Implications Of Urbanization And Urbanization

1. Introduction

1.1. Background to the Problem

One of the most salient features that characterize human civilization during the past millennium is accelerating urbanization. According to the United Nations (http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/), more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and almost all-future global population growth will take place in urban areas. The world’s population will continue to urbanize even after it stops growing around 2050, and we have entered “the century of the city” (Anonymous, 2010). Higher levels of urbanization often correspond to higher levels of economic and social development at the national and regional scales, but urbanites usually have substantially greater and more diverse demands for

It is known that urbanization is dependent on a steady supply of natural resources including fresh water, fuel, land, food and all the raw materials (WRI, 1998; UNFPA, 1999; Hardoy et al., 2001; Hinrichsen et al., 2001). Along with rapid urbanization and city sprawl, there definitely are drastic increases both in natural resource demands and in the area from which these resources are drawn (O'Meara, 1999). Urbanization also leads to significant alterations of physical environment far beyond city limits, resulting in habitat loss, climatic changes, and accumulation and spread of wastes in the Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere and pedosphere. China's environmental protection ministry published a report in November 2010 which showed that about a third of 113 cities surveyed failed to meet national air standards last year. According to the World Bank 16 of the world's 20 cities with the worst air are in China. According to Chinese government sources, about a fifth of urban Chinese breathe heavily polluted air. Only a third of the 340 Chinese cities that are monitored meet China's own pollution standards. China's smog-filled cities are ringed with heavy industry, metal smelters, and coal-fired power plants, all critical to keeping the fast-growing economy going even as they spew tons of carbon, metals, gases, and soot into the air. The air pollution and smog in Beijing and Shanghai are sometimes so bad that the airports are shut down because of poor visibility. The air quality of Beijing is 16 times worse than New York City. Sometimes you can't even see building a few blocks away and blue sky is a rare sight. In Shanghai sometimes you can't see the street from the 5th floor window. Fresh air tours to the countryside are very popular. Coal is the number once source of air pollution in China. China gets 80