Cities and
Sustainability
The world urban population is
likely to surge by 72% by 2050; from 3.6 billion in 2011 to 6.3 billion in 2050.
It is expected that all of the future population growth will be concentrated
around urban areas of less developed regions. Urbanisation is connected to
industrialisation, modernisation and sociological practices. Since last hundred
years or so people have moved from rural areas to urban to seek quality of life
and economic opportunities. People believe that cities offer great opportunity
for human life while minimising risks and challenges. Urbanisation has become
great challenge of today; it occupies around 2 percent of world’s surface but
consumes majority of the resources, it creates environmental, economic and
social challenges that are difficult to address and quite complex. In 21st
century, cities have become heart of the planet. Many populated cities are at
risks due to climate change. Modern cities are connected through large network
of heavy infrastructures that are largely dependent upon use of automobile.
Many conventional practices of today’s cities have contributed to global
warming. Climate change has become reality and more natural calamities are
expected to hit cities with large populations. Urbanisation has become focal
point of future growth and requires in-depth and careful study of the entire
system.
Challenges of Urbanisation
It was memorable moment when the
world of 21st century celebrated human population of 7 billion on 31st
October 2011 according to United Nations.
We have trebled ourselves from just over 2 billion in 1950 to 7 billion
by 2011. The world of 19th and 20th century has seen
tremendous changes that have never ever been experienced on this planet. The
world has been transformed from small aboriginal communities living within the
nature to villages to large cities. Cities have emerged from walking cities to
transit cities and to automobile cities. Galactic transformations of landscape
in last 100 years have raised numerous challenges for our future generations
including other species that are living on this planet.
During the time of the agrarian
civilizations, people used to live in small towns or countryside and performed
their social and economic activities around their own boundaries. People walked
everywhere or used animals such as horse or cow for their mode of transport to
move from one place to another. World population increased exponentially from
1.6 billion to 6 billion during 20th century resulting in greater
number of workers with diminishing returns in villages or countryside small
towns. People moved to larger cities in search of quality of life and to find
some work to meet economic goals. According to the World Bank 52% of the world
population lives in Cities and is anticipated to increase. Urban environment
are attractive to outsiders and offers several benefits compared to village or
country side living. City offers new opportunities, jobs, businesses, luxury,
housing, transportations, organised system for people to get together and
socialise, celebrate large events, participate in community activities and many other benefits that may not be
easily available in villages or countryside life. However when cities are
formed with unsustainable practices and systems it creates lifelong complex
problems for the entire planet. In the last one century the revolutionary waves
of the industrialisation, information technology and globalisation have changed
the way human lived. In developing world increasing populations and
urbanisations have forced to create large cities with slums and lack of
sanitations, clean drinking water, nutritious food and hygiene which then
deteriorates environmental and human health. In developed world we have created
large cities that are transformed from small narrow streets to large roads, big
houses, outsized buildings, railway, buses and airports. Urban cities have
become hungry for resources and are producing large amount of landfills from
its waste stream. Urban challenges can be converted in to urban opportunities
if planned sustainably but we need to understand the challenges first.
Key environmental challenges;
As cities have grown from small
villages to densely populated cities in the last one and half century, it has
created stress on the environment and natural resources. Cities are built
consisting of human populations, buildings (residential & commercial) and
transport system (public & private). Cities occupy two percent of the total
world’s surface area but consume the majority of the resources and produces
waste and pollution. Majority of the available water for human consumption goes
to cities or used for the food or meat production to meet cities demand. About
half of the water reserve is used for irrigation of food crops and the rest is
for industry demand and drinking and sanitations. Uninterrupted growth of
cities is contributing to climate change, deforestation and loss of
biodiversity. People are constantly migrating from small towns to large cities
in order to search for new opportunities, jobs and to have a better life. In
developing world, people are shifting to large cities and are living in slum
areas that have “life and health threatening” environment due to overcrowded
shelters, poor water and sanitation quality, no drainage or garbage services
provided and lack of healthcare facilities. In such situations, people are less
bothered about environment. Environmental care becomes least priority; carbon
pollution is generated through unsustainable methods of cooking and heating and
forest is being cut for the human consumption. Wastes generated from human
activities are diverted to river, water is being polluted and the same water is
used for drinking by the society in many cases. Natural resources such as
timber, minerals, iron and other building materials are constantly used for the
development of cities. To meet the building demand of growing cities; forests
are being cut, large mines are being dug and as a result contributing to global
warming through deforestation and environmental pollution. Worldwide loss of
biological diversity and mounting urban thirst of natural resources are
contributing to unforeseen issue of water allocation and civil unrest.
Cities that are dependent upon
automobiles are also large contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions and
use of natural resources. Automobiles offer easy and fast mobility from one
place to another thus providing the opportunity to go beyond the city centre.
Suburbs in Australian cities were developed with modern town planning and land
uses were segregated into zones allowing increase in travel distance and
demanding for new road infrastructure contributed to clearing land and moving
agricultural activities away from cities.
Key economic challenges;
World economy is highly dependent
upon agricultural activities. Since last few decades globalisation has provided
framework to frequently transport agricultural and animal products from one
country to another. Globally grain and animal products are being made available
to meet the food demand. Drought in one country or flood in another is not
being felt due to increased export/import activities. Climate change is
inevitable and would have far-fetched impact on global economy than one could
imagine. Change in weather conditions would have enormous effect on
agricultural sector. World commodity markets are vulnerable in globalised
economy. Rising sea-level is another threat to world economy in terms of heavy
populated coastal cities and sea transport. According to 2008/2009 “state of
the world’s cities” report there are 3,351 cities situated in low elevation
coastal zones that are prone to floods and tsunamis. The report also indicates
that around 64 percent of those cities are located in developing regions. Any
damage to coastal cities would have an enormous impact on the world economy.
India and China are leading the world economy since last decade or so; any
damage to their cities due to sea-level rise would have worldwide effect due to
globalised network of economy. Multinational organisations that are located in heavy
populated low elevated coastal cities are exposed to climate change related
risks. Any impact on multinational organisations would have worldwide effect on
global economy. Existing automobile network and use of oil has contributed huge
amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Largely grown cities are extremely
dependent on automobile use. Australian cities are heavily dependent on car use
due to widely dispersed suburbs, services and employment. Key findings of IPCC
report have confirmed the global surge in CO2 concentration is largely due to
fossil fuel use and change of land-use including deforestations. Oil resources
are at peak and demands alternative solution to urban automobile, industrial
agricultural activities and others oil intensive practices. Endless use of oil
threatens to add further CO2 emissions to climate change causes. Transitioning
from automobile dependent cities to environmentally friendly cities faces
several challenges in relation to planning, infrastructure, behavioural change
and attached economic factors. Constant increase in oil prices has put strain
on household’s budgets, transportation, food suppliers and global economy
creating uncertainty in the market.
Key social challenges;
Globally people move to urban
environment in search of quality of life. Urban environment offers many
opportunities such as job, education, housing, transportation, roads and
infrastructure and other human necessities. In 1990 the world’s 100 largest
cities accommodated 540 million people and 220 million people lived in the 20
largest cities creating largest urban sprawl in the human history. Economic
inequality, land degradation, lack of housing and other infrastructure,
financial hardship, unemployment, domestic violence and many other are part of
key social challenges of 21st century urban areas. These social
challenges are quite severe and complex. It requires systemic approach and much
robust planning in order to offer sustainable urban environment.
In developing world rapid urban
growth has created large slums accommodating population with lack of water,
food, education, hygiene and other necessary services. Economic inequality and
lack of resilience in case of natural disaster leaves poor population at risk.
Large migration to overcrowded cities results in land pressures and requires
cities to either move outwards or build high rise buildings. In most developing
countries cities are spread outwards accommodating large slums with inadequate
services. Such unassisted and unplanned
migration generates environmental pressure through deforestation, pollution
(air, soil & water), poor health and land degradation. Less fortunate are
also prone to domestic violence and social unrest. Lack of support from public
services, housing, empowerment, education and wealth promotes domestic violence
and social unrest. Unemployment contributes to individual stress and
depression. In Australian urban cities especially in outer su
burbs families with large mortgages are constant under stress to meet living expenses; pay mortgages payments and other family expenditures. Large expenses of urban life are not always being met by many individual families and are resulting in social instability. Such issues contribute to family breakdown, broken relationship and depression amongst many.
Conclusion:
Urbanisation would change the
world’s face in 21st century. Impacts of large urban cities are huge
on environmental, economic and social aspects of human life. Future population
growth would be concentrated around large cities and mainly in developing
world. How are we going to plan our future cities, how are we going to modify
our existing ones and how are we going to make these cities sustainable are
some of the complex questions being raised from this study. There is no one
solution that would work for the entire urban areas of the world. Different
solution would require for different places and population based upon their
geographical location and cultural expectations. Cities of tomorrow would need
to be adaptable to deal with global warming that is unavoidable and would also
demand various mitigation practices to reduce, avoid, or delay impacts arising
from climate change. Optimistic view of
21st century offers great potential of efficiency in resource use in
urban environment by following sustainable practices and planning. It is up to
us to plan and create “sustainable cities that meets the needs of today and
tomorrow without damaging the natural world or endangering the living
conditions of other people, now or in the future”.
