The Adverse Effects of Rapid Urbanization In Asia

In the past few decades Asia has been experiencing rapid urbanization. Rapid urbanization can be defined as the rapid and massive growth of, and migration to large cities. The growth of the existing cities and formation of new ones in Asia can be directly accredited to the high rate of economic growth and industrialization. The increases in foreign direct investment in Asia are mainly responsible for the rapid industrialization of the area. FDI creates jobs and jobs attract people. Although economic growth is always a positive for any country, it can have some very adverse effects. Rapid urbanization creates many problems for the population of the developing nations in the area. The high rate of population growth in these cities limits the time for proper planning. This causes many adverse effects on their populations and various environmental issues.

The cities in East and Southeast Asia are growing such fast paces that they can not sustain a supply of affordable housing for their faster growing population. The lack of affordable housing forces people to settle for illegal housing as shelter. The slum population in many of these cities is above 15%. The most extreme example of this is Mumbai (Formerly known as Bombay). It is the most heavily populated in India. 50% of the population of Mumbai is living in slums. Bangkok has a 22% concentration of it population in slums. Singapore is one of cities in Asia with the lowest concentration of slum population, only 14% of its population live in illegal housing. (1)

An increase in population goes hand in hand with increased traffic. With traffic comes air pollution. In order to cut back on emissions, cities would install mass transit systems. Normally a city would plan the construction of it streets and buildings and mass transit systems in order to accommodate the growth of its population. Rapid urbanization limits efficient city and transportation planning. The urban areas of asia are growing at such a high rate that the cities can not keep up with pace. As a city’s population increases, so does the demand for mass transit. A sufficient subway system takes a great deal of time to plan and build.

Another issue that comes with rapid urbanization is increased consumption. Higher consumption means more solid waste. In rapidly developing cities, people produce anywhere between one to one and a half kilograms of waste each day. Cities in developing nations tend to have inefficient waste management systems. These cities have disorganized waste collections which lead to unsanitary condition. Many of these cities don’t even have regulations pertaining to waste management. They usually have what are called open dumps. These dumps are unregulated and people can dispose of whatever they want. Garbage disposal plants, like incinerators, are very expensive and the cities in these developing nations lack the funding to provide a proper waste disposal service. According to the Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment Report 2000 (World HealthOrganisation and UNiCEF 2000), one billion U.S. dollars is invested in sanitation total in asia per year. $900,000 of that is invested domesticly and the other $999.1 million comes from external support. (2.3A)

Clean water is one probably the most important factor to maintaining a healthy population. Rapidly developing cities in poor countries lack the infrastructure to supply clean water. One extreme example is Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. It could only supply water to 27% of the city in 1997. That 27% only got clean water 18 hours of the day. The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment Report 2000 states that $3 billion is invested in asia’s water supply system annually, $1 billion supplied by external support. (2.3A) Another reason for the low water supply in Rapidly Urbanizing areas of Asia is inefficient wastewater treatment. “Bandung in Indonesia has only 23 percent of its wastewater treated, Penang in Malaysia has only 20 percent treated, only 10 percent is treated in Karachi, Pakistan.” (2.3A) When wastewater goes untreated and enters the local rivers, it makes water purification extremely expensive. The rapid urbanization of the cities in Asia does mean the economy is heading for a positive change, but it needs to be controlled as much as possible. Funding is the hardest thing for a developing nation to budget efficiently. Capital is a new thing for these nations, they need to develop strategic spending plans in order to increase the quality of life of its population. Insufficient funding could be counteracted by strategy. The implementation of long term plans would be the best way to fix these problems. These nations should start off slowly, gradually introducing new rules and regulations pertaining to water conservation and waste management. The next step would be investing in infrastructure like sewers, highways and water supply systems. It may take time but these issues must be faced with efficiency being the highest priority.

WORKS CITED

Imura, Hidefumi, et al. "Urban Environmental Issues and Trends in Asia--An Overview." International Review for Environmental Strategies 5.2 (2005): 357-381. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 Nov. 2010.