Kamran's Essay Draft

To what extent can be the problem of urbanization is met by a policy of sustainable development?

Sub Title:

To what extent policies of UK government are helping to reduce housing problems caused by overcrowding in urban areas to achieve sustainable life

Introduction:

Now a days we have noticed a huge change in the trend of people moving from villages to cities with many reasons, we define this trend in one world as “Urbanization”. Urbanization is attached to industrialization and can be described as a process of declining in the amount of population in rural areas due to the advancement and economic forces attracting a huge proportion of people towards urban area making ideal place to live. In detail, some writer defines urbanization as a process of complexity because it is related to the introduction of new methods within existing system in different aspects of our lives, such as transportation. Antrop (2004) studied (Champion, 2001; Pacione, 2001; Antrop, 2000; Bryant et al., 1982) and stated that “Urbanization is a complex process of change of rural lifestyles into urban ones. It showed an almost exponential growth since the end of the 19th century”. This was not end, we found this trend continuously increasing in 20th century, according to The United Nations Urbanization Report (2005) states that the twentieth century has experienced the most urbanization. ­­­

As a fact that urbanization is increasing day by day, cities are becoming more wider, industrialised, advanced and creating opportunities for better lifestyle, but on the other hand it is giving birth to many different issues and one of them is ‘Sustainability’. There is an environmental issue these days related to sustainable development concerning worldwide authorities. Firstly, we have to understand what is sustainability? If we look into literature we will find different meaning of sustainability but i found one easy and simple which is defined by US Environmental Protection Agency (2010) says that, “Sustainability is social and environmental practices that protect and enhance the human and natural resources needed by future generations to enjoy a quality of life equal to or greater than our own”. Additionally, if we talk about development we might think about sustainable development and it is founded as a need of current situation. Karshenas (2008) studied Brundtland Report (1987) to define sustainable development which state that, “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”, he adds more “a process of change in which exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the reorientation of technology development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations”. WCED (1987).

However, in this essay i will discuss problems related to urbanization such as overcrowding and its consequences that is lack of enough resources, health problems; crucial competition for limited jobs which will lead to increase in crimes; and housing problems. This essay also talks about roll of UK government and policies adopted toward sustainable development; Policies are often defined as a plan, guiding principle or some sort of action designed by political party, business or by government to influence their practical matter to get expected results. Finally, my focus will be on one vital problem of urbanization these days i.e. overcrowding and to narrow the scope in that i will discuss ‘Adequate Housing System, a necessity for sustainability’ as people are getting more and more health conscious.

MAIN BODY

It is noticed that urbanisation is all about getting industrialized, creating and providing more facilities and making life easier than before but on the other hand as people are getting more aware and conscious about many things e.g. Health: it is founded that the whole entire trend of moving towards cities are giving birth to different serious problems, for instance ‘Overcrowding’, at this stage, United Nations Urbanization Report (2005) stated that, The global proportion of urban population increased from a mere 13 per cent in 1900 to 29 per cent in 1950 and, according to the 2005 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, reached 49 per cent in 2005. Since the world is projected to continue to urbanize, 60 per cent of the global population is expected to live in cities by 2030. The rising numbers of urban dwellers give the best indication of the scale of these unprecedented trends: the urban population increased from 220 million in 1900 to 732 million in 1950. According to the latest United Nations population projections, 4.9 billion people are expected to be urban dwellers in 2030, shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Urban and rural population of the world 1950-2030

Urban Population ––– Rural Population ----

(source: World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision)

Above all scenario is effecting badly to the resources available in the cities and as a consequences causing several problem for the people as well as governments. One result of overcrowding is increasing crime rate in many mega cities of the world. A number of studies included the crime level as an explanatory variable in determining city population (e.g., Frey, 1979; Grubb, 1982; Katzman, 1980; Sampson & Wooldredge,1986 in Cullen and levitt 1999). Crimes not only effect the population living in cities but creating stress and tension for prisoners because of less resources and increasing number of offenders. One example of this is founded in the article “Overcrowding created stress and tension” published online by THE INDEPENDENT (2002) which defines the internal condition of the women prisoner cells in the UK, that there was no sufficient facility of toilets, food and no privacy at all, which was resulting a lot of stress, mentally torture and making life difficult for both police authorities and prisoners. Additionally crimes also increase expenses on security issues, like (Cullen and levitt 1999) said, “The level of crime in large cities is even more remarkable when one considers that both per capita expenditures on police and the level of victim precaution (e.g., locked doors, private security guards, alarm systems) are much greater in large cities”.[quote nec?]

HOUSING AND HEALTH ISSUE

Moreover, there is a vital issue of housing in big cities whether it is related to prices or living conditions because of increasing population and lack of enough area to build proper house which automatically than give birth to health issues. For instance inadequate ventilation can cause asthma problem, fire injuries, mental health problems because of overcrowding in small houses and many other diseases. In support of my argument, according to Krieger and Higgins 2002, “Each year in the United States, 13.5 million nonfatal injuries occur in and around the home, 2900 people die in house fires, and 2 million people make emergency room visits for asthma. One million young children in the United States have blood lead levels high enough to adversely affect their intelligence, behaviour, and development. Two million Americans occupy homes with severe physical problems, and an additional 4.8 million live in homes with moderate problems”. Here is another good example, a study done in west Scotland by (Macintyre et al., 2003) on health issues caused by overcrowding and inadequate housing system, they found that the different distribution between tenure categories of housing stressors [plagiarism!] (for example, overcrowding, dampness, health hazards, difficulty with heating the home) helped to explain the association between tenure and depression, and that aspects of the perceived local environment (for example, crime, neighbourliness, area reputation, amenities) helped to explain the association between tenure and anxiety.

In addition, while looking overcrowding in London census data shows that, “the percentage of overcrowded households in each ethnic group is much higher amongst black and minority ethnic (BME) groups than the white British group”, as shown in the graph 1.

Graph 1. % of overcrowded households in each ethnic group (all tenures)

(source: Overcrowded housing and the effects on London’s communities)

Moreover, number of studies found that one reason for poor educational attainment in children is housing in which they live. Overcrowding also resulted increasing rate of tuberculosis infection in one of the big city of England, and that mean financial burden for London health authorities. In past, according to Overcrowded housing and the effects on London’s communities, the government released T.B action plan ‘Stopping Tuberculosis in England’, it stated that the rise in tuberculosis infections since the early 1990s was “mainly as a result of increased migration from areas of the world where tuberculosis is more prevalent”, as u found in graph 1 that in England as a whole BME household groups are on average seven times more likely to live in overcrowded conditions than white households. There are few reasons behind overcrowding but the main is inappropriate supply of new social housing. Beside this, ‘hidden homelessness’ people sleeping in their friends or relatives homes. Another reason is higher housing prices that is effecting low income families they cannot afford and again as a result increasing pressure on social housing sector.

GOVERNMENT ROLE

Finally, if we look the role of government for the sustainable development in UK we found a strategy of ‘Securing the future states’ which says that The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations’. Additionally, Government also encourage greener market using taxes, incentives and better information and technological innovation to improve resources effeiceincy through its strategy for sustainable production and consumption (e.g resource efficiency or 60% carbon emissions reductions). (HM Government and DEFRA, in Seyfang and Smith 2007). However, UK government also emphasis the contribution made by local activities and tried to pursue sustainable development at all scales. Another initiative, ‘Community Action 2020’, which promotes community energy efficiency schemes, recycling projects and Fairtrade activities, local food initiatives, plus participation in decision-making, volunteering, capacity-building, information-sharing and community-mentoring. In addition, the environment ministry has its own strategy to support social enterprise because of the ways the sector combines social, economic and, increasingly, environmental objectives (DEFRA in Seyfang and Smith 2007).

CONCLUSION

This is fact which cannot be denied that the trend of urbanization is continually increasing in all over the world as there are many reasons behind this such as easy accessibility of different resources, well paid jobs, higher earnings and many more. This trend is often described as inevitable because of its rapid increase in last few decades. Where this world is getting more industrialized and moving forward in technological advancement on the other hand creates some vital problems for the city dwellers as well as for governments and making urban life more crucial. At this stage, world is seeking for sustainable development which can be describe as a better place of living for both present and future generation. These days an important question arises that how far UK government has gone through and can meet the problems of sustainable development? As discussed above the role of government and the different strategies to cope with the problem of sustainable development, however what can be done further for the overcrowding and housing problem? According to ‘Overcrowded housing and the effects on London’s communities’ only in London 70% of overcrowded households in the social rented sector need three or more bedrooms. However in recent years only around 30% of new homes developed through the Housing Corporation ADP programme have been larger homes. For the 2004-06 programme, this falls to 26%. At least twice as many more homes with three or more bedrooms should be built through the ADP programme to cater for larger families living in overcrowded and temporary accommodation. Additionally larger properties should be encouraged to build for larger families which may also help in reducing health issues. Government also consider co housing model, “It is a model of community structure whereby residents live in houses around a ‘common house’” (Seyfang and Smith 2007). The idea of common house is bringing people together and sharing all available resources such as meals, electronic equipment and cars which may help in reducing overall consumption.

To sum up, initiative taken by government and the vision with little more concentration on urbanization and housing problems will lead our future generation to sustainable development as well as healthier and longer life expectancy resulting good economical conditions for the country.

References:

Anonymous (2002) “Overcrowding created stress and tension”, the independent UK, Online article last accessed on 22/07/2010 Url: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/overcrowding-created-stress-and-tension-654508.html

Antrop. M (2004) “Landscape change and the urbanization process in Europe” Landscape and Urban Planning 67 pg 9–26 University of Ghent, Geography Department, Krijgslaan 281 S8, B9000 Gent, Belgium

Cullen. J. B and Levitt .S .D (1999) “Crime, Urban Flight, and the Consequences for Cities”, The review of economics and statistics 81(2): 159–169 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Karshenas. M (2008) “Environment, Technology and Employment: Towards a New Definition of Sustainable Development” Development and Change Volume 25 Issue 4, pg 723 – 756 Published by International Institute of Social Studies

Krieger .J and Higgins .D .L (2002) “Housing and Health: Time Again for Public Health Action” American Journal of Public Health 758-768 Vol 92, No. 5
Macintyre .S, Ellaway .A, Hiscock .R, Kearns .A, Der .G and McKay .L (2003) “What features of the home and the area might help to explain observed relationships between housing tenure and health? Evidence from the west of Scotland”, Health & Place Vol 9, issue 3, pg 207-218

NHS Ealing (2010) “Overcrowded housing and the effects on London’s communities” Online report article Url: ealingpct.nhs.uk [PDF]

Seyfang, G and Smith, A (2007) “Grassroots innovations for sustainable development: Towards a new research and policy agenda”, Environmental Politics, 16: 4, 584 — 603

US Environmental Protection Agency (2010) “Wastes - Educational Materials” Last accessed on 11/07/2010 Url: http://www.epa.gov/waste/education/quest/gloss1a.htm#s
World Urbanization Prospects ‘The 2005 Revision’ (2006) Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Last accessed on 10/07/2010 Url: http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WUP2005/2005wup.htm