Sustainability of Urban Growth - Essay Example

Sustainability about urban and cities growth refers to the developments in the urban areas that ensures that the occupants can meet their requirements without also compromising on the potential of future generations when getting their requirements too. Sustainability emphasizes progress, positive change, and improvement, including both social and environmental dimensions. As time pass by the population grows and the urbanization of communities begin. This urbanization causes a lot of effects, especially on the environment. The effects of this population growth in the society must be acknowledged, and when these effects are realized necessary actions should be done to ensure that the increasing population is sustained. We should note that for urban areas to sustain a growing population, appropriate actions should be done in these urban centers such as the installation of appropriate structures which will help in coordination of economic and social processes. Also, the efficient approach in logistics of people and goods should be broadly adopted to ease the congestion and overcrowding that comes with population growth among other actions that should be done.

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How cities are structured and designed directly relates to how it can handle population growth. When cities are structured appropriately a lot of opportunities arise, that is it provides room for the creation of jobs and enhancement of economic growth which translates to better living standard for its occupants. Hence sustainable economic growth is achieved in the process since with better living standards comes increased economic growth. Moreover, in the process of ensuring sustainability urban centers should ensure that they preserve their regional and local ecosystems by promoting systematic and appropriate usage of environmental resources. This will help in reducing pollution and poverty in these areas.

Sustainability means that the cities adopt sustainable infrastructures to ensure that population in urban areas is sustained. We should note that whatever the systems we are putting in place today will affect the future generations. However, the problem today in most cities is that the establishment of sustainable infrastructures has not been able to satisfy the provisions of the growing population. For instance, cities in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are having a difficult time containing the extreme poverty levels that has hit most of their urban, this is because these urban areas failed to sustain the growing population. It is predicted that about 3.5 billion people live in cities, and this figure is expected to rise to approximately 4.5 to 5 billion people by 2030. This means that by 2030, the number of people living in rural areas will decrease while those living in urban areas will increase.

What does this statistics mean for cities? The answer depends part on the sustainability of the growing population. Cities should ensure that they reform their economic and social structures, and ensure that they spearhead economic development and growth so that they can serve the additional population. It is only through sustainable development that the population needs can be met. In cases where the population growth is not sustain by the cities, environmental degradations occur and also congestions leads to extreme deprivation of basic needs. Moreover, cities should be cautious also when managing growth since mistakes made in these process are always difficult to undo. Components of the urban centers such as urban layouts, investments and land use systems should be handled with professionalism. Without proper administration, cities may fail to great jobs required to better living standards and also slums may expand. It is a fact that most urban areas in the globe are having a difficult in addressing the issue of rising population and as a result they are faced with a lot of challenges. This is matter has forced most of the top officials from different cities around the world to come together and debate the way forward. A good example is the initiation of the GDP Cities project. The main agenda of this model is to realize and manage opportunities and risks within the urban areas. By doing this cities can evaluate their position in the process of sustaining population growth. In general, Sustainability in urban and cities growth encompasses the need to revolutionize the whole urban process functioning with the view of attaining environmental objectives and the success of balancing both the economic and social aspects of a population.

Sydney, for instance, is one of the major cities in the world. The NSW government predicts that by the year 2035, Sydneys population will increase by approximately 1.6 million people. Currently, about four million people live in this city. According to Connell (2000), the increase in population will mean that there is a subsequent increase in pressure on the citys resources. Therefore the city will need to readjust to sustain the population growth. Thanks to the government of Australia, Sydney is putting up appropriate structures to ensure that when the time comes, the city is prepared to handle the growth. Some of Sydneys plans to counter the population growth include; increasing housing supply within the city, revitalizing existing suburbs, delivering high-quality infrastructure, and expanding the global economic platform to ensure more jobs are created (Connell, 2000).

Now the question is, can such growth occur sustainably? To understand the answer to this question we first need to analyze the worlds population trends. It is estimated that the globes urban population will rise to approximately six billion by 2045. Much of this population boom will occur in developing nations, especially in Africa. Researchers predict that most of these countries are likely to face a lot of hardships in meeting the requirements of the expanding urban populations. Some of these challenges are likely to arise from employment, transportation, infrastructure, housing, and energy sectors. When urban centers grow rapidly, there are high chances of extreme environmental and social hardships such as pollution and poverty. Since the 1990s, we have witnessed a lot of negative outcomes from unsustainable urban economies. Degradation of ecosystems, as well as the pollution of land, water, and air, is one of the most visible evidence.

For a population to occur sustainably, cities need to ensure that the living conditions are conducive and the people have access to adequate facilities and resources in the cities. How cities are developed and run, determines whether sustainable growth occurs or not. This is because for growth to occur sustainably, appropriate institutional guidelines should be implemented so that opportunities and challenges facing the city can be mitigated in an efficient and systematic manner. Nowadays various elements require that we change our perspective of the urban growth and how cities evolve. Many cities today are under pressure to sustain the rising need for public services. A recent study shows that for urban growth to occur sustainably, proper planning and management is necessary. It notes that if urban centers are properly managed, they can provide significant opportunities for social and economic development and also increase the ease of access to primary services such as education and health care for a large population.

Population growth impacts on nearly everything including the development goals and by extension the global development agendas. It also impedes the process of ensuring that there is equal access to education, housing, sanitation, health, and food for everyone. In some instances, population growth has led to intense pressures on the environmental resources such as forests, land, and water. When population increases, environmental, economic and social changes are experienced some of which have adverse effects on the population.

Population growth like the one of Sydneys can occur sustainably, only if they are appropriate structures to support the growth. Sometimes it may be surprising to realize that indeed population growth offers opportunities for gradual development of the cities. This is because as the population grows, more development objectivities are put in place in the process. According to Taniguchi (2010), when the population density is huge, governments are more motivated to deliver critical services and infrastructures in urban areas quickly. This empowers these cities to grow economically and to sustain its population appropriately. We should also realize that in cases where urban growth is not sustained properly certain repercussions occur. These include the occurrence of events such as pollution, garbage menace, and urban sprawl. Due to large populations, environmental pressure is likely to arise leading to garbage menace. Moreover, rapid population growth is likely to exert pressure on the existing housing, and when this happens, they are high chances of sprawling urban happening (Taniguchi, 2010).

Urban areas require strategic approaches in planning and development, particularly in cities with high growth rate. These cities should ensure that the well-being and the health of the future generations are preserved today, by making sure that issues such as environmental hazards and social justice concerns which are affecting the city now are dealt with accordingly. Planning for future growth in population is critical. Urban planners should ensure that they take a lot of factors into consideration, to provide for a holistic development.

Some of the factors that should guide plans for future urban population growth include; urban planners should ensure that they include the citys residents when planning for the city, they must also develop systematic approach which gathers for both future and current residents and most importantly they must pay close attention to the citys environment. Urban planners must have the right information on the economic elements needed to boost the citys development. They should always pay attention to the location of different resources in the city, such as the public transportation. The residents interests should always come first and policies affecting urban centers must always be based on this. Moreover, new urban agenda need to be included in the national priority list, so that these cities can be able to mitigate the risks of climate change and ensure better living conditions for its residents.

When planning for population growth, planners should ensure that they identify the society requirements and create efficient models which will help revitalize and grow the city. City planners must also engage the residents on deciding how the available environmental resources should be utilized. Moreover, for effective planning for future population growth, it is important that planners also address the social, economic and environmental matters facing the society as it grows and changes. It is also important to note that planners need to draft policies on social and environmental issues and also make decisions on the preservation of some regions in the city.

It is critical to evaluate the usage of land for business, community and residential purposes before planning for the city. Also, accurate information should be gathered on the demographic characteristics together with economic and employment trends of the urban areas. The Land-usage matters arising as a result of population movements should be sorted accordingly, by ensuring that efficient economic developments are spearheaded so that more jobs are created outside the cities. Also, proper transport systems need to be implemented to allow smooth movement of the general public in and out of the city. It is also crucial to include appropriate technological techniques in...