Urbanization

Environment and Biodiversity

• Pollution leads to harm of wildlife.
• Habitat loss results from pollution
• Biodiversity is decreased by pollution and habitat loss.

Understanding Impacts

• The "Uni" diagram can aid in explaining impacts:
  • Primary sector, secondary sector
• Impacts are explained from how they happened, to how they work, up to the final outcome.

Socio-Economic and Environmental Factors

• Benefits and challenges exist within the social, economic, and environmental realms.

Sustainable Cities

• Education and job opportunities contribute to sustainable city solutions.
• Solution management involves understanding the reasons, processes, and outcomes involved in sustainable cities.

Urbanization: Causes and Impacts

• Impacts from urbanization can be evaluated in regards to multiple criteria and characteristics.
• Urbanization (rural to city migrations) is motivated by push (negative local factors) and pull (attraction to cities) dynamics.
• Urbanization causes the expansion of populated areas.

Economic Factors

• High demand and low supply lead to increased prices.

Social Well-being

• Social factors related to citizens' well-being which encompasses quality of life and standards of living.
• Poor social factors can result in health, tension, and conflict increasing.

Building Design and Bio-Diversity

• Building design can include reducing heat absorption to lower electricity consumption and reduce the need for air conditioning, lowering fossil fuel consumption/air pollution.
• Encourage biodiversity to increase insect population, sustaining resources (food & water).

Biodiversity and Sustainability

• A rich biodiversity with green spaces protects biodiversity and well-being as a result, which helps to create habits for land and water resources.
• Sustainable biodiversity in cities, along with reliable public transport, are complex problems.
• Environmental sustainability allows cities to thrive, despite concerns of pollution.
• Sustainability will allow an area to endure for many generations, despite air pollution and its related health hazards.
• Sustainable areas have accessible resources such as water, land.
• Sustainable areas usually result in a greater comfort

Analyzing Figures and Outcomes

• Explain details from figures by adding details to your own observations
• The final step is to describe the eventual outcome or end goal

Describing Data Trends

• Identify the overall trend and note any significant deviations.
• Look out general or specific descriptions of trends.
• Data trends include increases, decreases or fluctuations

Characteristics of Cities

• Cities constitute urban areas within a country.
• Large populations, greater than other areas, are usually the main characteristic.
• Population increase due to rural-urban and rural-rural migration.
• Population density is measured by people per unit area of land using the equation: (number of people) / (land area).
• Built-up areas have land surfaces mostly covered by building infrastructure.
• Cities have a range of functions including administrative, commercial, educational, and industrial.

Rural vs. Urban Areas

• Rural areas versus urban areas:
  • Rural: smaller population sizes, primary sector economy (mining, farming), simple service provisions, natural environment with less pollution, & limited transport with basic water tanks.
  • Urban: larger population sizes, secondary economy sector (manufacturing), complex service provisions (hypermarkets, hospitals), more built-up environment with more pollution, plus comprehensive transport including sewage.

Rural-Urban Relationships

• Rural-urban migration occurs from rural villages to urban cities.
• Pull factors attract people to migrate while push factors cause people to leave original settlements.

Push and Pull Factors (Rural/Urban Context)

• Push factors (economic): low pay, few jobs, lack of services (poor education, opportunities, limited medical care).
• Pull factors (economic): better pay, better job opportunities, better amount of services (higher education, hospitals).
• Push factors (social-political): unstable government, religious persecution, poor quality of life, and social isolation.
• Pull factors (social-political): peace and stability, a tolerant society, higher quality of life, and proximity to family and friends.
• Push factors (environmental): dangerous and natural disasters.
• Pull factors (environmental): a safer environment.

Urban-to-Rural and Urban-to-Urban Migration

• Urban-to-rural migration involves moving from urban cities to rural villages, often seeking a slower pace of life and lower living costs.
• Urban-to-urban migration is moving from a city to another city.

Resources: Interdependence

• Cities rely on rural areas for food supply.
• Rural farmers raise crops and animals.
• Rural farmers, in turn, receive income and urban dwellers are able to obtain food.

City Impacts on People and Surroundings

Opportunities in Cities

• Education:
  • Many institutions of higher learning are often found in cities.
  • Growing a higher amount of educated, skilled employees results from cities.
• Employment:
  • Employees are paid a salary.
  • Salaries support an employee, and their families.
• Technological Innovation:
  • Businesses in cities are often responsible for the most relevant advances in technology.
  • Designers, entrepreneurs, and researchers bring new innovative ideas to the table
  • Investors and governments provide money to further develop new businesses/ideas.

Challenges in Cities

• Cities often face increased environmental pollution.
• Fossil fuels produce harmful substances like carbon dioxide.
• Water pollution can occur as a result of improper waste disposal and broken/leaking sewage pipes, threatening aquatic life.
• Air pollution results from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, creating carbon emissions from vehicles.
• Long-term exposure to pollution causes respiratory illnesses.

Resource Competition and Management

• Competition for natural resources arises from needing to meet the needs of a very dense population.
• Land resources involve the growth of population, expansion into surrounding areas, and increased building density, where not all communities are equally happy or benefit from expanding cities.
• Water resources involve decreasing water levels in lakes and rivers, impacted by climate change increasing the rate of evaporation.
• Building and managing cities sustainably through environmental management is required to face these challenges.
• Environmental footprint is the result of activity on the environment.
• Cities have very large environmental footprints.
• Reducing human impact on the environment is crucial for regulating natural resource use.

Hazard Management

• Managing hazards, whether human-induced or natural, is crucial for cities.
• Hazards are events that negatively impact the environment.
• Natural hazards can become disasters concentrated in cities.
• Disasters can cause loss of life, injuries, mental health issues, destruction, homelessness, spread of disease, economic losses, and high rebuilding costs.
• Better materials and infrastructure are necessary to better resist potent hazards.
• Land use planning is essential for how land resources are used.

Improving Quality of Life

Factors

• Better quality of life involves physical and mental health, levels of independence, and relationships with other people.

Housing

• Housing quality and availability needs to be addressed.
• There must be safe housing for all involved.
• Places developed need to encourage interaction.
• People sometimes construct homes without government permission, can result in squatter settlements.
• Squatter settlements near train tracks, roads, steep slopes, and under bridges can be dangerous/inconvenient.

Transportation

• Transportation is essential for supplying a variety of transportation modes to all involved people.
• People and goods move from one place to another by land, air, and water.
• Faster modes of transportation are preferable.
• Increased speed in transportation can help to reduce traffic congestion.

Catering to Diverse Needs

• Addressing the needs of different groups, including the elderly/aging population and physically disabled, is essential to transportation and development.

Explore urbanization: its factors, population density, unique characteristics, and economic and environmental challenges. Learn how buildings can reduce heat absorption and the driving forces behind the rural-to-urban shift.