Issues of Urbanisation
- Urban areas offer a variety of opportunities to people and businesses
- For others, migration can result in poor housing, deprivation, and unemployment
- Rapid and unplanned urbanisation creates a range of problems, including congestion, transport, employment, crime, and poor environmental quality
- The speed of development is greatest in emerging countries, e.g. Sao Paulo in Brazil, which grew from 7 million people to over 20 million in 40 years and is now the second largest urban area in the Americas
Congestion
- Rapid development leads to large-scale congestion of people and industry
- As poor rural migrants arrive, there is a lack of affordable housing and demand is high
- Transportation issues mean people will have to live close to their employment
- Temporary or informal settlements arise, adding to overcrowding and poor living conditions, so adding to already cramped/congested conditions around the city
Exam Tip
It is important that you use examples to support your answers. In this instance, noting that Dharavi in Mumbai, India has a slum settlement of over 1 million people in a 2 km2 area shows the examiner that you understand the concept of human congestion and increase the spread of diseases. This congestion was one reason why Covid 19 spread so rapidly within the megacities particularly in emerging countries.
Transport
- Provision of roads and public transport tend to be poor in quality, size, and reliability
- Transport systems become easily overloaded and overcrowded
- Urban congestion varies over the week, time of day, the weather, and the season
- High numbers of vehicles create high levels of atmospheric pollution: smog
Housing
- Housing is expensive in relation to general wages, with many families sharing one house or just a room
- Opportunities for landlords to set high rents and no building maintenance (slum landlord)
- Poor transport links, make inner city housing the most desirable and expensive
- Many houses have no running water or sanitation
- Waste removal is inadequate or non existent, leading to the spread of diseases
- Lack of access to electricity leads to people burning wood for fuel
Employment
- Many people are unable to find formal, regular employment leading to high levels of unemployment, underemployment, self-employment or informal employment
- The informal sector is the main employment for many people in emerging and developing cities
- Even when there are new factories with regular paid opportunities, these are often too far away from areas where newcomers live
Crime
- Crime is concentrated in areas of high population densities: the congested areas
- Crime is partly due to a lack of job opportunities and large-scale unemployment
- Main criminal activity is a drug and human trafficking, drug abuse, violence (domestic and social), rape, and robbery
- The poorest areas of the city (slums) are usually ruled by gangs and intimidation
- The wealthier areas see car theft, kidnapping, and property damage
Education
- Rapid growth means a lack of schools, colleges, and universities
- This leads to a lack of general education and skills
- Most families expect their children to work to help support the family
- Literacy & numeracy rates are lowest in emerging countries
Environmental Issues
- Waste products and disposal are major issues
- Rubbish dumps are usually just outside city limits with limited or no collection of waste leading to rats etc.
- Most emerging cities have no adequate sanitation or sewage disposal and open defecation is common in local rivers, increasing the spread of disease
- Air pollution is common from traffic congestion and industrial manufacturing, leading to breathing issues
- Water pollution is widespread as rivers are used to dump chemicals and other toxic wastes due to a lack of regulations
- Water shortages are common due to over-abstraction and poor quality, forcing people to buy water from sellers at a high price
- Noise pollution from traffic, people talking, music in public places, etc.
- Light pollution from street lighting, homes, shops, factories, and offices
- Visual pollution from graffiti, slum housing, traffic congestion, advertising, etc.
- Urban spread into the surrounding countryside: unplanned and unregulated
Worked example
State two social problems facing cities in developed countries [2]
- Possible Answer:
- Poverty, crime, poor health, lack of housing, etc.
- Remember that although emerging countries appear to have all the issues, developed cities also suffer similar problems. Crime, poverty, poor housing, lack of safe water, and poor health are all seen in established wealthy cities. Hong Kong has a housing crisis, and many people live in cramped conditions and have no access to health care or social support. Homelessness is common in developed cities and many people cannot afford the cost of the rent.
