Do You Know ?
The world's urban population will double every 38 years.
The UN forecasts that today's urban population of 3.2 billion will
rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will
live in cities.
Year 2000 : 18 megacities; conurbations
like Tokyo, NY City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Buenos
Aires, Mumbai, Sao Paulo and Karachi.
Year 2007 : 23 megacities with 9 in
Asia. China’s urban
population was 45%
Year 2015 : 36 megacities
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/environment/assets/cities_2015.jpg
Year 2025 (Far Eastern Economic Review)
Asia will have at least 10 megacities
including Jakarta (24.9 m), Dhaka (26 m), Karachi (26.5
m), Shanghai (27 m), Mumbai (33 m), and Lagos (15m).
Chinese experts forecast that about 1
billion people or 70% of the population
will live in the cities by 2035.
World Urbanisation
(UN Habitat, 1996)
• 1950: 10% of urban population (BR=38%)
• 2000: 60% of urban population (BR=82%)
• Urban population rate: 60 million / year
• 2015: 10% in 26 mega-cities (18 in Asia)
• Stabilization around 85%
Investments in infrastructure of cities
Cities seem destined to just go on
growing and growing!
Mexico City has grown from 12 to 18 million in 30 years.
Jakarta grew 8 million in just 15 years. China’s urban population
grew from 192 million to 375 million in 16 years.
World Megacities - Population in Millions
1975
Tokyo
New York
Shanghai
Mexico City
São Paolo
2000
19.8
15.9
11.4
11.2
10
Tokyo
Mexico City
Mumbai
São Paolo
Shanghai
New York
Lagos
Los Angeles
Kolkuta
Buenos Aires
Dhaka
Karachi
Delhi
Jakarta
Osaka
Metro Manila
Beijing
Rio de Janeiro
Cairo
2015 Projected
26.4
18.1
18.1
17.8
17
16.6
13.4
13.1
12.9
12.6
12.3
11.8
11.7
11
11
10.9
10.8
10.6
10.6
Source: State of the World Population 200,1 Chapter 3, UNFPA
Tokyo
Mumbai
Lagos
Dhaka
São Paolo
Karachi
Mexico City
New York
Jakarta
Kolkuta
Delhi
Metro Manila
Shanghai
Los Angeles
Buenos Aires
Cairo
Istanbul
Beijing
Rio de Janeiro
Osaka
Tianjin
Hyderabad
Bangkok
26.4
26.1
23.2
21.1
20.4
19.2
19.2
17.4
17.3
17.3
16.8
14.8
14.6
14.1
14.1
13.8
12.5
12.3
11.9
11
10.7
10.5
10.1
The world's megacities account for
- 2 % of the Earth's land surface,
-
75 % of industrial wood,
60 % of human water use, and
80 % of all human produced carbon emissions and these figures
suggest that the struggle to achieve an environmentally
sustainable economy for the 21st century will be won or lost in
the world's urban areas.
Mega-cities have extreme cases of poverty; people deprived of basic
amenities are trying to survive in slums and squatter settlements.
According to a UN report, by 2050, it is estimated that that the
world's population will be nine billion people, and of those 3.5 billion
will be living in slums and squatter settlements.
Tokyo
Beijing
Imbalance
Urban problems
demands and supply of resources
transport
housing
Strain
on resources
Rapid urbanisation
Using these labels
Show
Cause-effect relationship
Rapid urban growth
water supply
Pollution/
Environmental degradation
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•
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1. Rapid urbanisation and rapid urban growth
have resulted in major problems because
with rapid increase in urban population, there
is imbalance between the demand and supply
of resources in the cities.
2. Rapid urban growth puts strain on
resources such as
Housing (socio-economic and envt problem)
Transport (envt physical)
Water supply (envt problem)
Pollution (environmental degradation)
Quality of life affected
for all living in the city
•Rural-urban migrants
•Local Resident population
•Government
Govt have to tackle the problems
Financial resources
Strategies in place
Decision-making
Policies and implementation
Inadequate Housing
• authorities are unable to provide housing
for the rapidly growing urban population
• houses are expensive and small due to high demand
• poor urban dwellers cannot afford and end up living in squatters
Squatter settlements are settlements built without official
permission. These dwellings are constructed by any available
material such as cardboards, tin, straw, mats, or sacks. They have
no sanitation, water, or electricity (Brunn and Williams 1993, 34).
• substandard living conditions – overcrowding and health problems
• poor structural quality of housing
• lack of proper sanitation
• inadequate access to safe water
• no legal residential status
• for example Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro
housed between 60,000-150,000 people
849 000 squatters in Tondo, Philippines

4. Slums
•
•
•
•
•
•
Legal tenancy/ legal ownership status
But dilapidated, thus substandard housing
Near city centres
Facilities in a state of disrepair or need
maintenance
Often overcrowded likelihood of health
problems is high e.g. diseases such as
tuberculosis spread quickly
E.g. Chinatown in S’pore in the 60s
5. Homelessness
The people in the slums and
squatter settlements live in
squalid living conditions; they
are exposed to risks to life and
health from poor sanitation, air
pollution, crime and violence,
traffic accidents, and natural
disasters
(Cities in Transition 2000).
Percentage of
Population Living In
Slum and Squatter
settlements
Developed Countries
6
Developing Countries
43
North Africa
28.2
Sub-Saharan Africa
71.9
South-central Asia
58
Southeast Asia
28
East Asia
36.4
Western Asia
33.1
Latin American and Caribbean
31.9
Oceania
24.1
Shortage of water supply
• low, variable rainfall, leading to
groundwater depletion
• increasing affluence and wastage of water in developed countries
• growing urban population in the developing countries
eg Mumbai city needs 4 billion litres of drinking water daily but
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)can only supply 3.3 billion
litres a day.
No access to piped water
• use of common standpipe by a community
Poor quality of water due to:
• inadequate treatment plants
• pollution
• pipes are old and rusty and not maintained - also leading to leakages
Increase in traffic volume
• greater affluence and increased car
ownership, including more two-car
families
• increase in volume of goods being
delivered
• more people commuting to work
A traffic jam in Bangkok
A traffic jam in Beijing
Inadequate transport system
• insufficient public transport services
• leading to overcrowding and longer
waiting time
• leading to lower labour productivity
Poor conditions of existing transport
facilities
• old vehicles prone to breakdowns
• pothole on roads, poor tarred roads
1.
2.
Inadequacy of water supply in urban settlements
• Where rainfall is low
• Where the groundwater table is depleting
• In developing c’tries – many urban dwellers have no
direct access to piped water; use outflow pipes or if
there is piped water, it is a communal standpipe
Poor quality of water
• Not enough treatment plants - water not safe for
drinking
• Old rusty pipes used – contaminate the piped water
• Brings health threats
• E.g. 1995 – at least 220 million urban dwellers in
developing c’tries did not have a ready source of clean
drinking water
Air Pollution
• increased vehicles on roads - emission of carbon monoxide, sulphur
dioxide and dust particles to air
• lead to respiratory problems for elderly and people with asthma
Land Pollution
• increase in domestic and industrial waste eg
in Guaiba, Brazil, 40 000 kg of waste is
generated and 70% can be recycled.
• inefficient refuse collection
Water Pollution
• dumping of sewage and garbage into
canals and rivers
Noise Pollution
• from traffic, construction and industries
leading to stress and hearing problems
Indiscriminate dumping of rubbish into
nearby rivers
Urban Unemployment
• mismatch of skills; the rural migrants do have appropriate skills
to be gainfully employed.
• urban poverty; they subsist on $2 a day
• employed in the informal sector which supplies up to 60 % of
employment and 30 % of economic output.
• involved in vices eg drugs peddling and/or prostitution
Urban Problems :
Allocation of Urban Space To Various Urban Functions
Surbana International Consultants, an offshoot of the Housing and
Development Board strongly believe that Singapore is capable of
transforming all urban challenges into a liveable future :
- urban solutions to reduce and manage greenhouse gas emissions,
promote greater accessibility, develop a wider range of transport
options, conserve natural resources by using land more wisely and
manage water resources,
- master-planning to guide growth. The challenge is not to sprawl, but
to continue to grow and create better suburbs and stronger cities –
to focus on rebuilding the old before building new.
The trend is towards more compact development that relies on existing
infrastructure.
“Reconstruction, redevelopment, reinvestment and re-invention.”
Solutions To Urban Problems
Master
Plan
2008
(Draft)
A statutory land use plan that URA develops to guide Singapore's
development over the next 10 to 15 years. It is reviewed every five years,
and details the land uses and development intensities for land parcels in
Singapore. It translates broader, longer-term development strategies
formulated as part of the Concept Plan, a plan that sets the direction for
Singapore some 40 to 50 years ahead.
Water Supply
Severe water shortages in India and China can cause an epidemic
and 40% of the population can be wiped out. Water shortages may
lead to conflicts and adversely affect agricultural and industrial
production.
Water restrictions eg Mumbai cuts 30% of its water supplies
Building more new reservoirs
Buying water from other sources
Construction of desalination plants to convert seawater to
drinking water
More water treatment plants be built and old rusty pipes
replaced
Installation of water purification system at home to improve
quality of water
Education on water conservation eg rain water harvesting
Housing
Granting housing subsidies to
meet housing shortage
Construction of low-cost and lowrise housing eg the Cingapura
Project, Sau Paulo (Brazil)
Improve living conditions of
squatters through upgrading
projects eg the Bustee
Improvement Scheme (Calcutta),
and sites and services schemes eg
Bairro Project, Rocinha (Rio de
Janeiro)
Control rural-urban migration to
reduce overcrowding in the city
Transport
To ease congestion in cities of developed countries, road and rail
networks have extended underground to transport masses of
commuters to and from work.
Measures to ease congestion:
• Construction of transport
infrastructure – highways,
expressways, urban motorways
(city rings) and railway links
• Construction of underground
transport system eg. Mass
Rapid Transit in Singapore
• Urban dwellers encouraged to
use public transport to reduce
traffic congestion
The MRT is a preferred choice of transport for many.
Pollution
Ways to curb pollution:
• Impose fines
• Improve waste disposal system by
•regular collection of refuse
•increase number of sewerage pipes
• Construction of light rail transit or trams that run on electricity
to reduce air pollution
• Control of expansion of car population eg Certificate of Entitlement
• Certificate of entitlement as practised in Singapore
• Reduce noise pollution by
•piling work limited to certain daylight hours
•growing of trees as noise buffers along expressways
•construction of more underground transport
• Increase public awareness of health, hygiene and ills of pollution
Support Micro-enterprises
Micro-enterprise development and the linkage of such
enterprises to the formal sector which constitutes a market
for higher margin goods and provides finance. Best practice
in micro-enterprise development fosters sustained growth of
such enterprises by channelling support, often through apex
NGOs, to skills development, technology acquisition and
access to credit at market rates.