Problems Associated with Rapid Urbanisation

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GP

por Michelle Josephine

GP

por Michelle Josephine

Project Cargo

por anders roest-hansen

Johannesburg, South Africa

por Joshua Hart

Problems Associated with Rapid Urbanisation

Employment

The main attraction of moving to a megacity is to get a better way of life and get more money because the jobs are better paid. however most of the people who come to the cities in search of jobs dont find them and in an atempt to earn a living they join the informal sector. this is very unrelaible and means working long hours with no ecure pay and no rest time. Jobs like shoeshinning, selling food or cleaning are common. Paid jobs in factories and the like are usually far away from shanty towns where the newcomers live and along with the dismal public transport make life very hard.

Transport

The provision of proper roads, they are mainly dirt tracks, and public transport also lacks behind the growth of cities. not many people who live in the shanty towns own cars and few own bicycles. those who have to trave, long distances to work use public transport which is expensive and overcrowded.

Congestion

Roads are overcrowded and congested becomes a massive problem for everyone in the city, rich or poor. There is less room in the city for houses and so there is even less room for roads and the increased population means there are more vehicles on the road

Housing

Problems occur when people mainly in LICs move from rural areas to cities and have nowhere to live. They also want to find cheap housing. This causes many to live in shanty towns or squatter settlements because there is such a demand for housing and even if they have money. Shanty towns are loated anywhere where there is room on slopes, swamps or rubbish tips. The residents of shanty towns are living there illegally and are technically squatters. the shacks are home made using anything they could find including coragated iron, cardboard or wood. There is no elctricity, gas or running water in the shanty towns and sewage runs down the streets, which can spread diseases.

Health

In cities experiencing rapid urbanistation, the number of doctors and hospitals isnt enough and the rate at which the city is expanding is hgiher than the rate at which hospitals are being built and doctors are graduating. The lack of fresh, clean water can cause diseases like typhoid and cholera to spread rapidly. the addition of air pollution caused by congestion also leads to infection especially among the young. Many families have the money neccesary for medecine or food, so the children suffer from curable diseases and malnutrition. Their diets are low in protein and vitamins and they dont get enough calories to grow properly. Infant mortality rates are high due to the exposure to diseases. The lack of clean water spreads diseases and treatment is usually far away. life expectancy is low.

Sanitation

Basic services tend to not keep up with the rate of urbanisation< therefore not all the built up areas in cities have clean running water all the time and electricity. Many people, who live mainly in shanty towns, have to light fires for cooking and polluted streams for drinking water and waste disposal at the same time.

Education

The lack of schools is another problem associated witht he rapid urbanistation of cities, there is a greater population and there are the same number of schools and less room to build neew ones. many children get primary educatio provided by the state but less get secondary education beacuase you have to pay and the children are needed to help get money for the family. In Manila, there are so many people trying to attend school that they have shifts from before dawn, till after sunset when each pupil attends school. this means the pupils get less lesson time and the teachers are stretched becasue they have to teach all the hours of the day.

Crime

The proximity to others and the poor conditions cause some people to turn to violence and crime to make a living. The poorest areas are often controlled by gangs who sepcialise in drug trafficking or theft, this leads to the high crime rates.