Preview

Pollution Caused by Urbanization and Its Solutions

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1718 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Pollution Caused by Urbanization and Its Solutions
Pollution Caused by Urbanization and Its Solutions
There are a large number of people who move to metropolitan areas in search of better job opportunities and living conditions. This process is called urbanization which is featured by a faster increase of urban population and economic development compared with rural areas. In spite of economic growth and improvement of basic facilities, cities, especially in developing countries, suffer from negative consequences of urbanization and postindustrialization. It is evident that modern cities are featured by environmental degradation, worsening of water quality and shortages of housing. This essay will focus on the air pollution and water pollution caused by urbanization. These harmful pollutants have serious negative effects on people’s health such as damage to people’s respiratory system. Following this, it will put forward some feasible solutions to deal with these problems.
The air quality in cities has become worse and worse along with the process of urbanization and people have been suffering from serious respiratory problems. A typical example of this is the “smokfog” phenomenon in Beijing where people need to wear a gauze mask to go outside. It is true that the working offices or central business districts are located in the downtown area of the city and a large number of people crowded into the center of the city for work or for entertainment. As a result, there is a huge population who take public transportation to travel to workplace and some wealthier five-to-nine workers choose to go for work by private cars. Therefore, the exhausted gas produced by these transportation tools is immeasurable, especially on the workdays. This also causes a huge pollution difference between workday and weekend and this effect that less pollution is caused in the holiday period is called “Holiday Effect”. Tan et al (2013) argues that pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds or



References: Tan, P.-H., Chou, C., Chou, C.C.-K. (2013), Impact of urbanization on the air pollution “holiday effect” in Taiwan, Atmospheric Environment, Vol.70 ,pp 361-375 Chinanet, (2005). The shortage of water per a year 40 trillions meter cubed, the shortage of water supply in about 400 cities, viewed 5 March 2014. http://www.china.org.cn/japanese/151846.htmBooth, D. B. (1991). Urbanization and the Natural Drainage System -- Impacts, Solutions, and Prognoses. The Northwest Environmental Journal. pp: 93-118. J.M. Barrigón Morillas, V. Gómez Escobar, J.A. Méndez Sierra, R. Vílchez-Gómez, J.M. Vaquero, Carmona J. Trujillo (2005). “A categorization method applied to the study of urban road traffic pollution” Acoustical society of America ,117 (5), pp. 2844–2852. PhD Bert B and MD Stephen TH, (2002). “Air pollution and health”,The Lancet,360(9341),pp1233-1242. Brunekreef, B. & Holgate, S.T. (2002). Air pollution and health. The lancet. 360(9341), pp. 1233-1242.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Week 6 assignment word

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Topography and weather are big contributors to a city pollutions. Most cities are built in a valley and not on top of a mountain, which makes it hard for the air to circulate. This traps the pollution into an area resulting in a poor air quality. (Factors, n.d.)…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Appendix H

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages

    |air pollution effects. |pollution’s ill effects, the lifestyle changes that will be required, | |…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Schwartz, J., Dockery, D.W., Neas, L.M., 1996. Is daily mortality associated speci®cally with ®ne particles? Air and…

    • 9804 Words
    • 40 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A brief history on air pollution, in October 1928 in the industrial town of Donora Pennsylvania a thick cloud formed. This thick cloud lingered for five days, causing sickness in 6,000 and killing 20 of the town’s people. And in 1952, over 3,000 people died in London to what is known as the “Killer Fog”. These events alerted the federal government…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Foot Binding

    • 2291 Words
    • 10 Pages

    * According to historical account, root of foot binding lie in China in the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), during the rule of Emperor Li Yu in China. The ruler 's favorite concubine Yao-Niang performed a dance on the tips of her toes atop a golden lotus pedestal.…

    • 2291 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Asthma and Air Pollution

    • 1925 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Air pollution can affect an individual’s health in many different ways; from short–term exacerbations of illness to long-term effects. Individuals are affected by air pollution in different ways. Short-term effects include ear, nose and throat irritation, and upper respiratory infections. Long-term effects include respiratory disease, lung disease, and heart disease. People who have asthma can experience complications when the air is polluted. In the great "Smog Disaster" in London in 1952, four thousand people died in a few days due to the high concentrations of pollution (How can air pollution hurt my health?).…

    • 1925 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Over the past month I have been in China, it has been impossible for me to go outside without having a respirator attached to my face. Why? Because of the extreme air pollution that blankets most of China. Because of China's air pollution that has been a constant problem over the past few decades and has been making living in China “uncomfortable”. The air pollution has several effects including declining public health and up to 1.6 million deaths per year. That is about 4383 deaths per day, 1.4 times the number of casualties on 9/11. The reasons for death from air pollution includes lung cancer and breathing difficulties The pollution has been caused from coal burning, tailpipe exhaust, factory pollution, dust, aerosols and waste incineration…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The people of New York have the right to enjoy an environment that is conducive to the full development of individuals as human beings. This is an environment that is not only free from obvious threats of physical harm such as crimes but also from concealed threats that have long term effects on human health and functioning such as air pollution. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the New York City government to improve ambient air quality in New York through pollutant level monitoring, air pollution clearly remains a major threat to the people’s health. (NYSDEC, 2008) Industrial and vehicle emissions continue to be the main source of air pollution in the city, which in turn exposes the people to greater risks of contracting diseases from air-borne pollutants and carcinogens. (Routledge, et. al. 1383) Thus, there is a need not only for strengthening existing air pollution-control methods and legislation but in making them more effective by encouraging public participation to solve the problem.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Air pollution in New York City is still a significant environmental threat. Many types of air pollutants come from millions of sources, inside and outside the city’s boundaries. With Metropolitan Transportation Authority being the largest serving a population of 15.3 million people in the 5,000-square-mile area the constituents of the city deserve clean air while traveling on public transportation.…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    With China’s rapid development, dust and air pollution are prevalent throughout most regions. However, it has become particularly bad in the metropolises of Shanghai and Beijing, where citizens stalk through smog-ridden streets almost daily, armed with only flimsy surgical masks, if anything. This picture has become a common sight in newspapers and online media across the globe, and stands as a warning to other nations of the consequences of rapid expansion and unmonitored air pollution.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Air Pollution in China

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When people think about air pollution, the things that come to their mind are smog, acid rain, and other forms of outdoor air pollution. Air Pollution is not a new topic. It is a problem that we have noticed since the industrial revolution, when trees, houses and cars were covered in soot from the factories. Every year, chemical substances present in the air within buildings affect the healths of thousands of people. The definition of air pollution is "The presence in the atmosphere of one or more contaminants as is injurious, or tends to be injurious, to human health or welfare, animal or plantlife."Ozone, a gas, is a major part of air pollution in cities. When ozone forms air pollution, it's also called smog. Air pollution are the leading cause of death in China. Acid rain falls on 30% of the country. The World Health Organization has found that about 750,000 people die prematurely each year from respiratory problems in China.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Contents[hide] * 1 Pollutants * 2 Sources * 2.1 Emission factors * 3 Indoor air quality (IAQ) * 4 Health effects * 4.1 Effects on cystic fibrosis * 4.2 Effects on COPD * 4.3 Effects on children * 4.4 Health effects in relatively "clean" areas * 5 Reduction efforts * 5.1 Control devices * 6 Legal regulations * 7 Cities * 8 Carbon dioxide emissions * 9 Atmospheric dispersion * 10 Environmental impacts of greenhouse gas pollutants * 11 See also * 12 References * 13 External links…

    • 4716 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The title of the book, The Godfather, is a reference to one of the main characters, Don Vito Corleone. The position of Godfather in the Italian Community is one of great respect, admiration, and affection. Don Vito Corleone is given this title by many as a sign of respect for the favors that he does as well for his cunning, power, and influence.…

    • 3172 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is grievously distressing to know that in the cities there is no longer clean air to breathe. Of course, air pollution is the awful by-product in all urban settlements. Our once clear and blue sky now darkens with dusty smog and heavy dirt-loaded fog that proved to be unhealthy to the city’s inhabitants. There are millions of ways to easily pollute the air yet there has been no solution on how to stop this enormously destructive equivalent of progress. Who’s going to pay in this peculiar and yet highly repulsive crime? Who is suffering most from this deceptive brand of freely exercised air destruction?…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the summer months, the morning news will spend a few seconds covering that day’s air quality outlook. There is typically an on screen scale of 1 – 10, and each meteorologist alerts viewers to that day’s air quality ranking. Populations with respiratory issues will be more or less affected because of that day’s air quality index. An advisement for those people to act accordingly will likely follow. If you have ever pondered the causes of such news worthy air quality variations, we now have an answer. Experts say “your automobiles” (Arkansas). According to the EPA, in typical urban areas, cars, buses, trucks, and off-highway mobile sources such as construction vehicles and boats produce at least half of the Hydrocarbons and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) expelled into the air (EPA 2). These Hydrocarbons and Nitrogen Oxides are two of many chemicals and particulate matter that make up air pollution. Although automobiles do not account for 100% of these Hydrocarbon and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions, there ranking as a 50% contributor is quite significant. Automobiles are in fact the largest single producer of air…

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays