Recently, the human population has increased drastically! With a total increase of 3% from the early 1900s/late 1800s, the threat of urbanization has been getting closer and closer. Since 2006, there has been a higher population living in Urban areas rather than rural, and this comes with many consequences such as deforestation, and more. So I ask, what are the effects of Rapid Urbanization to our Environment, Economy, and our health? In short; Urbanization is a population shift from rural to urban areas. During this process, large towns, and cities are formed which begin to become larger to allow a higher population to live in it. But wouldn’t this increase carrying capacity? No, it would not; this is because (While yes PGR are getting lower) …show more content…
With this, in the countries that this occurs in they will be much more financially stable as they have many job opportunities for their citizens. While the advantages of living in urban areas are very much clear; they are stable access to electricity, water, shelter, and telecommunications. But providing those needs are very costly to both the economy and our environment. Our environment is harmed drastically with the coming of this rapid urbanization. There is an estimated 18 million acres of forestland that is lost every year due to rapid changes in our environment caused by Urbanization. Not only are we causing large amounts of deforestation, but also the consumption in these metropolitan cities are very high, and in some cases too high for the population to continue growing which is an example of china’s one (now two) child …show more content…
Tropical deforestation is able to produce one tenth of the world’s heat trapping emissions. A process of taking down trees is called “Slash and Burn” which is able to release a large amount of Carbon Dioxide into the world, also the obvious one is that destruction of living trees reduces photosynthesis which prevents them from removing the Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere. As well when forests are cleared, the empty land will be exposed to strong heat sun rays which will damage vegetation which changes the surface’s albedo (amount of sun energy reflected by the surface) and adjust amount of water vapor released into the atmosphere thus having a large effect on regional
The trend towards densely populated urban centers begun in 1800's continued into the 1900's. Man's development of urban centers was a major step away from what seemed to be nature's way of living: on farms and sparsely placed homesteads. Industrial production required hundreds of thousands of workers and, especially in the second industrial revolution, scientists. The urban centers that emerged during this period, such as Paris, London, and Berlin, were quickly changing the ratios of population from rural to urban Berlin's population, for example, went from 66% rural in 1871 to almost 66% urban before the first World War (see "The Second Industrial Revolution").
Architects such as Louis Sullivan brought new principles of building: the skyscrapers, and allowed more space available on less land. Industrial jobs brought more rural people into factory thus increased population. Electricity, telephones, indoor plumbing and new inventions made life easier in the big cities. Walking city made it easier to for people to walk around.
Deforestation is the clearing of a forest and/or cutting down of trees for human benefits such as agriculture, wood exports, etc. Deforestation is the cause of numerous environmental impacts such as habitat loss, flooding and soil erosion. It can also cause climate change, by reducing the amount of rainfall and changing the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and increases the risk of forest . Tree growth is important for biodiversity because they absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas . However, since deforestation reduces natural carbon sinks, it disrupts the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air to increase. This poses a serious threat since carbon dioxide traps the sun’s heat and radiated light inside the earth’s atmosphere. So, with the increase in carbon dioxide more heat is trapped and thus adding to the effects of global warming. Among the many places where deforestation takes place, Amazon seems to be one of the most affected ones. More than 20 percent of it is already gone, and much more of it is severely threatened due to deforestation . It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year .
Urban Sprawl can cause bad health conditions such as obesity, which is linked to diabetes and can shorten the life expectancy of a person. 78% of Americans do not meet basic activity level recommendations and there has been a 76% increase in Type II diabetes in adults 30-40 years old since 1990 in America (Collins). In 1962, research statistics showed that the percentage of obesity in America’s population was at 13%. By 1980 it has risen to 15% -- by 1994 to 23% -- and by the year 2000 the obesity progression in America had reached an unprecedented 31% (American Sports Data). Now, over a 20 year period (1970-1990), the 100 largest Urbanized Areas in the United States sprawled out over an additional 14,545 square miles. That was more than 9 million acres of natural habitats, farmland, and other rural space (Key Statistics Of Urban Sprawl). As you can see, as Urban Sprawl increases, so does obesity. With all this land being converted to cities and neighborhoods, the natural environment is being destroyed. Where do all the animals go that used to live in this space? They are just left to die off or live in a more dense population somewhere that has not been developed yet. By cities ...
Philip, M., & William F. 2004, ‘Tropical Deforestation and Greenhouse-gas Emissions’, Ecological Applications, (no publication information), Volume 14, Issue 4, pp. 982–986, viewed 23 April 2010,
A general situation of urbanization trend in developing countries and developed countries is increasing. In 18th Century only 3% of the world total population lived in urban areas but as projected in 2000 this number will increase at above 50% (UN as cited in Elliot, 1999, p. 144). According to UN (as cited in Elliot, 1999, p.144), it is figured that the total urban population in developing countries has increased from approximately 400 millions people in 1950 to approximately 2000 millions people in 2000. At the same time, total urban population in developed countries is double...
Urbanization (or urbanisation) is the increasing number of people that live in urban areas. Urbanization has been the result of economic growth for most countries. In fact, every developed nation in the world has gone through urbanization and this is no news to Chinese leaders. To turn the nation of China from being a developing nation to a developed nation, China encouraged the migration of citizens from the countryside to move to large cities and fuel the industrializing nation. Though urbanization has been a process many countries have gone through, China’s urbanization plans are very distinct compared to western examples. The main reason for China’s urbanization distinctions is its sheer magnitude and pace. In this paper, we will review this mass migration, the economic growth, China’s environmental concerns (specifically air pollution) due the urbanization and the focus on industrialization, and we will briefly see China’s newest seven year urbanization plan.
Indeed, many global cities face compelling urban planning issues like urban sprawl, population, low density development, overuse of non-renewable natural recourses, social inequities and environmental degradation. These issues affect the cities themselves, the adjacent regions and often even globally. The resulting ecological footprint upsets the balance in adjacent rural and natural areas. Unplanned or organic development leads to urban sprawl, traffic problems, pollution and slums (as evident in the case of Mumbai city). Such unplanned development causes solid waste management and water supply to fall inadequate. Urban sprawl gives rise to low density development and car dependent communities, consequently leading to increased urban flooding, low energy efficiency, longer travel time and destruction of croplands, forests and open spaces for development.
Deforestation is another issue that is often discussed as a problem contributing to global warming that can easily be stopped. Deforestation has many negative effects such as ecological imbalance, bio-diversity loss, and climate change. Most areas in which deforestation is a problem are located in 3rd world countries. Deforestation leads to a massive extinction of species as well as vascular plant species, such as trees. When this happens, atmospheric carbon dioxide is increased because the carbon in forests is higher than in the agricultural areas which replace them.
Urbanization is the process of becoming a city or intensification of urban elements. Since modernization, the meaning of urbanization mostly became the transformation that a majority of population living in rural areas in the past changes to a majority living in urban areas. However, urbanization differs between the developed and developing world in terms of its cause and the level of its negative outcomes. Korea, as one of the developing countries, experienced what is called ‘ overurbanization,’ and it experienced a number of negative consequences of it, although it could achieve a great economic development by it. This paper examines how urbanization differs between the West and the rest of the world, the characteristics and process of urbanization in Korea, problems sprung from its extreme urbanization, and government policies coping with population distribution.
...population distribution designed to reduce the rate of rural-urban migration appears to have had limited success in many developing countries. Policies must be directed at altering the rural economy in order to slow the rate of urban sprawl. Broad land use planning and changing of planning standards and governmental procedures would go a long way to reduce many of the problems that face urban populations in the developing areas, especially Africa. Urbanization can cause a lot of problems for a city or even a country. It can cause cities to become overpopulated which are known as mega-cites, and cause problems with living arrangements and finding a job. Urbanization can also cause health problems. Urbanization is supposed to be good for developing countries on the rise but with this rapid growth in Africa, these problems can become a major concern in the future.
But they can become carbon sources when they are cut or burned. Tropical forests hold more than 210 gigatons of carbon and deforestation represents around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions. These GHG emissions lead to rise in temperatures, weather changes, water changes and increase the chance of extreme weather events. In Sumatra, for example rainforests on deep peat lands are being cleared and converted to plantations, leading to the high GHG emissions in Indonesia. These climate changes can affect forest creatures due to loss of food and water, while some can adapt species losses can occur
An increase in human population can influence our economy. Some of the factors that are affected are unemployment, poverty and the restriction of economic expansion. When the population increases, the cost of health, education, and other areas of urban growth are affected. Unempl...
...ffects on human health. These have high negative effects on low income areas, as a result of pollution, visual, oral and air, as well as high levels of overcrowding. The World Health Organisation predicts that in the next 30years most of the world’s population growth will occur in cities and towns of poor countries. This rapid, unplanned and unsustainable pattern of urbanisation, is creating cities into focal points for environmental and health hazards (World Medical Association, 2010).
It can become a limiting factor to economic development due to a number of reasons. A rapidly growing population leads to a progressive decline in the availability of capital per worker. Fast growth in population means a large number of persons coming to the labor market for which it may not be possible to provide employment. Increased population means more mouths to feed that, in turn, creates pressure upon available stock of food. The growth of population is relatively very high in rural areas and it has disturbed the land man ratio. Add even more people to mix from immigration and the country plunges itself even further