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In the next
30 years the world's population will grow by 2.2 billion people. Of these,
2.1 billion will be born in cities. 2.0 billion will be born in the world's
poorest cities. If developing nations are well-managed, they will be engines
for economic growth, national prosperity, civil harmony and global peace.
If not, rapid urbaization will poison the air we breather, create life
threatening water shortges, depleste valuable resouces, stangle ecomomic
growth, widen income disparities and increase the spread of disease...
USAID
Background reading: read on your own..
If we compare city growth in the following three countries, and compare
it with Europe, we realize many of the problems are common to all, but
the ability to deal with these problems differs..
Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos is the most populous city in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa.
The metropolitan area, an estimated 300 square kilometers, is a group
of islands endowed with creeks and a lagoon. Lagos is projected to be
one of the world's five largest cities by 2005.
In an effort to reduce massive urbanization in the metropolitan area,
the Federal Government is in the process of moving the capital to Abuja.
The original settlers of Lagos, or Eko as it is called by the indigenous
population, were of Benin and Awori Eko heritage. The city began in the
fifteenth century as a Portuguese trading post exporting ivory, peppers,
and slaves. It subsequently fell into the hands of the British, who began
exporting food crops after outlawing slavery in 1807. Although Nigeria
gained independence in 1960, a two-and-a-half year civil war broke out
in 1967.
After the war, migration to the city, coupled with huge waves of refugees
and migrants from other African countries, produced a population boom
that has continued to the present day.
Lagos is the commercial and industrial hub of Nigeria, with a GNP triple
that of any other West African country. Lagos has greatly benefited from
Nigeria's natural resources in oil, natural gas, coal, fuel wood and water.
Light industry was prevalent in post-independence Nigeria and petroleum-related
industry dominated in the 1970's, directly affecting the rapid growth
of Lagos.
Oil production, which began in the 1950's, increased seven-fold between
1965 and 1973, while world oil prices skyrocketed. By 1978, the metropolitan
area accounted for 40% of the external trade of Nigeria, containing 40%
of the national skilled population. The world recession in 1981, which
caused a sharp fall in oil prices, sent Lagos reeling into debt and runaway
inflation that persist at present. As a result, a massive programme of
infrastructure and social services expansion came to an abrupt halt.
Energy and water access, sewerage, transportation and housing have all
been adversely affected by haphazard development of a geographically disjointed
city. Unlike the rest of Nigeria, 90% of the population of Lagos have
access to electricity, with the city consuming 45% of the energy of the
country. Despite the region's endowment of water, the city suffers
from an acute and worsening water supply shortage. And due to inadequate
sewerage, much the city's human waste is disposed of by the drainage of
rainwater through open ditches that discharge onto the tidal flats. With
congested bridges, traffic congestion is a daily problem in Lagos: it
takes an average of two to three hours to travel 10-20 kilometres.
A high-speed, elevated metro-liner is in the planning stages.
Since 1985, state urban renewal plans have concentrated on upgrading the
environment of slum communities by building roads and drainage channels
and providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics. With
cooperation from the citizens, success has been recorded in a number of
pilot urban renewal schemes, which focus on building roads and drainage
channels and providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics.
Shanghai, China
Shanghai is the most populous city in China and one of the world's major
ports. It was established more than 700 years ago at the tip of the Changjiang
River Delta on the East China Sea. By 1816, more than half a million people
lived in Shanghai, and it became a thriving commercial centre.
The municipality of Shanghai is under the direct jurisdiction of the Central
Government of the People's Republic of China. Population density in the
central city is very high at 8,265 people per square kilometer.
The main causes of Shanghai's rapid population growth in the 1950's was
due to natural increase and unregulated in-migration from the outskirts
of the city. Factors responsible for the stabilization of population after
that period include the success of the Government family planning programme,
and a successful decentralization programme that developed satellite towns
which absorbed much of the growing urban population.
Shanghai has a significant heavy industry sector, primarily, machinery
manufacturing, textiles and steel. The city produces a large percentage
of the power generation equipment and ships in China. Proximity to the
cotton-growing regions of China and access to the coast for easy international
transportation have contributed to the strategic importance of the city.
After the 1949 revolution, city planning in China emphasized integrated
industrial centres consisting of complementary industries clustered together,
with workers' housing nearby, so that employees were within walking distance
of their workplace. The same design principles have been applied in Shanghai
to more than 150 integrated developments built since 1949.
Almost all households have access to piped water, electricity and garbage
collection. The solid waste in Shanghai, which has a high organic content,
is carried to the surrounding rural areas and provinces and used as fertilizer.
Non-organic waste is reused in pit filling or brick making, or it is sold
to the recycling stations.
Infrastructure and environmental problems of the city are in the form
of housing shortages and air and water pollution. Heavy dependence on
coal as a source of fuel for both industrial energy and residential heating
in Shanghai has resulted in significant air pollution. Shanghai has the
highest cancer mortality rate in China. Also, a daily flow of approximately
4 million cubic meters of untreated human waste enters the Huangpu River
creating a serious water pollution and supply problem.
Contrary to the master plan of 1953 which sought to increase the population
of Shanghai, current policy seeks the continued success of decentralization
from Shanghai to the seven satellite towns built around the city.
Tokyo, Japan
Known as Edo until 1868, Tokyo is a coastal city with
an intricate history. In 1457, Edo Castle was constructed and in 1603
it became the seat of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Under the Tokugawas, the
city was constructed in order to profit from the natural waterways that
serve as transportation canals. By the early 1700's, the population of
Tokyo was already estimated at 1.2 million, while the population of London
and Paris was 650,000 and 500,000 respectively. In 1868, with the overthrow
of the Tokugawas and the beginning of the Meiji era, Edo became capital
of Japan under a new name, Tokyo, which means "Capital of the East".
At the beginning of the Second World War, after intensive modernization,
Tokyo had a population of 7.4 million, despite the Great Earthquake of
1923. In 1950 the population was 6.9 million and doubled to 16.5 million
in 1970. In 1995, the estimated population of the urban agglomeration
was 26.8 million.
Tokyo has a concentration of light manufacturing but also produces goods
which require a sizable workforce, such as electrical products, cameras
and automobiles. Most establishments, however, are small shops with fewer
than 30 workers.
Tokyo serves as a wholesaling and distribution centre for surrounding
areas, and is also the chief financial centre of Japan. Tokyo houses many
domestic and international corporate headquarters.
After the Second World War, Tokyo experienced a large housing demand which
it could not satisfy. The 1970's and 1980's witnessed a surge in construction
of multistory condominiums intended for sale. However, the prices soared
making them inaccessible and unable to meet the needs of the city.
Though Tokyo, like other major cities, suffers from traffic congestion,
the main congestion is on the public system during peak hours. The major
method of transportation in Tokyo is the dense network of electric railways,
subways, and bus lines, which keeps pollution from cars relatively low.
Water is supplied by aqueduct systems to the metropolitan area. Local
waterworks and private industrial and residential systems supplement the
municipal water supply. The main sources of water are the Tama and Tone-Edo
rivers and three reservoirs. However, in order to meet increasing
demand, additional dams have been built on nearby rivers, which is causing
the eastern lowlands area to subside.
The rapid growth of the metropolitan area stressed the sewage system which
in turn resulted in the decrease of water quality. However, since
the 1960's, sewage systems have improved and refuse is now incinerated,
recycled or reused.
Periodically, there have been proposals to relocate the nation's capital
away from Tokyo in an effort to decentralize. However, to date none have
come close to implementation.
UNEP Global Environment Outlook 2000 United Nations Environment Programme
Next: References
The built-up areas in Europe and Central Asia have grown
dramatically over the past hundred years - currently almost three-quarters
of the population in the region live in cities. Rapid city growth has
had many ecological and environmental health consequences. For example,
major industrial areas, originally developed in open country on the outskirts
of cities, have been surrounded by residential areas, whose inhabitants
often suffer from health and pollution problems. Although the patterns
of city growth in Western Europe have differed from those in the East,
the general direction of development and the environmental consequences
have often been similar.
Some three-quarters of the region's population live in cities, and rates
of urban growth have now slowed to almost zero except in Central Asia;
in Eastern Europe, they are now negative
In Western Europe, the 1960s and 1970s were periods of rapid suburbanization
and decline of city centres, while in Central and Eastern Europe there
was massive urbanization. Suburban growth is now starting to gain momentum
in parts of Central and Eastern Europe where economic transformation is
enabling wealthy people and the growing middle classes to buy suburban
family houses and commute to work by car. An important recent development
in the eastern part of the region has been the large migration of Russian-speaking
people, mainly from Armenia, Georgia and Central Asia, to cities in European
Russia, which has caused additional pressure on already vulnerable social
systems from the point of view of new housing, job creation and medical
care (IOM 1998).
Overall, air quality in most cities has improved over the past
few decades. Ozone, however, remains a major problem in some Western European
cities. Transport has become the major contributor to several air pollution
problems in Western Europe. Despite rigorous and effective measures to
reduce car emissions, most air pollution in major cities still comes from
automotive sources, and the number of cars continues to increase. At
the same time, there have been some improvements in transport-related
air quality; for example, atmospheric concentrations of lead are falling
due to the reduction of the lead content in petrol (EEA 1997).
The sharp growth in the number of vehicles in the region is now
the major cause of urban air pollution
In Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia, the worst pollution in
cities occurred during the 1970s and 1980s, when industrial production
increased with little regard for environmental consequences. Although
there were fewer cars than in the West, they were mainly domestically-produced
models with high emission rates. Although emissions from stationary sources
have fallen considerably since 1990, there has been some growth in urban
mobility and car ownership; this is expected to accelerate in the coming
decade. Emissions are likely to grow as a result, despite the introduction
of cleaner cars (EEA 1998a).
In general, in practically all major cities, automotive sources are replacing
stationary sources as the dominant contributor to air pollution, resulting
in a reduction of winter smog but an increase of summer smog.
Problems with municipal waste have increased, with waste
quantities per capita in Western Europe rising by 35 per cent since 1980.
Most waste is dealt with by the cheapest available method: in OECD Europe
during 1991-95, 66 per cent of municipal waste went to landfills, 18 per
cent was incinerated, 9 per cent was recycled, 6 per cent was composted
and 1 per cent was treated in other ways (OECD 1997). Recycling of waste
in most Western European countries is increasing.
Urban wastewater treatment standards vary markedly across the region.
Most of the population in northern Europe now lives in houses or flats
connected to a sewer. In many cities in southern and eastern Europe, however,
water receives no or only limited treatment. In most Central and Eastern
European cities, wastewater is still collected together with rainwater
and discharged to water bodies without treatment, causing eutrophication,
especially in some urban estuaries (EEA 1998a).
About 60 per cent of large cities in Europe are overexploiting
their groundwater resources, and water availability may increasingly constrain
urban development in some areas. Leakages from water mains of
up to 50 per cent are common (EEA 1998a). Many cities in Eastern Europe
and Central Asia have for many decades suffered from poor quality drinking
water due to pollution of surface and groundwater sources, obsolete water
purification techniques and the poor state of water mains. These problems
were aggravated after the beginning of economic transition when many local
municipalities lacked funds to improve the drinking water supply. For
example, in the Russian Federation, in 1995, about 22 per cent of drinking
water samples did not meet chemical standards and almost 9 per cent exceeded
acceptable bacteriological levels (Ministry of Nature Protection of Russian
Federation 1996).
Urban noise is an important problem throughout the region. The maximum
acceptable noise level is regularly exceeded in most cities. In Europe
overall, about 10 million people are exposed to environmental noise levels
that may cause hearing loss (OECD/ ECMT 1995).
In spite of progress in some environmental areas, the large cities of
the region will continue to present major environmental challenges. Their
'ecological footprints', the ecological productive areas needed to support
their populations with renewable and non-renewable resources and to absorb
their emissions and wastes, are large and growing. Many city authorities
are exploring ways of achieving sustainable growth in the context of Local
Agenda 21 policies, which require the implementation of measures aimed
at reducing use of water, energy and materials, and better planning of
land use and transportation. As of 1 January 1999, 360 cities, some 334
of which are in Western Europe, have already joined the European Sustainable
Cities and Towns Campaign (ESCT 1998).
Sustainability was given significant impetus as a central objective of
international, regional and local policy by the Agenda 21 action plan
formulated at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
in Rio. Europe has been at the forefront in implementing the action plan
- notably, as a result of the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign.
But policy-makers soon came to appreciate the difficulty of implementing
sustainable strategies in practice - especially in cities, where they
were most needed. First, the economic, environmental, social and cultural
dimensions of sustainability are highly interdependent, making the impacts
of policy action hard to predict and measure. Action that appears successful
at the scale of the neighbourhood or district may lead to unforeseen negative
consequences at the level of the city or region. Similarly, initiatives
in single policy areas may produce negligible net gains unless linked
to complementary schemes in other areas. Urban highways designed to relieve
congestion may in the long term exacerbate it, for example, by increasing
dependence on private cars.
In short, what is required is an entirely new, holistic approach.
This necessitates the integration of technologies and tools which have
until now been the responsibility of separate disciplines and functions.
It also demands the co-ordination or amalgamation of budgets traditionally
controlled at different levels of government, and by different departments
within individual authorities.
Second, despite the Brundtland thesis that 'business as usual' is not
sustainable either environmentally, socially or economically, many cities
feared that vigorous action to protect the environment and improve quality
of life would make them less attractive to investors. As the end of the
20th century approached, capital and workers were more mobile than ever,
and few corporations felt strong allegiances to particular locations.
With no obvious means of enforcing civic responsibility, many cities and
regions simply sought competitive advantage by maintaining less rigorous
regimes than their neighbours.
Enacting sustainability requires entirely new forms of urban governance,
as a framework for reinvigorated stewardship of our cities. New participatory
procedures are needed, to break the deadlock which so often arises between
opposed interests. And to ensure that solutions truly meet the needs of
all those affected by them, all stakeholder groups - not just municipal
authorities, but businesses, communities and individual residents - must
be actively engaged at every stage, from planning to evaluation.
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