Challenges and Opportunities in the Urban Area of the Future
Urban areas of the future present the greatest challenges and opportunities to people. Discuss.
Introduction
3% of land surface on the earth is covered by urban areas, and more than half the world’s population live in urban areas. 100 years ago, only 20% of people lived in urban areas, and today the number is continually rising past 50%. However, with an increasing number of people taking up residence in ever expanding cities, towns and villages, problems in urban areas are growing more serious, and in the years to come, solutions for the various problems which are evident in daily life in the urban areas must be found – from basic human needs such as constantly available water to issues such as factories causing severe smog. In the future, not only will the challenges increase with the growing population, but the opportunities will also increase inside the developing communities. Each year, the Brookings Institution and the Wharton School of Business cosponsor a conference to address these issues and provide cutting-edge, accessible research on issues unique to urban areas, as well as on broad economic and policy topics that have special applications in an urban setting.1
Urban Areas at the Present
At the moment, there are many problems in urban areas, which will have damaging effects on the social quality of the settlement, the environment, the economy, and the political strength of the settlement. Firstly, urban decay seriously degrades the atmosphere in urban areas. Urban decay occurs when very old, usually pre-war buildings deteriorate and decay due to poor or no maintenance. This may be because the owners do not have the available funds, or are unwilling to spend money on the old buildings. The buildings might also have been abandoned, or are being let out as extremely cheap, poor living quarters to low-income groups. Furthermore, when these buildings were built, a lack of urban planning may have resulted in poor structure and low durability.
Introduction
3% of land surface on the earth is covered by urban areas, and more than half the world’s population live in urban areas. 100 years ago, only 20% of people lived in urban areas, and today the number is continually rising past 50%. However, with an increasing number of people taking up residence in ever expanding cities, towns and villages, problems in urban areas are growing more serious, and in the years to come, solutions for the various problems which are evident in daily life in the urban areas must be found – from basic human needs such as constantly available water to issues such as factories causing severe smog. In the future, not only will the challenges increase with the growing population, but the opportunities will also increase inside the developing communities. Each year, the Brookings Institution and the Wharton School of Business cosponsor a conference to address these issues and provide cutting-edge, accessible research on issues unique to urban areas, as well as on broad economic and policy topics that have special applications in an urban setting.1
Urban Areas at the Present
At the moment, there are many problems in urban areas, which will have damaging effects on the social quality of the settlement, the environment, the economy, and the political strength of the settlement. Firstly, urban decay seriously degrades the atmosphere in urban areas. Urban decay occurs when very old, usually pre-war buildings deteriorate and decay due to poor or no maintenance. This may be because the owners do not have the available funds, or are unwilling to spend money on the old buildings. The buildings might also have been abandoned, or are being let out as extremely cheap, poor living quarters to low-income groups. Furthermore, when these buildings were built, a lack of urban planning may have resulted in poor structure and low durability.
Citations: 1 http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2002/07/urban-gale 2 http://www.oocities.org/ghsgeography/CE/14urbpb.htm 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10, 11 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15400477 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/342 21 http://www.useful-community-development.org/urban-sprawl-solutions.html