Problem Caused by Urbanization - Essay Example

Urbanization al Affiliation Urbanization The world is experiencing unprecedented growth in the urban areas. This has beendescribed as the wave of urbanization. Today, the population of persons living in urban centers far outnumbers that of those residing in rural areas. This has largely been occasioned by rural-urban migration whereby people migrate to urban areas in search of better livelihoods. Urbanization has been praised because of its potential to bring or generate economic growth and prosperity, efficiency in the utilization of resources, as well as improving the well-being of persons in terms of accessing better healthcare and other facilities. However, it has also been castigated for creating massive problems in the urban centers such as pollution, growth of informal settlements, crime and many others. This paper will define urbanization, identify problems caused by urbanization in Beijing and evaluate the effectiveness of solutions, which have been implemented to tackle these problems. Urbanization is defined as the shifts in populations of persons from rural areas to urban centers in a gradual manner (Miller, 2012). Urbanization has rapidly spread across the world. Initially, the industrial revolution and the agrarian revolution largely contributed to urbanization. Today, it is estimated that over half the world’s population have found a dwelling place in urban centers, towns, cities, and megacities. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), over 5 billion people will be living in cities by the year 2030. Urbanization is also envisaged to spread faster in the continents of Africa and Asia (Miller, 2012). While it is without doubt that urbanization brings with it a wide range of benefits such as economic growth and a sense of well-being, it has also been strongly faulted for causing untold misery through increased inequality, pollution, and poverty. Having briefly described the term urbanization, it is pertinent that we examine the problems that have been occasioned by urbanization specifically in Beijing. We will then evaluate the solutions that have been put in place to address the challenges. The first problem that has been caused by urbanization in the city of Beijing is pollution. In China, where the population is currently estimated to have reached 1.3 billion people, about 53 percent of the population is living in the cities. In the year 1950, only 13 percent of the population was city dwellers (Miller, 2012). This significant increase depicts how seriously urbanization has affected urban population growth. This increase in population in the city has created a myriad of problems with air pollution being one of them. Air pollution in Beijing is largely caused by emissions from coal-fired plants, which are driving the construction industries. Owing to the large population, China is trying to satisfy its huge urbanization appetite thus focus has been placed in these industries, which produce materials such as glass, cement, and steel to meet the housing and other massive infrastructure demand. These industries are however, the chief sources of air pollution (Kuo, 2012). Air pollution in Beijing is an issue that has put one of the world’s megacities on the world map. The safety limits of pollution as set by the World Health Organization (WHO) are exceeded by far on a daily basis. It is common to see smog filling up the air just as it is to see city residents wearing mouth masks to filter the polluted air that they are exposed to. Data shows that the smog frequency in Beijing has been on the rise in the past 2 to 3 years. According to the WHO, the safe limit of exposure in a city over a duration of 24 hours if 25 of PM 2.5 in a cubic metre of air. PM 2.5 refers to a type of pollution that involves dust and other particles that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Beijing has routinely experienced levels between 300 and 800 (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2005). This has caused the city dwellers respiratory and cardiovascular ailments especially among the children and old persons. The serious threat of pollution has even led to the International School of Beijing to cover off its playground to keep polluted air from infiltrating (Chengrong, 2013). China has implemented a raft of propositions to tackle the problem of air pollution in its cities such as Beijing. This has mostly been occasioned by public outcries concerning the pollution issue. One such proposition has been adopting a green technology, which advocates for using cleaner sources of energy to push its urbanization agenda. In 2014, the Chinese government launched a 1.7 trillion Yuan green agenda project whose aim is to clean up the power stations in the industries (Reilly, 2014). The specific measures of the project have been either shutting down power stations, which still relies on coal for power, or ensuring that they start using gas, which is cleaner with minimal pollution effects. The solutions have been very effective in reducing the levels of pollution as the air quality in Beijing has significantly improved. However, there has been loss of jobs occasioned by loss of jobs owing to closing down of power stations that fail to comply (Kuo, 2012). The other urbanization problem that affects the city of Beijing is transport planning and management. Beijing, like other megacities in China, is home to millions of city dwellers who have and continue to exert enormous pressure on the transport systems. It is important to note that China has over 10 million persons living in the 6 megacities spread out in China. The road system is now congested with traffic snarl-ups being the norm of most days. Beijing alone has over 5 million cars using its roads every day (Hui, 2013). The rail infrastructure is also overstretched by the millions of commuters who use the subway to and from home. These challenges in transport management have led to loss of millions of dollars in wasted man-hours annually on the roads and in the subways. The Chinese government has come up with solutions to curb these problems. This has been through the building of more roads and highways to free up congestion on the roads by diverting traffic out of Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) (Reilly, 2014). The railway infrastructure has also been upgraded to accommodate more commuters using the subway. The implementation of these transport solutions has largely eased up traffic congestion on the roads and subways. However, they have not successfully addressed the situation. According to a World Economic Forum report on the future of urban development, what Beijing and other cities which are experiencing transport challenges need to do is to first contain urban expansion. Secondly, these cities need to develop innovative transport systems such as the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) which efficiently manages traffic by ensuring that traffic between cities is maximized (Hui, 2013). The authorities also need to significantly increase active participation from the private sector in a bid to strengthen infrastructure in public transportation. In conclusion, urbanization is defined as the shift, usually gradual, in populations of persons from rural areas to urban centers. Urbanization has recently spread faster than in previous times in history, largely occasioned by the massive migration of persons from the rural areas to urban centers in search for better livelihoods. Urbanizations has been praised for causing economies to grow, optimization in the distribution and use of resources, as well as an increased sense of well being. However, it has also been criticized for creating a wide range of problems such as social inequalities, pollution, and the growth of informal settlements. While governments implemented a number of solutions to tackle the problems, a lot still needs to be done. References Chengrong, B. (2013, March 23). Beijing on the Brink Due to Overpopulation. Beijing Today [Beijing]. https://beijingtoday.com.cn/2013/03/beijing-on-the-brink-due-to-overpopulation/ Chinese Academy of Sciences. (2005). Urbanization, Energy, and Air Pollution in China: The Challenges Ahead -- Proceedings of a Symposium. Beijing: National Academies Press. http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/pgasite/documents/webpage/pga_054733.pdf Hui, X. (2013). Housing, Urban Renewal and Socio-Spatial Integration: A Study on Rehabilitating the Former Socialistic Public Housing Areas in Beijing. Hong Kong: TU Delft http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB0QFjAAahUKEwiisfvsmNrGAhXJINsKHbgRDKw&url=http%3A%2F%2Frepository.tudelft.nl%2Fassets%2Fuuid%3Aa70e7d87-9bf9-469c-a861-a3ef8e496979%2F42-610-2-PB1.pdf&ei=AsekVaKoAsnB7Aa4o7DgCg&usg=AFQjCNGS1GFPsVdiL-NRP-zoxfR6iykRtg&sig2=4h6eeF6EtByufHffsCFJkw&bvm=bv.97653015,d.ZGU Kuo, G. (2012). MegaCrisis? Overpopulation Is the Problem. World Future Review, 4(3), 23-32. www.wfs.org/Upload/PDFWFR/WFR_Fall2012_Kuo.pdf Miller, T. (2012). Chinas Urban Billion: The Story Behind the Biggest Migration in Human History. London: Zed Books popupchinese.com/lessons/sinica/chinas-urban-billion Reilly, J. (2014). Air pollution in Beijing has made the city almost uninhabitable for human beings according to environmental study. Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2558548/Air-pollution-Beijing-city-uninhabitable-human-beings-according-environmental-study.html Read More