International Planning: Urbanisation Challenges in Solomon Islands

This report provides an in-depth analysis of urbanisation in the Solomon Islands, focusing on its growth patterns, particularly the shift from rural to urban areas. It delves into the economic implications of this trend, including the impact on GDP and employment, and discusses the opportunities and ...Read More

INTERNATIONAL
PLANNING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Urbanisation...........................................................................................................................1
Growth pattern of Solomon Island.........................................................................................2
Issues related to urbanisation:................................................................................................4
Rural to Urban Migration.......................................................................................................4
Opportunities for Migrants.....................................................................................................5
Housing and Infrastructure Issues .........................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Urbanisation is considered as a process under which proportion of population of migrates
from rural to urban areas. It is also termed as industrialisation in which different types of
inanimate sources of energy are used for enhancing productivity of human by increasing
surpluses in both industry and agriculture. In this context, the report has been prepared on rapid
urbanisation in countries of Pacific Island (Kittel and et. al., 2011). A discussion on growth
pattern of Solomon Island with its urban development has made. Furthermore, issues related to
housing and infrastructure, rural to urban migration with some opportunities also has discussed.
Urbanisation
This term can be defined as shifting of population from rural to urban residency for
improving their living standards. It also refers to increase in proportion of human beings living in
urban areas as well as way they have adapt changes in their lives. According to Arrazola, Korta
and Pelletier (2013), Urbanisation is a process by which infrastructure, towns and cities in a
specific place are formed and are expanded when more people are started to live and work in
those region. It is related with a range of disciplines which includes urban planning, geography,
economics, sociology and public health. Therefore, this phenomenon is linked with
industrialisation, modernisation and rationalisation which closely related to sociological process.
Due to rapid urbanisation, today more than half of the world's population live in urban and
modern areas of a country. It is estimated that around 85% of GDP in global manner is generated
in cities. Therefore, by rapidly increment in the same, it can be estimate that in upcoming years,
67% of the world will live in cities which highly raise standardisation of living beings.
Furthermore, around 1.5 million of people are used to migrate from rural areas to urban for
development of life.
In context with Pacific Island of countries, more than 35% of people are living and
working in towns (Pacific urbanisation: changing times, 2018). Rate of urban population growth
in most of the region is much high as shown in figure:-
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(Source: Urbanisation in Pacific Island, 2018)
As per this graph, it has evaluated that around 82% countries of Pacific Island are turn
into urbanisation. Along with this, in upcoming years, more than half of population will live in
majority in these areas of Fiji, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Palau, Solomon and more. Due to
urbanisation, economic prospects as well as living standard of life is much improved.
Growth pattern of Solomon Island
Solomon Island is ranked on 26 from 43 countries of Pacific region but according to
statistical reviews, its overall score is much below from regional and world averages. In index of
2018, economical freedom score of this island is near about 57.5 which make its economy the
114th freest. With significant improvement in property rights and judicial effectiveness , its score
has increased to 2.5 units. This has indicated measuring a decline in trade freedom. In this island,
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Illustration 1: Urbanisation in Pacific Island

the urban economy of Fiji and Vanuatu as estimated have contributed near about 60% of GDP in
current years. For an instance- As centre of services, due to pre-eminent position of Honiara, it
has given much employment. Thus, economical performance in capital have significantly effect
on national economical growth in Solomon.
Historically, by the end of civil conflict in 2003, economical growth of this island region
has been driven by expansion of forestry sector and rapid increase in international aid flows.
The increase in the security to people enhanced the pact of urbanisation as well. For this process,
Government of Solomon have taken initiatives by which quality and standardisation of people
lives can improve. As this region has enriched with natural resources which include world class
tourism potential, gold and nickel, forest and fisheries etc. So, it has given various opportunities
to industries to set business in towns and cities of Solomon-Islands like Honiara, Guadalcanal
Auki and more. Along with this, Government of Solomon also support entrepreneurs for opening
their business by arranging different source of finance. They have established various laws and
legislation by which employers and employees can get a fair share of benefits. It includes Labour
Act 1981, Employment Act & Unfair Dismissal Act. All these acts help people to get fair salary
and protect them from unfair dismissals. Industrialisation in manufacturing sector also helps in
giving employment to people of Solomon Island and assist them to live in urban areas.
Furthermore, these industries whose businesses are based on natural resources are integrated well
into supply chains. It has provided a source of demand for local companies of Solomon through
which they can expand business in large manner.
As it is rich in timber and natural resources so, bulk of population has started work in
subsistence farming and artisanal forestry. So, it gives opportunity to Government of Solomon
Island to export its resources in other countries by which economy can be enhanced. As is good
economical condition of a nation helps in improving infrastructure. After rapid-urbanisation, in
2016, regulatory bodies has established a credit bureaucracy due to which it become easy for
entrepreneurs to open their business at large scale (Timmermans and et. al., 2013).
As per present scenario i.e. in 2017 growth in private sector rises in rapid manner. But at
local level, it has not sufficient for providing employment to large number of population so,
Government has implemented some regional labour schemes based on short-term. It has helped
in leading remittances and acquisition of skills which provide benefit to local economy. In
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context with longer-run, integration has allowed workers of Solomon to use their skills so that
partner countries can address their skills for growing labour shortages in a particular field.
Issues related to urbanisation:
Urbanisation provides various opportunities to people for improving standard of life. But
it leads to generate various issues also as explained as below:-
Rural to Urban Migration
Migration is considered as a movement of people from one place to another for a specific
region (Leopold-Wildburger and et. al., 2012). In context with urbanisation, people migrate from
rural areas to urban cities in order to improve their live. This concept of migration i.e. movement
of people from rural-urban generally called as internal migration. Because it us connected with
job requirement of them which is different from agricultural farming like in rural areas.
(Source: Growth of Honaria and other urban areas, 2018)
Migration provide a number of development purposes which include facilitating
education, encouraging business development, giving employment and more. As estimated from
year 1999 to till,
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Illustration 2: Growth of Honaria and other urban areas

According to this graph, it has analysed that annual growth of Honaria is slowed to 3.7%
but it is still above from national average of 2.8%. Therefore, growth in urban areas of Solomon
as compared with other countries of Pacific Ocean from last decades has been increased at much
higher rate (Report on
Migration and urbanisation, 2017). But when people move from native-place to urban areas for
necessity of life, then they have faced various issues and challenges in adapting new societal
changes. Since urban growth reflects that towns and cities are expanding as well as developing
rapidly. Therefore, the first challenges in front of migrants is housing facility because as cities
have limited area of land (Ying-ning and Xi, 2012). So, newcomers have to move to shanty
towns i.e. slum area where living standardisation of people is not so good. Along with these, in
such areas facilities related to sustainable are not much available. They have faced scarcity of
clean water, proper food and basic facilities required to live normal life. In this context, second
issue is related with urbanisation which shows enhancement of population in a particular area.
As migrants from rural areas are shifted in urban cities for earning money so, before settlement
they have to leave their family members and others in native land.
In general, people when migrate from rural to urban areas then they think that it will give
various opportunities for sustainable life. It will give them better jobs which may help in
improving conditions of their family also. But a lot of them seems to be ended in poverty
because new areas are not in that state to absorb large influx of migrants in appropriate manner.
So, it leads to generate many problems like raise in poverty, shortage in housing facilities,
insufficient sanitary conditions and more (Crépon, Panchea and Chapoutot, 2018). Thus, it will
give rise to growth of slum areas in urban societies which raises pollution, crime, congestion and
insecurity also. Moreover, main issues faced are gaps between education level of Urban and rural
population. In order to expand business, industries of urban areas usually give employment to
highly educated people only who have necessary skills. Therefore, in this regard, if migrants
haven't gained that kind of education the it will also lead to raise unemployment which increase
poverty also. Along with this, religious and cultural change of urban and rural problem also
create issues in adapting changes for migrants.
Opportunities for Migrants
Urbanisation in Solomon Island refers to a current phenomenon where almost 20% i.e.
near about 102,030 of total population are living in urban areas (National Urban Profile, 2017).
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The reason behind this is number of opportunities which are given to people for getting a
standard life in urban areas. As cities in Solomon are developing at high rate due to rapid growth
of industrialisation. Therefore, it gives opportunity to people to earn money by working in
companies of urban cities. For running business successful, employers of these organisations
give higher rate of employment to people as per capabilities of them (Mårdberg and et. al.,
2018). If people of rural areas shift in cities then they can earn more income by which living
conditions of them can be improved. Along with this, it would give them opportunity to enhance
their knowledge and skills by working in industries of urban areas. Through this they can get
chance to open new business in same sector by getting good working experience. Moreover, they
can give good education to children .
As urbanisation lead to industrialisation in a region so, it gives opportunity to government
to reduce unemployment by giving different kinds of job to people as per their skills. From this
graph, it has interpreted that during 1991 to 2017, average value of unemployment rate for
Solomon Island is measured as 2.25% approx with a maximum percent in 1991 which reduces to
2.0% in 2017 (Unemployment rate in Solomon Island, 2018). So, it has shown that
unemployment rate of this region is constantly reducing due to urbanisation.
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Since region of Solomon Island is filled with natural resources like gold and nickel,
fisheries and more so, major proportion of people are engaged in mines and agricultural sector.
Therefore, development of urbanisation give them opportunity for trading in other countries. It
would also help in improving economy of nation also.
Housing and Infrastructure Issues
For development of rural areas, issues related with housing and infrastructure also arise.
It includes minimum shelter standards which fails to reflect precarious locations that are on steep
hillsides. Along with this, areas related to periodic flooding in Solomon Island and hazardous
environmental pollution (Lini and et. al., 2011). It has seen that tides and other natural calamities
create a great impact on growth of rural areas which generally occurs in island areas such as
heavy rainfall, landslides, tide waves and more. Therefore, to recover such loss and create
housing or infrastructure facilities require much finance which is not being provided by the
government. The reason behind this is that shortage of money. Due to such reasons, regulatory
bodies of this island is required to take loan from World Bank in order to improve infrastructure
of regional areas and provide effective facilities to people for sustaining life.
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It has interpreted that from this graph that in Solomon Island, 80% of rural households
have their own house. But only 43% of them are belongs to urban households (Report on
Migration and urbanisation, 2017).
For resolving this issue and enhance infrastructure, Government of Solomon has made an
action plan as SI NIIP. It refers to infrastructure which facilitates business and economical
activities in upcoming years. It include some sub sectors that are Transport (Land), Energy and
Power, Information and Communication Technology, Transport (Aviation), Solid Waste
Management, Water Supply and Sanitation etc. Executing this plan helps in giving facilities to
public and improve infrastructure of region (Infrastructure and Investment Plan, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From this report, it has evaluated that today major portion of total population of the world
are living in urban areas in order to earn sustainable life. For this process, government of a
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Illustration 3: Urban housing: average household size, land and house ownership

country also concern more on bringing urbanisation in regional areas. They provide support to
companies so that industrialisation can increase which helps in improving and increasing
economy of country also. Moreover, this assignment has also evaluated that urbanisation and
industrialisation provides various opportunities to people. But it has generated various issues
related to urban-rural migration, housing and infrastructure etc. which impact on life of people in
large manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Lini, S., and et. al., 2011, May. Developing ASAP (Anticipation Support for Aeronautical
Plannning). In 16th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology 201116th
International Symposium on Aviation Psychology 2011 (pp. 103-105).
Mårdberg, P., and et. al., 2018. A novel tool for optimization and verification of layout and
human logistics in digital factories. Procedia CIRP. 72. pp.545-550.
Crépon, P. A., Panchea, A. M. and Chapoutot, A., 2018, January. Reliable motion plannning for
a mobile robot. In 2018 Second IEEE International Conference on Robotic Computing
(IRC) (pp. 413-418). IEEE.
Kittel, G., and et. al., 2011. Central Interior ecoregional assessment: Terrestrial representation in
regional conservation plannning. Journal of Ecosystems and Management. 12(1).
Ying-ning, C. Y. M. M. and Xi, J. N. Z., 2012. Exploration on Salinized Wetland Ecological
Restoration and Landscape Plannning of Ancient Riverbed of the Yellow River in
Binzhou City. Modern Agricultural Science and Technology, 7, p.197.
Leopold-Wildburger, U., and et. al., 2012. Operations Research Proceedings 2002: Selected
Papers of the International Conference on Operations Research (SOR 2002),
Klagenfurt, September 2–5, 2002. Springer Science & Business Media.
Timmermans, W., and et. al., 2013. Planning by surprise: Designing for climate adaptation:
plannning for the unthinkable. Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences.
Arrazola, X., Korta, K. and Pelletier, F. J. eds., 2013. Discourse, interaction and
communication: proceedings of the Fourth International Colloquium on Cognitive
Science (ICCS-95) (Vol. 72). Springer Science & Business Media.
Online
Pacific urbanisation: changing times, 2018. [Online]. Available Through
<http://www.devpolicy.org/pacific-urbanisation-changing-times-20160225/>.
Growth Pattern in Solomon Island, 2018. [Online]. Available Through.
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Report on
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