
More than half of the world’s population is living in cities and this is increasing at rate of 1.5 percent. This rapid urbanization coupled with population growth is changing the landscape of human settlement, posing significant risks on living conditions, the environment, and development.
Full Answer
What are the negative effects of urbanization?
Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding. Pollution and physical barriers to root growth promote loss of urban tree cover. Animal populations are inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and the loss of habitat and food sources.
What is the process of urbanization?
The process of urbanization depends on the shift of surplus population from rural to urban areas along with the gradual growth of some industrialized urban centres.
Why is urban development bad for the environment?
Automobile exhaust produces elevated lead levels in urban air. Large volumes of uncollected waste create multiple health hazards. Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding. Pollution and physical barriers to root growth promote loss of urban tree cover.
What is the relationship between urbanization and economic development?
As urbanization and economic development are closely associated, the economic development of a country indicates enhancement in the level of per capita income and standard of living of its growing population.

What is smog in Fresno?
A cloak of smog gives Fresno, California, a hazy look. Smog, a hybrid of the words "smoke" and "fog," is caused when sunlight reacts with airborne pollution, including ash, dust, and ground-level ozone. Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
How does energy use affect human health?
Concentrated energy use leads to greater air pollution with significant impact on human health. Automobile exhaust produces elevated lead levels in urban air. Large volumes of uncollected waste create multiple health hazards. Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding.
How can we reduce air pollution?
Reduce air pollution by upgrading energy use and alternative transport systems.
Why do people want to live in cities?
The promise of jobs and prosperity, among other factors, pulls people to cities. Half of the global population already lives in cities, and by 2050 two-thirds of the world's people are expected to live in urban areas. But in cities two of the most pressing problems facing the world today also come together: poverty and environmental degradation.
What are the causes of animal populations being inhibited?
Animal populations are inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and the loss of habitat and food sources.
Why is city planning important?
Strong city planning will be essential in managing these and other difficulties as the world's urban areas swell.
Why are cities sentinels?
Cities can serve as sentinels to predict which herbivores will become pests in the future or which pests will expand their range to new areas. We have documented that the response of one pest, gloomy scale, to urban warming is congruent with and predictive of their response to warming of rural forests through time.
How do urban forests help the environment?
Urban forests provide well-documented environmental and societal benefits valued at more than four billion dollars per year in the United States. As cities expand onto land once occupied by rural forests, urban trees take on an even more vital role in mitigating global climate change, conserving biodiversity, and protecting human health. In the Southeast urban areas are projected to expand by 139% by 2060 and cover nearly 18% of the land area.
How do trees affect human health?
Finally, in addition to their effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services, decisions that increase or decrease urban tree cover affect human health on a large scale by affecting illnesses caused by solar radiation, air pollution, and sedentary behavior. The effects of trees on human health are, at least coarsely, an ecosystem service, but because the dynamics of these effects depend both on human biology and decisions and on trees, we consider them separately.
How much of the US urban forest will be shrinking by 2060?
In the Southeast urban areas are projected to expand by 139% by 2060 and cover nearly 18% of the land area. Although 70% of US cities have goals of increasing their tree canopy cover, the nation’s urban forest is actually shrinking by about 4 million trees per year.
Why is urbanization so common?
It is a process wherein general people migrate from rural to urban area in search of brighter social as well as economic feasibilities such as better education, good health care, proper sanitation, comfortable housing, immense business opportunities ...
How does urbanization affect economic development?
The process of urbanization depends on the shift of surplus population from rural to urban areas along with the gradual growth of some industrialized urban centres. Due to social and economic pressures, people from backward villages tend to move towards urban areas in search of jobs as newly established industries and ancillary activities offer more job opportunities to the people migrating to cities. The pace of urbanization provided by the industrial growth is fast but gradually it starts declining when the proportion of urban population to total population of the country becomes very high.
Why is urban crime becoming more complicated?
The problem of urban crime is becoming more complicated these days because criminals often get protection from politicians, bureaucrats and elite classes of the urban society. Some of the criminals even reach high political positions by using their money and muscle power. SOLUTIONS TO URBANIZATION CHALLENGES.
Why is there a scarcity of houses?
Due to continuous pressure of population living in urban centres, there is a continued scarcity of houses. This is mainly due to insufficient expansion space for housing and public utilities, poverty, unemployment and also costly building materials that can be afforded only by few rich individuals.
How much of India's population lives in urban areas?
The degree of urbanization in India enhanced considerably from 2007 to 2017. At present about 34% of India’s population lives in urban areas and an increase of about 3% is recorded since 2011 Census indicating a remarkable increase in the pace of urbanization in our country. In fact, there is a good correlation between the level of per capita income and the pace of urbanization in India. The coefficient of correlation between the proportion of urban population to total population and the level of per capita income is estimated at 0.5 which is significant.
What is the process of urbanization?
Broadly, urbanization refers to the growth of towns and cities as people move from rural areas to urban centres with a hope to lead a better life.
What is the common feature of economic development?
Urbanization has become one of the common features of economic development in the world. As urbanization and economic development are closely associated, the economic development of a country indicates enhancement in the level of per capita income and standard of living of its growing population. The process of urbanization depends on the shift ...
What is the purpose of Agenda 21?
January 1992 Agenda 21 (Chap. 7) Chap. 7 of Agenda 21 is dedicated to Promoting Sustainable Human Settlement Development, whose objective is the improvement of the social, economic and environmental quality of human settlements and the living and working environments of all people, in particular the urban and rural poor.
What is the WUF?
Convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) for the first time in 2002, the World Urban Forum (WUF) is a non-legislative technical forum, hosted in a different city every two years, responsible for examining the most pressing issues currently facing at global level in the context of human settlements, including rapid urbanization and its impact on cities, communities, economies, climate change and policies.
What is the role of local and regional governments in the 2030 Agenda?
Local and regional governments have a wealth of valuable experience in the "localization" of the 2030 Agenda, where they provide leadership in the mobilization of a wide range of stakeholders, the facilitation of "bottom-up" and inclusive processes, and the formation of multi-stakeholder partnerships.
How much of the world's population lives in cities?
Currently, over half of the world’s population resides in cities. This urbanization trend is expected to continue and more than 80 per cent of humanity is expected to live cities by 2050. The conditions for city dwellers depend not only on how urbanization is planned and managed but also how cities ...
What are the issues that affect urban development?
Urban planning, transport systems, water, sanitation, waste management, disaster risk reduction, access to information, education and capacity-building are all relevant issues to sustainable urban development. In 2008, for the first time in history, the global urban population outnumbered the rural population.
What is the SDG 11?
SDG 11 aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. In particular, its targets 11.1-11.3 aim to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, and enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries, by 2030. This goal also calls for strengthening efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage, significantly reducing, by 2030, the number of deaths caused and the number of people affected by disasters,
What is the challenge of local government in developing countries?
The Challenge of Local Government Financiang in Developing Countries. Cities are assets, solutions and drivers of economic and social development. Cities possess huge untapped economic potential that can and should be leveraged to create wealth and economic opportunities for all.
How has rapid urbanization in developing countries like India resulted in a significant increase of the urban population within the?
The historic label of ‘the country of villages’ defies the current state of Modern India. Growing cities besides expanding the economic base have also contributed towards the degenerative decay of the urban core. Increasing unemployment, pressure on infrastructure, creation of slums in the urban core of cities and environmental degradation are
Why do people move to cities?
In the beginning, it is important to know what is the reason for urbanization. Most people move to the city because they want to get a better life.
How does poverty affect Nigeria?
Poverty has adverse impact on the lives of people and housing condition in Nigeria low income area has the highest percentage of household size which is 24 percent with between 7 to 9 persons per room. While in the high income area, the household size is between 1 to 3 persons per room (Ola Aluko, 2011). Income level of the people determines the condition of housing and standard of living of the people (EO Nicholas, 2015).
Why is low income bad for housing?
Low incomes prevent access to many potential housing options, or make them hard to sustain. However, the housing system, with social housing, housing benefit and support for homeless people, acts as a buffer against the effects of poverty, so that although people living in poverty have a higher risk of bad housing conditions (Tunstall, 2013 et al., 2013)..
Is urbanization increasing?
hence, the rate of urbanization is increasing at the turn of this century. Recent studies indicate that at the beginning of the twentieth century, only 10% of the world’s population lived in urban areas. However, currently, half of the world’s population has become urban dwellers (UNCHS, 2002). This shows that urbanization all over the world is expanding from time to time and the change has vast implication on the living conditions of the urban society. Due to rapid urbanization, the concentration
