and charging stations for electric cars) will promote sustainable urbanization. Also providing fast and reliable public transportation will reduce carbon emissions since it will result in a decrease in number of vehicles (Akbari, 2008). In order to enable sustainable urbanization, consideration also has to be given to the management of urban areas (United Nations, 2016). Policy makers should develop urban management models that can adapt to the increasing rates of urbanization. These models also have to prioritize sustainability so as to enable a balance between proper service delivery and sustainable resource utilization. In conclusion, urbanization can be viewed as a beneficial tool of modernization. It presents a possible way of life at a future time when there will be a 100% urban population. With this possibility in mind, there is then need for developing plans that will enable it without an overexploitation of natural resources or destruction of the environment. To achieve this, sustainability has to integrated into urbanization. Urban planners, policy makers and residents have to adopt sustainable approaches to urban living. 4
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CRITICAL REFLECTION ON URBANIZATION5 REFERENCES Akbari, H 2008,Saving Energy and Improving Air Quality in Urban Heat Islands,1st edn,AIP, Berkeley, CA. Brenner, N & Schmid, C 2015, "Towards a new epistemology of the urban",City,Vol.19, No.2- 3, pp. 151-182. Cohen, B 2015, "Urbanization, City Growth and the New United Nations Development Agenda", Cornerstone, The Official Journal of the World Coal Industry,Vol.3, No.2, pp. 4-7. Eckert, S & Kohler, S 2014, "Urbanization and health in developing countries: a systematic review",World Health Population,Vol.15, No.1, pp. 7-20. Sachs, J et al. 2018,SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2018. pp.11-15.,Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), New York. Tacoli, C, McGranahan, G & Satterthwaite, D 2015,Urbanization, rural-urban migration and urban poverty,1st edn, International Institute for Environmental Development (IIED), London. United Nations 2016,Sustainable Development Goals,Viewed 25 February 2019, <https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/> United Nations, 2018.World Urbanization Prospects.Viewed 25 February 2019, <https://population.un.org/wup/> 5