Discuss the costs and benefits of this change - Essay Example

Peripheral growth is practically always at lower densities than urban cores, which simply means that cities tend to become less dense as they grow. According to the UN, it is projected that in two decades from now the world’ urban population will have risen to 60%, representing almost five billion people. The mega rise in the urbanization level is mostly visible in the growth of the biggest cities (ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT 2005). Ironically, this process is on occasion accelerated by planning decision making.

For example, the greenbelt movement in London that banned the extension of housing into the near the city’s periphery has resulted to a greater sprawl to far outside the principal urban area (PRASAD 2003). This has been the case since the 2nd World war thereby forcing commuters to travel longer distance and time to urban centers. Most of the world’s urban population and most of its largest cities are found in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The evolving urban form has also examined smaller urban areas.

The dispersal pattern is evident there as well even in traditionally compact cities. For instance, Zurich has had all of its growth outside the core city since 1950. Low income cities such as Addis Ababa represents a pattern of urban expansion are not unlike that experienced in Cairo or Istabul (UNITED NATIONS HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PROGRAMME 2003). It is likely that urban centers will continue to expand as they grow larger, consistent with what might seems like the work of both market preferences and economic pressure for lower cost, more spacious housing.

a growth of city is mainly driven by economic development and is characterized by a shift away from agrarian dominated economy to a more industrialized and service economy. Cities are sites of great prosperity and success in many areas, resulting to wealth creation and viable opportunities to many of