NICK'S FULL ESSAY

Title: “What extent can the problems of urbanization be met by a policy of sustainable development? ”

Subtitle: What are the impacts of massive population growth by the policy of sustainable development in Shanghai?

Abstract
For a long time, urbanization as a product of industrial revolution accelerated economic development. However, that is not perfect. In fact, urbanization also caused lots of problems, such as more serious pollution, a crowded population, the overuse of resources and so on. The sustainable measure could be an effective way to solve these problems. This essay uses Shanghai as a typical example to point out some problems of urbanization and manages to analyse the achievements and defects of some existing sustainable policies which focus on dealing with them, such as developing Pudong new area and transferring factories to suburbs. Actually, some of them are not sustainable so that it could maintain no damage in the future.



Introduction:

For promoting the economic development and improving human beings life standards, urbanization has become the main trend in lots of countries. So what is urbanization? Actually urbanization is a process that humans entered industries era, the proportion of agricultural activities began to decrease in some areas, and on the contrary, a proportion of non-agricultural activities began to increase. It also means that more and more rural population transformed into urban population. In fact urbanization is the product of the industrial revolution. It is a symbol of city development. What the urbanization brings for us contain a growth of economic, a progress of the society, an improvement of technology and so on. However, when we appreciate these significant achievements of urbanization, some problems because of urbanization also cannot be ignored, such as a rapidly increasing proportion of urban population. More and more rural people migrate into urban. Therefore, we need to consider that whether a city could dominate the continuous expansion of the population with a limited resource. More and more household refuse and auto emissions also could cause lots of serious pollution.

For solving these negative impacts, many countries have mentioned that “sustainable development” will become an important strategy to face with urbanization issue. So what is sustainable development? In fact, sustainable development is a growth model of long term development. The currently definition explained by the World Commission on Environment and Development is meant people can meet their own needs via the development in the present and meet the need for future generations (The report of WCED). Generally, sustainable development balance the objectives of environment、science、society and economic . For long-term interests, sustainable development has a close relationship with urbanization issue. For instance, the strategy of SD needs to deal with some issues about how to allocate the resources efficiency, how to decrease the pollution and how to balance the ecological environment in a city.

In some developing countries, urbanization is more serious than developed countries. In China, Shanghai as an international city could be a typical example. The Shanghai Statistics office reported there are more than 19 million people in 2010. And currently the area of Shanghai covers about 6340.5 Km2. it shows a high density of population in Shanghai. Seriously, due to urbanization this high density is increasing rapidly. It causes lots of problems such as serious traffic jam, less planting, poor environment and so on. Especially, because of economic risk in recent years it will also bring a higher unemployment. It is really hard to find a job. For dealing with these urbanization problems, the government has made some policies such as transfer factories to suburbs; build more complete public transport system and explore Pudong as a new urban area. In my essay I am going to talk about more problems because of urbanization, and how to deal with them by sustainable development. And also I will give an assessment for these achievements and policies. Finally, I will give some recommendations.

Main body

City is the symbol of human civilization, and also is the centre of economic and social life. In developing countries, the level of urbanization could stand for their economic strength. Since the 1990s, China began to accelerate the development of urbanization. A large of population migrates from rural into city. However, lots of problems because of urbanization appear gradually. Over the past of 20 years, Shanghai has experienced a rapid expansion and urbanization. In 1990, the number of total population in Shanghai was about 13millions. In 2000, the number has increased to more than 16millions. And the recent data shows that in 2010 the total number is more than 19 millions, in which the number of floating population occupies the main part. Now the population density is about 3000 persons per km2. However, in some urban area of Shanghai the population density is more than 30,000 persons per km2, such as Hongkou, Luwan and Jingan area. (Shanghai Statistics office) Obviously, that is really crowded in some areas. Through these increasing trends, it is predicted that in 2020 the number of population in Shanghai will be more than 25 millions. Therefore, most of citizens are suffering in a narrow areas to live together.

The massive population not only leads to a narrow space, but also causes a definitely negative impact on environment. During the past of 30 years, the urbanization promoted the economic development effectively in Shanghai. The need of land use expanded rapidly. More and more buildings, factories and other facilities were constructed constantly. It directly causes a decrease of planting areas. As we all know, today the global warming has become an important issue. In fact, it has been proved that planting more trees is a good way to remit its serious trend. Furthermore, more factories cause more industry emissions. And it has become a complex problem in developing countries. The traditional sustainable strategy cannot make a balance between economic and environment. Although the government has made some policies to limit some harmful emissions, the pollution was still very serious in Shanghai. For example, 40 years ago, what the residents in Shanghai drank was direct from Suzhou River which is a logical river in Shanghai. However, since 1970s, it has begun suffering a serious pollution. Lots of industry rubbish and house refuse were emitted into Suzhou River. Until the end of 20th century in which it has become a complete black and dirty river, the government began realizing that they should do something to protect it. However, it will be impossible to make the Suzhou River completely clean again. Another serious problem by urbanization in Shanghai is traffic jam. With the increase of population and more commercial activities, people have a high need for cars. The number of privately owned motor vehicles in 2002 which was about 1,198,400 is more than 466,400 in 1996. Especially in 2008, the quantity was close to 2 millions (The population statistic in Shanghai, Shanghai official website). Although the development of traffic facilities in Shanghai is greater than other international cities, it cannot carry such massive quantity of population and vehicles. For example, there is no enough space provided for parking. The high co2 emission by vehicles causes serious air pollution. And also, it leads to more traffic accidents. Annually, the opinion polls in Shanghai shows that traffic always is the most serious problem needed to solve.

Another potential problem by urbanization in Shanghai is that people have a deep pressure about employment. The massive competition makes people hard to find a good job. Furthermore, due to the unstable economic environment in recent years, the unemployment became more serious than before. The college graduate has become a part of victims. Actually, one benefit for urbanization is to provide more employment opportunities. But the fact is absolutely opposite. The increase of unemployment not only could lead to economic recession, and also could cause more crime and other unstable factors.

Obviously, urbanization could lead to a lot of problems, such as less living space, the overuse of resources, damage of environment, serious traffic jam, high unemployment and so on. The strategy of sustainable development is a good way to solve these negative factors. For example, the government should make some policies to limit the use of land. The planting areas could not be occupied to do other things. Any resource is limited. Therefore, the price of water, natural gas or electric could be increased appropriately. Secondly, In Shanghai the most serious problem is traffic jam. The number of individual cars has increased at 20%--30% (Qing, S. 1997). So it has to develop more modern and impeccable public transport system. And also, the fees of public transport could be decreased.

In fact, some policies have been made to solve these problems because of urbanization. In 1990s, the pollution by Suzhou River was very serious. After realising this problem, the government decided to dispatch more human to clean rubbish which float on the surface. The water quality was investigated regularly. The most important is to limit the emission by industries. Actually, that is not enough. After 2000, the government required that the industrial factory could not be built in the central of city. Finally, most of factories began to transfer from urban to suburbs, such as Qingpu area and Jiading area. Nowadays, the Suzhou River water quality has been improved obviously. Meanwhile, the government spent lots of money on establishing more and more green, such as urban ecological park. A famous park called “Oriental Land” attracts a lot of citizens. Its theme involves green, environmental protection and science. The government also required that every secondary school or middle school must organize students to join in some activities which are held in “Oriental Land”. The aim is to promote some relevant knowledge about environmental protections and science.

In another way, the development of Pudong new area brought a lot of benefits. It not only improved the economic in Shanghai, but also provided a good opportunity for urban renewal in Shanghai. Lots of population transferred from the urban area to Pudong area. The land use structure and industrial structure also were adjusted effectively. (Liu T, 1994) indicates that High population density and the sustainable growth of number of cars lead to serious traffic problems. In recent years, government has made some policies to improve the serious situation. For instance, the price of car licence was raised to limit the number of individual cars. And also, regularly people just could get the limited car licences through bid. In another way, more complete public system has been established in recent years. Compared with 2003, the underground lines have been increased to 11 from 4 in 2010. And, the government plans to build 22 underground lines in 2020. Furthermore, for solving traffic jam, the government also bans some vehicles to drive in urban area. For example, some large trucks are not allowed to drive in the central of city. In peak time, any vehicles from other cities are also banned to drive in the central of city. Compared with Shanghai, Beijing implements another policy which is called “odd-even number restriction”. It means that the last number in the licence is used to decide if a car could be driven in a day.
Conclusion

In fact, urbanization is the inevitable development of cities. A real advanced urbanization could bring more positive impact. Compared with some European cities, the urbanization in developing countries is absolutely immature. In China, Urbanization development has just gone through about 30 years. The government put more emphasis on economic. As lots of problems appeared, government began to make some policies to control or improve them. For example, a benefit for exploring Pudong new area is to scatter urban population. However, the fact has proved that the population in Shanghai still keeps fast growth. Therefore, before exploring Pudong area, the government should prepare to deal with new urbanization problems in Pudong. In another way, the government has made some effective polices to improve environment, such as transferring industrial factories to suburbs. However, a question is how to solve new pollution in suburbs. In a long term view, what the government should do is to raise the standard or restriction with emission. Without doubt, government has spent lots of money to build more impeccable public transport system. In the future of 10 years, it is possible to solve traffic jam. However, compared with Beijing, the fees for using public transport should be decreased. Otherwise, people prefer to use individual cars. Therefore, government should insist on the sustainable development to face with these negative impacts of urbanization.

Reference

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