Increasing urbanization is a powerful trend in today\'s world: Within the next s
ID: 464066 • Letter: I
Question
Increasing urbanization is a powerful trend in today's world: Within the next several decades, UN projections show that over half of the world's population will be located in urban centers. This will require the construction of the equivalent of eight cities of ten million inhabitants every year for the foreseeable future. Discuss what this trend implies for flows of products and residues: food, water, sewage, energy, and so on.Overall, is urbanization environmentally advantageous or disadvantageous? Will it continue in any event regardless of environmental impacts?( 70 words limit )
Explanation / Answer
Cities depend heavily on powered transport for raw materials, manufacturing, import-export of goods etc. This will put a pressure on energy resources owing to oil consumption in the transport sector. This will put in danger the availability of energy resources. There will also be pressure on raw materials manufacturing and waste disposal.
It has been reported by the study by resilience that before the Industrial revolution there were less than 10 per cent of the population who lived in the cities and more than half of humanity lives in the cities.
According to the study by ‘Urban and Rural Population projections, 1984 Unofficial Assessment’; it was noticed that since 1950 there was an increase in the number of people living in the cities to 1.25 billion.
There is enormous pressure on services and shelter. The housing system available for the deprived and the poor is decrepit. The infrastructure is flawed, public transport is overcrowded along with the issues in the sewage system, drinking water, drainage, roads etc.
There has been a serious effect on the urban environment and economy because of urbanisation. There has been uncontrolled development and this development consumes land and natural landscapes for construction.
There is an increase in the food demand with the changing patterns of consumption of food. There are a growing competition and demand for natural resources an loss of ecosystem.
There is scarcity of energy security and landscape because of urbanisation
The prices of food are increasing and prices are becoming volatile which is, in turn, hampering the economic system.
There is a change in the structure of agriculture, industrialisation and globalisation of food production. There is a change in the trade practices and large impact on the climate with the growing impact of agriculture.
The problem of food insecurity will serve to be the major problem and consequence of urbanisation and the national average apparent food consumption is on a rising worldwide.
There is a deterioration of the world oceans and the fishing has become unsustainable with depleted fish stocks and rising world demand. There are recent instability and effect on forest land. There are degradation and effect on aquaculture due to wetland drainage, flood protection,irrigation systems, fertilisers and pesticides.
The food producing land and soils are highly degraded and there is a loss of ecosystems, goods and services along with the threat to biodiversity. This also leads to social inequities.
The biggest cause of climate change is the energy sector which produces close to 60 percent of GHG emissions. There is an increasing demand for fossil fuel energy patterns and this has a negative effect on the environment. There are practices like unsustainable forest resource exploitation and deforestation that contribute to the severity of depleting environmental condition.