Environmental_Benifits_and_Challenges_of_Urbanization

Environmental benefits and Challenges of Urbanization Anthony Eugene Rogers SR Apr 28, 2013 Urbanization is the transformation of a rural areas into urban society, this involves the increase in the number of people in urban areas during a particular year. Urbanization is the outcome of social, economic, and political developments that lead to urban concentration and growth of large cities, changes in land use, and transformation from rural to metropolitan pattern of organization and governance. Natural population increases due to high birth rate rather than high death rates migration and immigration are significant factors in the growth of our cities and the development of countries. This increase results from improved medical care, sanitation, and improved food supplies. This reduces the death rate and causes growth in the population. Urbanization could benefit our environment if the city is well- planned and laid out properly, urbanization will lessen the over- all pollution levels, and then we could preserve our surrounding areas. Urban areas can provide the means for less vehicle use such as walking bike paths, and local bus routes can be set up to provide transportation at the most optimal times of the day. People could also start carpooling, because people who work in the same areas in town could switch driving duties amongst themselves. This will save on fuel consumption and air pollution as well. A well planned urban area could also allow for the surrounding habitats to be unchanged, because there will be little are no reason to expand. Even though urbanization has its benefits to the environment it could cause many problems as well. Poverty levels, high unemployment rates, and housing are some of the issues that have to be taken care of. Pollution is another problem that has to be taken care of. Good clean water, and the disposal of waste and sewage are also issues that have to be handled during the urbanization process. The last of the issues that has to be addressed during urbanization are the medical, school, and transportation systems. These problems are all combined together when an urbanized is trying to be more effective when addressing environmental issues. Housing is one of the biggest issues because there has to be enough dwellings to sustain the population, it also has to have extra room for growth. The best way to deal with this is to build skyscrapers. Skyscrapers add a large number of housing areas combined with saving space. This allows more people to live in a smaller area. They should all also be built with energy saving appliances, and this would also help the environment. Poverty is another problem that can be seen in an urbanized community. This could be solved by doing two things, by making housing affordable and enough jobs for everyone in the population. But no matter what poverty will always be an issue that has to be acknowledged There are outlets that can be put in place like to help aid families in need such as food stamps, food banks and medical help. These are federally funded programs that can alleviate poverty and it will also help promote more people to move into the city. Unemployment in urbanized areas need to be kept to minimum because this problem affects the two issues above. The city planners have to make sure that there are enough jobs to sustain the population. A clean supply of water is a necessity for all cities country or rural. A system for supplying and one for the disposal of water needs to be set in place. A filtering system also needs to be set up in order to sustain the population and its surrounding areas. The disposal of sewage is also an important part of urbanization. Plumbing and processing plants have to be added in a city to prevent the pollution of the water and the soil. Proper sewage disposal enables us to have a cleaner leaving environment. Another aspect involved is waste disposal, some form of waste disposal most be in place. Dump sites must be available in an area that does not disturb the living conditions of the city. It must also be in an area that will cause less pollution as possible. The means for a city to acquire needed for the population of the city to increase its net worth. Better educated people means an increase in the availability of professional jobs, which increases the amounts of entry level jobs. Education is the beginning of building a solid economy for the city. Big cities need to have enough medical care facilities in different parts of town to support the entire population of the city, as well as allowing the surrounding towns and visitors that happen to be in the area. The healthcare must be affordable and required to help everyone that’s in need. Transportation is the last issue that is dealt with, but not at all the least important. A good transportation system such as busses and subways can reduce the amount of air pollution. A well planned system will allow a city to leave lots more room for growth because the need for wider roads will no longer be an issue. A well maintained and planned transportation system can cause the most impact on an environment as well as being able to cause the most damage to the surrounding air. Again, if an urbanized community is well planned and laid out properly, it will lessen the over-all pollution levels and allow us to preserve our surrounding areas. References .