Urban Industry & Environmental Impact

Urban Industry

• Lesson 3 of Module 1 explores urban industry and its environmental impacts, including the utilization of limited resources.
• Aims to identify means to mitigate adverse effects.

Objectives

• Describes urbanization and industrialization and their connection.
• Determines the positive and negative impacts of urbanization on the environment.
• Explores possible means to mitigate negative effects.

Urbanization and Industrialization

• Urbanization: Process where populations move from rural to urban areas, enabling cities and towns to grow.
• Industrialization: Process of applying mechanical, chemical, and electrical sciences to recognize production with an inanimate source of technology
• Both follow a process of transition and carry both beneficial and adverse effects to the environment
• Both aim for the betterment of human life
• Urban industry: Economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacturing of goods in factories within towns or cities.

Causes of Urbanization

• Rural-urban transformations: Rural communities adopt urban culture and become urban centers.
• Modernization: Includes more technology, sophisticated communication, infrastructure, and changes in living habits, attitudes, food, and beliefs.
• Industrialization: Shift from old agricultural economics to a new non-agricultural one.
• Employment opportunities: Access to well-paying jobs in public health, education, transport, sports, recreation, industries, and business enterprises.
• Commercialization: Distribution of goods and services and commercial transactions.
• Social benefits and Services: Provides better educational facilities, living standards, sanitation, housing, healthcare, recreation, and social life.

Effects of Urbanization on Humans

• Advantages: Greater market potential, variety of shopping opportunities (lower prices, longer hours), variety of services (public transportation, water and sewage, education, healthcare), variety of accommodation (houses, apartments, condominiums), and new developments (playgrounds, schools, community areas).
• Disadvantages: Domination by national and international chains (difficult for small businesses to succeed), traffic jams, infrastructure breakdowns, lack of appropriate housing and jobs, impersonal institutions, poor housing, and homelessness.

Effects of Urbanization on the Environment

• Urban populations change their environment through consumption of food, energy, water, and land, which in turn affects health and quality of life.
• Urban populations consume more food, energy, and durable goods than rural populations.
• Energy consumption for electricity, transportation, cooking, and heating is higher in urban areas.
• Increased urbanization will increase aggregate energy use, which is likely to have deleterious environmental effects.
• Regions downwind from industrial complexes see increases in precipitation, air pollution, and thunderstorms.
• Urban areas affect weather patterns and runoff patterns for water.
• Urban areas generate more rain but reduce water infiltration, lower water tables, and increase runoff.
• Flood volumes, floods, and water pollution downstream increase.

Environmental Effects of Urbanization

• Habitat clearing, degradation, and fragmentation endangering species.
• Development of Slums: Spread of unlawful resident settlements,
• Reduced infiltration and decreased quality of surface water.
• Air Pollution: High emissions of sulfur dioxide, smoke, and other particles during stagnant weather.
• Elevated emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
• Diseases: Reduced physical activity, unhealthy nutrition, and air travel carrying bacteria and viruses.

Threats of Urbanization

• Animal populations inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and loss of habitat and food.
• Intensive urban growth can lead to greater poverty and local governments unable to provide services.
• Pollution and physical barriers promote loss of urban tree cover.
• Concentrated energy use leads to air pollution.
• Development can magnify environmental risks such as flash flooding.
• Large volumes of uncollected waste create health hazards.
• Automobile exhaust elevates lead levels in urban air.

Mitigating the Negative Effects of Urbanization

• Combat poverty by promoting economic development and job creation.
• Plant trees and incorporate the care of city green spaces as a key element.
• Involve the local community in local government.
• Create private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal and housing.
• Reduce air pollution by upgrading energy use and alternative transport systems.
• To mitigate the effect of urbanization, save the planet and conserve natural resources through recycling water and the use of renewable energy.