Reading Response

Running head: READING RESPONSE
READING RESPONSE
Name
Course
Professor
University
City/state
Date

READING RESPONSE 2
Reading Response
The authors of this article focused on highlighting some of the major problems associated with
urbanization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and the challenges towards achieving
sustainable urbanization in the region. They did so by discussing the rapid population growth of
the region from about 8 million in 1970 to over 40 million in 2010, out of which nearly 70% live
in urban areas (Ramadan, 2015). According to the authors, there are numerous social, economic,
political and environmental issues that GCC governments must deal with diligently so as to
promote and achieve sustainable development in the region. Therefore numerous strategies and
policies must be formulated for the region to achieve sustainable development.
The main argument of the article is that radical changes must be prompted for GCC
countries to achieve sustainable development, which is mainly affected by the increasing
population in the region. This requires combined efforts by GCC governments, private
stakeholders and the public (Issa & Al Abbar, 2015). The authors have identified some of the
main challenges towards achieving sustainable development in the region, including: increased
population growth due to high migration to the region, housing challenges, water resources
shortage, urban mobility and public transportation challenge, and high energy consumption. All
these challenges are mainly caused, driven or escalated by the increased population in the region.
This population mainly comprises of the local residents and migrant labourers. The authors have
discussed these issues using a wide range of data, such as population statistics of GCC countries,
number of migrant employees in the GCC states, percentage of registered vehicles in GCC
countries, road networks in the region, number of accidents and fatalities in the region,
percentage of youth population, water consumption per capita, average electricity production
cost and selling price per kWh, energy demand and carbon emissions in GCC countries.