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Environmental effects of urbanization
Environmental effects of urbanization
Environmental effects of urbanization
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However, despite these dwellers moving to improve their standard of living, urban growth poses a threat to sustainable development in urban areas, as it implies an increase in the consumption space (Williams 2000). The environmental impacts of urban growth have raised concerns among planners and stimulated other models of urban expansion such as "smart growth” (Mohammadi et al. 2012). Unfettered urbanisation has strained the ability of governments to manage with the increasing demands for housing, services and employment in developing countries.
Housing availability is one of the most difficult challenges in Indonesia. At present, there are ‘54,000 hectares of slums in 10,000 locations across the country, housing close to 18 million people’
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With continuous socio-economical issues, the housing shortage in Indonesia is likely to increase. In response to this, the government has introduced a self-housing improvement program for squatter settlements located in the river basins of Yogyakarta, an area prone to frequent flooding (Bredenoord, Van Lindert & Smets 2014). Self-help housing has allowed residents the opportunity to improve their housing condition and standard of living, however has simultaneously contributed to the rapid growth of urbanisation.
Furthermore, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has emphasised that the health implication of housing is 'intimately related to health as poor housing conditions provide defences ' (Terwari 1991 cited in Ray 2002, p. 1).
Squatter settlements are usually areas of socio-economic, environmental and health issues. As a
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Practical Action, a British charity, has constructed roofing tiles made from sand and clay to improve the housing structure (Lyons, Schilderman & Boano 2010). Additionally, the United Nations’ Human Settlement Programme have been responsible for providing electricity and water pipes to squatter settlements, immensely improving the standard of living with basic essentials (Lyons, Schilderman & Boano 2010). Therefore, the quality of life urban areas appear to provide squatters has potentially influenced the urban expansion of squatter settlements around major cities in developing countries.
In developing countries, small-scale rural squatters, struggling to earn enough income, often seek alternative means of employment in major cities. Majority of squatter settlement households are categorised in the lower income group, often earning income at the near minimum wage level (Srinivas 2005). Therefore, their primary concern is a source of income and place of employment. Due to the size of urban areas and the variety of job opportunities on offer, squatters are drawn to the ‘bright lights’ of opportunity and chance on offer in major cities, such as having their children attend school (Kramer
Bonnefoy et al (2004) said that housing affects health in many ways which he split down into main factors, housing standards, social environment and housing
With increasing housing prices, it is not bearable to indigenous residents. The author reiterates that many residents of gentrifying neighborhoods fear the possibility of being displaced and are unsettled by the feeling of being pushed out. The issue of displacement in gentrifying areas is one of the biggest issues implied in this chapter. This relates a lot to my research because of the fact one of the main concerns mentioned in my research is figuring out what occurs to residents who are displaced from their homes because they are not able to afford their rent? There must be a certain mechanism that tap the wealth created by gentrification for the benefit of indigenous and poorer residents who may wish to one day live in a neighborhood.
Tenants being charged a higher rate is also seen in Samiya Bashir’s “Home is Where the Harm is: Inadequate Housing as a Public Health Crisis”. The higher monthly rate is forcing families to neglect other needs, “when families are forced not only to meet, but often exceed, standard spending on housing, other important needs suffer, such as food, health care, and insurance as well as family activities that provide exercise and emotional stability” (Bashir 735).
Shantytowns are defined as urban slums “perched on hillside outskirts of most cities” (Sanabria, 2007, p.25) in Latin America. Common characteristics of shantytowns include run-down buildings, poor infrastructure, lack of space, high population, risk of disease, low education level, and a great lack of job opportunities (pp.24-6). These ghettos are home to the poor and socially-outcast, especially first and second generation migrants from rural areas (pp.24-5).
It is estimated that, “each year, more than 3 million people experience homelessness, including 1.3 million children” (NLCHP). Clearly poverty and Homelessness come hand in hand, and the economy downfall has only contributed to this growing crisis. “Homelessness stems from a lack of affordable housing. Increasing rents, destruction of traditional low-income housing, and cuts in federal housing programs threaten affordable housing with extinction” (NLCHP). Most people in poverty have a housing affordability crisis, which means that they pay more than half of their income for rent, so therefore they have to buffer to deal with unforeseen expenses.
In the second chapter of the book "Planet of Slums," Mike Davis seeks to answer what characteristics and types of slums are prevalent in different parts of the world. Davis continues his startled, alarmed, disgruntled and depressing tone from the previous chapter. Overall, the chapter is divided into two parts. The first part attempts to explore and examine the global slum census, and the other part describes the various slum typologies
growth, in reaction to the many undesirable features of urban sprawl (Ye 301). Smart growth
Mike Davis in his book Planet of Slums, discusses the Third World and the impact globalization and industrialization has on both urban and poverty stricken cities. The growth of urbanization has not only grown the middle class wealth, but has also created an urban poor who live side by side in the city of the wealthy. Planet of Slums reveals astonishing facts about the lives of people who live in poverty, and how globalization and the increase of wealth for the urban class only hurts those people and that the increase of slums every year may eventually lead to the downfall of the earth. “Since 1970 the larger share of world urban population growth has been absorbed by slum communities on the periphery of Third World cities” (Davis 37). Specifically,
It is often easy to castigate large cities or third world countries as failures in the field of affordable housing, yet the crisis, like an invisible cancer, manifests itself in many forms, plaguing both urban and suburban areas. Reformers have wrestled passionately with the issue for centuries, revealing the severity of the situation in an attempt for change, while politicians have only responded with band aid solutions. Unfortunately, the housing crisis easily fades from our memory, replaced by visions of homeless vets, or starving children. Metropolis magazine explains that “…though billions of dollars are spent each year on housing and development programs worldwide, ? At least 1 billion people lack adequate housing; some 100 million have none at all.? In an attempt to correct this worldwide dilemma, a United Nations conference, Habitat II, was held in Istanbul, Turkey in June of 1996. This conference was open not only to government leaders, but also to community organizers, non governmental organizations, architects and planners. “By the year 2000, half the world’s people will live in cities. By the year 2025, two thirds of the world population will be urban dwellers ? Globally, one million people move from the countryside to the city each week.? Martin Johnson, a community organizer and Princeton professor who attended Habitat II, definitively put into words the focus of the deliberations. Cities, which are currently plagued with several of the severe problems of dis-investment ?crime, violence, lack of jobs and inequality ?and more importantly, a lack of affordable and decent housing, quickly appeared in the forefront of the agenda.
Homelessness can happen to anyone unexpectedly. Many poor people are at the risk of homelessness. The cost of living and trying to find affordable housing can be very difficult. Many who are homeless are in poverty, have a mental illness, or addictions. Homelessness happens from personal, as well as structural factors. Many aren’t able to make enough for rent, as well as, utilities, food, and other expenses each month. More than 6 million Americans pay more than half of their income towards rent (Reamer, 1989). The trend is once someone becomes homeless, it is likely they will be homeless repeatedly. To end homelessness, affordable housing will have to be created because it is peoples largest single expenditure (Anderson, 2013).
Homes are normally based on a solitary level with an edge rooftop. Houses in the more swarmed urban communities frequently have two or more stories and mirror an European impact. A great many people lived in single-family homes until the relocation to urban focuses in the late 1940’s and mid 1950’s. The requirement for satisfactory lodging induced the legislature to put resources into high-masses of open lodging activities amid the mid 1950’s. In the poorer territories, huge families live in little houses developed from ash squares and secured with an adobe made of mud, bovine compost, and
Hopper, Kim. “Housing the Homeless.” Social Policy 28.3 (1998): 64+. Academic OneFile. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
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.
The Negative Effects of Urbanization on People and their Environment As our world becomes increasingly globalized, numerous people travel to urban areas in search of economic prosperity. As a consequence of this, cities in periphery countries expand at rates of 4 to 7 percent annually. Many cities offer entrepreneurs the potential for resources, labor, and resources. With prosperity, cities also allow the freedom of a diversity of ways of life and manners (Knox & Marston, 2012). However, in the quest to be prosperous, increasing burdens are placed on our health and the condition of our environment.
With the development of urbanization, an increasing number of social problems have emerged. These problems will decelerate the urban development, however, there are many ways in which sustainable development can reduce the impact of these urbanization problems. “Sustainable development seeks to improve the quality of human life without undermining the quality of our natural environment” (Adams, W.M. 1999). Actually, sustainable development can partly solve the urbanization problems, for it can reduce the impact of the problems such as traffic jam, housing shortage and severe pollution, but it is difficult to completely solve these problems in a short time.