Urban Planning Issues - Essay Example

Name) (Instructor) (Institution) (Course code) (Date) The world population is projected to hit 11 billion by the end of this century with the poor countries having the fastest growth rate in the world. This is based on UN report. Due to this growth, new problems and challenges will be faced by mankind due to poor planning and scarcity of resources to sustain such explosion of human beings. The current world population consumes more than 50 per cent of the renewable resources. The pressure on these resources will continue to rise as reported by UNFPA experts when they recently reviewed the population growth (Borowy, 2013, Pg. 84) Population growth without sound policies and plan in place to tackle the arising challenges has led to many challenges to both the developed and the underdeveloped countries. These challenges include lack of adequate resources; health related problems, pollution, traffic congestion and the rise in the unemployment rate among others problems. Regrettably, some challenges like malnourishment resulting from inadequate food supply, may trigger related predicaments, like the epidemics resulting from the malnourishment. To tackle these challenges, government officials and legislators must not only come up with sound policies that will tackle these problems but also implement them Global Water Issue Water is one of the most vital natural required by human beings for survival. It is a basic to all essential processes of importance to mankind. From a general point of view, one can think that water is so abundant on the earth surface. However, UN records on global water shortage indicate over two billion of the world population live in places faced by prolonged water scarcity. Water can drastically limit human well-being and economic development of a region if not solved in time (Beighley, & Killgore, 2011, Pg. 1253). Water shortages, watercourse pollution and flooding causes a strain in urban environment where the population is increasing at a very high rate. Consequently, the stressed caused by water problems has turned this natural resource into a nuisance instead of an opportunity. The increasing global human population over the last century is directly linked to rise in water demand for industrial and domestic use all over the world. Particularly, urbanization has significantly increased the capacity of water required for human use basically through global increase in population density. This has happened through a demographic modification in which there is a change in the distribution of population geographically. The water problem becomes acute when population of urban centers grows as a result of poor immigrants from the rural instead of economic growth basis (Price, 2011, Pg. 2). Why water issue matter in global design World water crisis in urban areas has forced the urban planners to seek new and improved methods to solve the problem. The ancient methods could no longer work due to the impacts of human population on natural water circulation and disposal. Human settlement and infrastructure network built to support the increasing population in urban areas has led to introduction of more advanced global water –based urban design and planning. Urban development involves alteration of soil and vegetation cover, causing soil compaction and deforestation lowering the soil’s capacity to absorb water (Price, 2011, Pg. 2). This is a problem since the compact soil reduces water infiltration into the aquifers and therefore causes foods. Water pollution, soil erosion and also air pollution are among other resultant problems. The extent of the unfulfilled water needs clearly indicates the level of necessity caused by urbanization and population growth on water management (Beighley, & Killgore, 2011, Pg. 1253). Relevant policies should be enacted in a way that it involves all parties from the national to individual level. Since the water issue analysis can be done in different methods, varying from mathematically expressed models to qualitative examination, the same can be used to compare the benefits policies that solve water-related issues in regard to design of modern urban centers across the world (Price, 2011, Pg. 2). Though these policies are majorly global based, it is important that it should the solutions at the resident level. Water scarcity and health Lack of enough water both in urban centres and rural areas threatens environmental health. Water scarcity is a key factor causing water-related diseases which is also linked to the ecosystem factors. As the population increases in the urban areas, lack of adequate also continues to become a crisis. Health problems relating to water scarcity continues to rise. Due to high level of pollution in the urban areas, children health and development is impaired. Diarrhoea is one of the causes of infant and child mortality especially in the developing countries. Despite bottle feeding and breastfeeding, infants and under-five children are exposed to unsafe water especially for drinking. When proper interventions are put in place in hygiene, sanitation and water supply are approximated to lower diarrhoeal incidence by 25 per cent and child deaths by 65 per cent (McGranahan, 2002, Pg. 6) Access to clean supply of water and sanitation leads good health. It is approximated that about 50 per cent globe’s hospital beds are occupied by individuals suffering from diseases related to water. Other statistics show that 80 per cent of diseases are a result of water scarcity and poor sanitation. Further 20 per cent of under-five mortality is as a result of water scarcity (McGranahan, 2002, Pg. 6) Due to water scarcity especially in urban areas forces the residents to take contaminated water. More than one billion worldwide have no option but consume possibly contaminated water from uncertified sources. The situation is worse in urban centres of developing countries due to inadequate resources to manage the problems associated with contamination of water in both the urban and rural settings (McGranahan, 2002, Pg. 6) Water scarcity in the urban areas implies that the sewage does not flow. To compound health related problems, mosquitoes and other vector breed on the stagnant water. This leads to spread of deadly diseases likes malaria and dengue fever among other infections Water scarcity and lack of its quality cause a major health and sanitation issues. Restaurants, clinics and other public amenities in the urban settings are forced to use very little amount for sanitation and cleaning. As a result, the health of the staff and the urban residents who uses facilities is put into jeopardy (McGranahan, 2002, Pg. 6) To compound the myriads of problems already experience, the industries in these centres, pollute the environment not only through the air pollution but also pollute water sources and the poor waste management. Outbreaks of waterborne are experienced due to unsanitary drinking water and the poor management of solid waste in the overcrowded slums (Sundaram, & Nangia, 2010, Pg. 309) Resource scarcity Industrial revolution and technological advancement increase the water utilization capacity over the last century. Mechanisation in agricultural production tremendously increased the world water requirement to support the increased industries which utilized a lot of water (Gold and Gold, 2012, P. 114). This resulted in a phenomenon known as population explosion whereby population grows at an unpredictable rate causing difficulties in water distribution by the involved authorities. The relationship existing between the growth of human population and the exploitation of natural resources is a problem which has disturbed many thinkers over decades. However, the population increase has undoubtedly a major cause scarcity in availability of natural resources. Water being a natural resource, it is clear that the competition for the limited availability is becoming a challenge all over the world. The rate at which the population is growing is much higher than the rate at which water supply to satisfy the population (Waibel, & Zilberman, 2007, P. 175). Proven reports indicate that the rapid this has led to increased rate of water use leading to its scarcity. Other important natural resources as oil, minerals, and land are facing critical exploitation across the world as the population increase. The exploitation impacts the basic and historical economic change as a result of increased reliance on growing input of resources to the expanding global economy. Therefore, the classical economic theme has gained attention in the past decade due to the sensitivity of the relationship between water scarcity and development sustainability. Several analysts have done their research on negative impacts of natural resources scarcity in connection to water issue in different parts of the world. Likewise, the neo-classical progression and models of capital resources shows that the growth in water management is constructive for progressive development. In regard to resource limitations, politicians and policy makers link the prices of resources such as water to directly correlate to the global economic prosperity (Gold, & Gold, 2012, Pg. 114). There exists less positive impacts of rising water requirement compared it its negative influences on other natural and human resources. Despite the thought that increase in water utilization to increased economic growth, the truth is that it there is a future water crisis threat that calls for proper policies to be put in place in order to sustain water availability for future generation. Such policies include the implementation of solutions like Solutions like the Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) to curb the global water issue. In conclusion, world water issue has been associated to several challenges facing the humanity today all over the world. Furthermore, demographic forecasts shows that the future water issue impacts might be more risky in relation to resource scarcity and health problems. Recent UN statistics indicates that an increased water scarcity has contributed to the observed decrease in human lifespan. Governments should therefore involve mechanisms to implement various strategies to increase water supply and provide a long term solution to global water problem (Waibel, & Zilberman, 2007, Pg. 175) Solution to water issue The solution to lack of enough water to sustain the urban dwellers is the implementation of Water Sensitive Urban Design. This design works by managing the effect of storm water. This designs work at every corner of the urban setting with its objective is to protect and improve all the waterways by resembling natural water cycle. The design allows for the reuse and the storage of storm water after infiltration (Melbournewater.com.au, 2014) Principles of the design One of the principles of WSUD is to protect water ways not especially in the urban setting in order to make water to be very valuable to urban residents and boosts liveability and the promote the ecosystem which they reside in and rely on (Melbournewater.com.au, 2014) Another principle of the design is to provision of a wide range of benefits. These benefits include better amenity, alternate supply and safety. The design improves the natural features such as lakes and rivers. It lowers the cost of drainage infrastructure development as pipe sizes usage is minimized and local water solution is used as an alternate to large scale reticulated water system (Melbournewater.com.au, 2014) The design is also use to manage storm water instead of draining them to waterways. Its aim is to minimize frequency and the volume of storm water and improves the quality of the storm water Technique of the design It employs the reuse of grey water in order to preserve and conserve the portable water. WSUD uses vegetable to filter storm water. Water Sensitive Urban Design calls for landscaping that will help reduce the consumption of portable water. The design is a solution to variability and uncertainty of climate as it detains storm water by reducing rapid conveyance. The WSUD design encourages water treatment at the local level and its reuse therefore lowers environmental detrimental discharge therefore lowering the overall environmental pollution by the growing urban population (Brebbia, 2012, Pg. 342) In conclusion, world population growth has been associated to several challenges facing the humanity today all over the world. Furthermore, demographic forecasts shows that the future population growth impacts might be more risky in relation to natural resource scarcity, increased unemployment rates, health problems and traffic congestion. Recent demographic study indicates that an increased population growth rate is a contributed to the observed decrease of the length of human lifespan. Governments should therefore involve mechanisms to reduce the rate at which the population is increasing (Waibel and Zilberman, 2007, P. 175). This should be done by enhancing such policies as use of family planning methods, abolishment of polygamous marriages and limiting the number of children per person along with other methods devised by various social scientists. References Beighley, R. and Killgore, M. (2011). World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2011. Reston, Va.: American Society of Civil Engineers, p.1253. Borowy, I. (2013). Defining sustainable development for our common future. p.84. Brebbia, C. (2012). Sustainability Today. p.342. Gold, J. and Gold, M. (2012). The making of Olympic cities. Abingdon: Routledge, p.114. McGranahan, G. (2002). Demand-side water strategies and the urban poor. London: IIED, p.6. Melbournewater.com.au, (2014). The WSUD approach - Melbourne Water. [online] Available at: http://www.melbournewater.com.au/Planning-and-building/Stormwater-management/Water-Sensitive-Urban-Design/Pages/The-WSUD-approach.aspx [Accessed 7 Nov. 2014]. Price, R. (2011). Urban hydroinformatics. London: IWA Publishing, p.2. Sundaram, K. and Nangia, S. (2010). Development concerns in the 21st century. New Delhi: Concept Pub. Co., p.309. Waibel, H. and Zilberman, D. (2007). International research on natural resource management. Wallingford, UK: CABI on behalf of the Science Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, p.175. Read More