Introduction
For the last few decades, cities and urban spaces have seen large influx of people all over the world. With the growing concern of population explosion, while some cities have been able to cope with the increase in the city population by putting in placerequired infrastructure, many failed to achieve the same. Urbanisation is the process in which large number of people migrate to urban centres to find better employment opportunities. The reasons such as erratic monsoon and failure of crops, which forced many farmers to commit suicide, are a setback for rural people. In addition, lack of quality education also becomes one of the reasons for migration.
Beginning of Urbanisation
Although origin of urbanisation dates back to Renaissance times, it started becoming a common phenomenon during the Industrial revolution of eighteenth and nineteenth century. However, Asia has faced massive urbanisation only in twentieth century. As per the estimates by experts, cities around the globe will be accommodating over 60 per cent of the world’s population in the near future.
Side Effects of Urbanisation
So, what are the broad issues that arise as a result of urbanisation?
Owing to the population explosion in cities, there arises a problem to find suitable accommodation. Also, failure to find an affordable place results in the creation of slums which are considered to be the breeding ground for various crimes. It is also noticed that lack of any regular source of income also drives them to indulge in illegal acts to earn some quick buck
Rising population also leads to increase in demand as well as consumption of water. Although demand keeps on increasing with time, limited availability of potable water results in serious consequences as people suffer and die of many health hazards. Besides posing a water problem, heavy influx also affects traffic system, built keeping in view a limited capacity, with heavy traffic jams being a normal phenomenon.
Urbanisation and Its Effects on Health
The large-scale urbanisation leads mainly to health hazards. The pollution of water, air and land is the main source of disease. Air pollution caused by large-scale traffic also has significant impact on the health of people. Even as the amount of waste generated has been on the rise, the efforts of government to curtail it to the minimum have not been enough. This toxic waste ultimately causes diseases such as malaria and dengue.
Sanitation can be considered as another grey area because diseases related to hygiene because of inappropriate drainage system also take the life of millions of people.
The sudden change of younger generation’s mood to leave farming and move to cities for better opportunities also presents a challenge to food production. Now, the question arises that, even as food production being the very important aspect of any economy, if every person starts migrating to urban area, who would grow crops?
Because of the large number of people present to consume limited resources, price of essential commodities rises to leave a common man in discomfort. Urbanisation affects not only environment but also psychological issues due to the lifestyle that people lead.
Urbanisation has also caused deforestation on a large scale to accommodate increasing population in high-rise buildings, resulting in disturbing the balance of environment. Besides this, the increasing number population has resulted in increase in temperature.
Hence, it is evident that rise in revenues and lifestyles has negatively affected the overall quality of human life as well as the emotional aspects connected with it.
Pros of Urbanisation
In contrast to its cons, urbanisation has a lot of advantages, such as good education and living facilities, that cannot be ignored. These conditions ultimately help in improving economy.
Urbanisation has also provided an opportunity to people from various cultures to blend together with harmony. For example, Mumbai is a classic example where people from different regions live together, making social integration more acceptable.
Besides many advantages, it cannot be disregarded that lifestyle, health facilities and quality of infrastructure in urban areas are far better
Conclusion
Therefore, it is of utmost importance to chalk out a plan for the betterment and welfare of population not only in the upcoming cities but also in existing cities, which have bear the brunt of poor planning and population explosion.
As urbanisation has largely transformed the landscape of cities in the twentieth century and it will continue to do so in the times to come as well, it is sought to formulate a plan that would help in improving lives of millions and not lowering it.
A combined and concentrated effort is required by the governments of major cities to cater to the growing needs of people and provide them with the better quality of life.