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Is urbanization becoming a menace? What should be done?

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I honestly think that you cannot go ahead with any urbanization project until the society is fair to those who are not favored economically. For instead in most of the world biggest cities you often see rich and luxurious neighborhoods surrounded by families that are living in the streets. It is only after giving access to education resources, paying people a fair salary and all that social security involves you can really start talking about urbanization projects. Otherwise you will have urbanized cities where nobody will live.

Having now lived 15 years in one of the world's greatest metropolis, I can honestly say that it is the responsibility of the local government to adequately plan for this growth. Failure to do so will demonstrate not only incompetence but also political apathy by the governing party of that country. Ongoing feasibility studies, open to the global public, are an obligation rather then a mere exercise!

Urbanization is not a menace but a form of organizing a territory. Well planed it can give quality of life to a population, not like what's happening in Bulgaria or in Portugal's Algarve where the old was destroyed. It's important that we preserve the ancient and build good public services like public transport (which is lacking in Portugal), schools and hospitals.

Where is the US in this trend for comprehensive learning strategies for economic, community and individual development? Older urban growth models from the industrial age will not translate very well into the present information age. Those cities and regions that can develop learning as a strategy for the future will have the capacity and the agility to move at the speed of change.

The rate at which unemployment is growing is so fast and the number of people now living on the streets has become alarming. Meager jobs can be created, such as road sweeping, drainage cleaning that would keep street dwellers busy and get a pay at the end of the week or month.

Isn't it a fact that socialist leaders never venture out of state capitals and these cities develop slums? The Soviet Union collapsed because these leaders never moved out of Kremlin or saw what was really going on in their country. Watch out for Mexico City and Buenos Aires. Improve the quality of enforcement and decentralize development efforts.

I think a lack of initiative on the part of government to provide basic facilities like health and education in rural areas is one of the driving forces for urbanization and its associated evils.

Even big multinationals want to build skyscrapers in the congested city centers. One example is where the government of Andhra Pradesh state sold out hospitals in the heart of Visakhapatnam to multinational corporations.

Big industries should try and invest in rural economies. For example, somebody could start a chain of private health centers in rural and semi urban areas, not necessarily big hospitals like Apollo Indraprastha.

I think more people suffer from malaria, TB and gastroenteritis than heart attacks and strokes. And I tell you, these investors need not do this as charity, as most of the private hospitals in cities survive on rural patients.

In short, if we try to modernize our villages with better transport, communication , health and education it would restore the balance.

We have good thinkers, good planners, but poor executors to solve the day to day problems of the common man. Sill, countries like India have no checks or controls on the population explosion.

In any developing country we can see that the public transportation is always overflowing. Control the population, educate the masses, and make sure the necessary amenities are introduced.

My city is a growing mega one as well. It is really difficult at this stage to stop its growing, for throughout the whole city, construction work can be seen everywhere -- it looks like the golden age of the city has not arrived yet.

This really is terrifying when one comes to think about all the problems that will and have already accompanied this prosperity. Guess only when we suffer severely from this growing tumor one day , will we begin to do something serious... will that be too late???

Adequate provision should be made for more infrastructure to accommodate the teeming populaces.

Urbanization is not a problem, but a part of modernization challenging societies and world society as a whole. But today, we have a wide range of infrastructure, techniques, knowledge and institutions that help us meet the challenges that come as a result of urbanization. We might need to use them more systematically and effectively.

Urbanization is not a problem if we can save more money to make our world peaceful and comfortable instead of making bombs.

What are people in Lagos, Nigeria doing to prevent problems due to rapid population growth?

Somehow I'm amused by all the utopian schemes and apocalyptic hand-wringing alike. My solution is simply to live a quiet life in the midst of the urban chaos. I don't use a car as I telecommute. My tendency is just say "no" to a lot of aimless activity and to sit and meditate or take a walk instead... to be friendly with my neighbors and the people I encounter, to live simply and to simply breathe.

I am not so familiar with urbanization topics in detail but reading this article, I had some ideas which i would like to put here. In my opinion, urbanization is necessary. But in different urbanized cities there are many problems such as over-population, transportation problems, land problems, etc.

I think one way to solve these problems will be attracting people to live outside the city .In other words, "city for business and social activities; non- city for home." We can do this by constructing infrastructures such as city halls, public parks, sports centers, shopping malls in the city and good residential areas at cheaper prices in the areas outside a city. To succeed this idea, transportation plays a vital role. Of course there should be a very good transportation services linking the city and the outer parts but along with the transportation, fares should also be very much cheaper than the current rates -- for instance 10 times lower.

Building loving communities within our urban centers is possible, with a handful of ordinary people, prepared to lead. Almighty Administration Building offers training and development to people who want to create circumstances for a positive future. Everyone is welcome to participate. Let's get started! United we stand, divided we fall.

Urbanization is in itself a good solution to housing people in a smaller area and avoiding destroying larger areas. Unfortunately, such areas require huge resources to maintain them,and tend to suck the lifeblood out of the surrounding areas to sustain themselves.

Our state government is determined to build the shallowest and most inefficient dam in the world, to supply Brisbane with water, so they will not have to curb their profligate use (average usage 300 liters or 66 gallons per person per day).

It will destroy 900 properties, displace 2,500 men, women and children and cover 20,000 acres of prime agricultural land to an average depth of six meters.

Government will never solve our problems, only the dead hand of the state could enforce this.

Right now, too much of our land is being used for houses, lawns, and agriculture as it is. If everyone moved out of cities and lived "in the country", the ecological impact would be damaging in the extreme.

We need cities, and we need them to be transformed to consume less energy. People should grow more vegetables and fruits in their back yards, reducing the need for food transportation and mega-farms. Cities are good, as long as they are properly planned.

We have a lot of problems with the urbanization in the world. One percent of Chinese people have a car, but the traffic and climate change are bad for the globe. I think, that we must lead another life.

It's a real menace. People are treated like animals.There is no individual approach, it can be understood, but the situation has gone too far, mortality is growing fast, heavy traffic, dangerous subways.

The day before yesterday I saw a man lying on the ground with people around. He had a heart attack. He needed immediate help, but because of heavy traffic and big distance the ambulance couldn't go as fast as was needed.

The urbanization of Dubai, U.A.E. is amazing but they are denying the telecommunications from their citizens and expats. This alone will take away from their progress.

The only way to attract people to non-urban areas is to make the big corporations to open new branches in the less populated areas. And to do that, we have to improve infrastructure and other basic utility services in those areas. This is the only way we can save ourselves from the urban onslaught.

Urbanization is an important aspect of development. However, if it is not utilized properly, there will be costs to society.

The challenge for us is to maximize its benefits while at the same time reduce its externalities. Urbanization can increase opportunities for many citizens. It can provide jobs, increase productivity, strengthen the human and knowledge base of a country. But these and many other benefits can only be realized if there is co-operation among social actors.

It requires responsibility on the part of the government. It requires participation from the people. It requires genuine care and concern for societal development.

Within the USA we certainly need to begin to get people moving to the interior of the country. Piling them up on the coasts at this point makes absolutely no sense.

It is supremely evident that telecommuting would cut back the number of personal vehicles in use everyday.

What is upsetting is that no one has thought how many jobs can be done from the house, nor how to get the telecommunications facilities in the state to do just that.

Fiber optics backbones with Wimax wireless could get that underway quickly. Companies should be forced to encourage telecommuting where possible. When they figure out what they save, it would be a landslide.

The more the big nations misuse the cheap labor of poorer nations, the more people move into urban areas.

The unfair practice of lowering the price of agricultural produce in order to increase profits gives more reasons for farmers in poorer nations to move into cities looking for better lives. Fair trade is the answer!

Urbanization is becoming a menace -- with all the people moving into the cites every day they grow faster and faster.

I lived in Japan and when I was there I was impressed at how the Japanese deal with their urbanization.

They always seem to be building a new 30-storey apartment building or a new store with apartments on top of it. Old houses are torn down for bigger and taller apartment buildings so the usage of the ground space is increased exponentially.

Tthe size of Japan is about the same as California, but it is also four times the size in population, and not all of Japan is easily inhabitable.

Urbanization is a process that cannot be stopped without major political, social and economic repercussions.

It should not be a problem if managed effectively. The major problem of urbanization is the refusal of planners and local authorities to work from first principles.

Evidence of this is cities that largely cater for the well-heeled minority of their residents and leave the rest to wallow in the ensuing spatial quagmire.

Pedestrians existed long before the horse, the train and the car. As such they should have priority over other forms of transport. Cities should also be planned carefully to maintain the delicate balance between built and natural environments in order to be sustainable in the long run.

Unfortunately some Latin American cities, including Chihuahua, copy the way the USA plans their own cities.

But the problem is that countries like Mexico don't have the resources and urban infrastructure that first world countries have developed. This issue creates unsustainability and in a certain way provokes the migration of people seeking a better way of life.

Urbanization requires prompt and thoughtful solutions, which should be quick and effective. Political processes in India are corrupt and negative. Solutions are at hand but politicians are not willing to take decisions unless they get a cut. This habit of politicians has made bureaucracies corrupt and inefficient in executing correct and proper solutions.

In Mumbai, transport can be streamlined by having standard traffic signals at a proper height and not obscured by trees and hoardings. Signals should be maintained, and checks should be made on work done. At present, police constables sign the correction record -- 90% of the work is not done and the contractors share money with the police.

Police should direct traffic and not find fault the with public and collect money. They should be there to regulate the parking of cars and other vehicles on the roads, not to take bribes. But also, cyclists and motorbike riders should observe traffic regulations.

Urbanization also poses a threat to energy conservation. The need of the hour is to design energy-efficient buildings, especially in India.

Urbanization is here to stay! It is how we address the problem that counts.

Australia, compared to the wider world, doesn't have a problem as yet. However, some good technology is available to assist us. Recently I was looking to carpool to a rail terminal to make better use of the Park and Ride facility.

I stumbled upon www.carpool-it.com when searching for an Internet carpooling service so I could find someone going my way. Much to my delight, this service instantly generates matches by searching the database.

The matches are door to door, and it also calculates emissions saved through the actual trip registered. My question: is there anything available in the U.S. that can make such a match? Take a look -- I was quite impressed.

Urbanization is a big challenge. In Nigeria, the rate at which cities are growing is alarming. Governments should figure out the factors that make people migrate from the rural areas to cities.

Yes, urbanization IS becoming a menace. On the other hand it need not be looked at as a menace if there was planned development. The crux of the planning is involving people and considering the vulnerable and poor sectors of society -- as long as just economics is considered in planning there can never be a hope of solving this menace.

Name: C. S. Azad
Location: New Delhi, India

The optimum solution to massive urbanization in countries like India will be to bring food processing industries near to villages with well-developed road networks, to boost the incomes of millions of people in the agriculture-based population and reduce "un-employment in disguise".

Initial results of the "golden quadrangle" road project in India give ample glimpses of this.

Name: Nicanor C. Austriaco
Location: Angeles City, Philippines

Urbanization is indeed a major challenge for urban management. People in rural areas migrate to urban areas principally for seeking opportunities for work.

So how this may be reversed? Expand the IT infrastructure of the country. Why? More work can now be IT enabled -- that is, some work in urban areas can be sub-contracted to small/medium companies based in the small cities away from the mega/large cities.

Examples: back-office operations, computer graphics/animations, software development, medical/legal transcriptions. This model is similar to the international business process outsourcing industry where work in the developed countries is done in the developing countries facilitated via IT.

Name: D.S.
Location: U.S.

Good (clean, safe, reliable) mass transit systems will reduce the need to have personal vehicles, especially in urban areas.

The (U.S.) government needs to invest in developing such mass transit infrastructures. Today, Europe leads the rest of the world on this front.

Unless the people demand it, the government will not make the investment required.

Name: Peter Corbyn
Location: Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Urbanization is a serious problem. Economic development has to be a key contributor to the solution.

People should not have to flock to large urban centers for employment opportunities. Polices and education that support economic development in cites under 500,000 should be a high priority for all levels of government (not just local governments).

Name: D.S.
Location: United States

Urbanization is a disease that our planet Earth is going through.

The viruses that are causing it are the humans. It is a fast-spreading illness that is destroying our ecosystem; like a cancer which starts and spreads within the human body.

Urbanization and sub-urbanization are doing exactly the same. Unless the human race and its leaders start realizing that end would come fast unless we do something now, we may as well start a countdown to doomsday.

Name: Ruby
Location: Hong Kong

I think urbanization itself is a trend, this is a must if you want to improve your (country's) living standards.

But the main problem is that since urbanization is going too fast, cities or countries may not have enough time to organize policies and programs to meet this change, which can lead to lots of problems.

Name: Melissa
Location: Southern California, U.S.

We need to slow down. Ironically, as our cities become larger, people feel more disconnected with each other, not having the one-on-one dynamics that people used to have. People, like all animals, need to have a network of people involved in their daily lives.

More, smaller cities instead of large urbanization, would serve us better and connect us on a more intimate level with one another. All other answers will come as soon as we feel connected to each other again.

It's up to the people planning our cities to take the step to stop aiming for quantity and aim for quality. Regardless of the monetary cost.

Name: Susan
Location: Florida, U.S.

Is urbanization a problem? Yes, particularly in coastal cities of south Florida. Our natural wetlands are being destroyed in order to build more and more high-rise condominiums. I think it is a disgrace.

People pay millions of dollars for condominiums with spectacular views. What a waste that will be when there are no more marshes, wetlands, and beaches to gaze at while drinking their morning coffee. Soon, they will be looking into the neighbor's high-rise window.

The answer is to simply STOP the destruction for construction and preserve what little natural habitat we have left.

But all our political leaders see is dollar signs and seem to forgot that the reason many people come to this area is our natural habitat. It is a vicious cycle that I don't see ending anytime soon.

Name: Mike
Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.

While a city's population growth might exceed its growth in infrastructure, the problems that occur there are easily subsidized by the slowdown in suburban growth.

In a city, every family doesn't require a third of an acre of land to themselves.

Name: Michael Oye
Location: Lagos, Nigeria

Is increased urbanization a problem? Yes, most especially in Africa.

The economic resources to handle such development are not available. Per capita income is ridiculously low and planning has become near impossible due to the lack of economic resources.

Owner-occupiers may not agree to redevelopment for fear of not being compensated at all, or not adequately compensated.

Government finds it very difficult to embark on such redevelopment and planning due to lack of resources, while the private sector may never agree to partake in such redevelopment due to low purchasing power in the economy and lack of appropriate policies for this.

Name: Suganya Naidu
Location: Singapore

Urbanization, although viewed as an ultimate destination for rural dwellers, has its own underestimated dangers. It doesn't necessarily provide an opportunity for the poor, as most of them end up in slum settlements, contributing to the proliferation of dual economies such as in the case of India.

From an ecological perspective, increasing human populations within limited land area exerts pressure on the carrying capacity of nature. This may be the cause for pandemics and other population density-related disorders.

Policies limiting urban migration and expansion are a necessity if we are to control such chaos.

Name: Jud
Location: Alabama, U.S.

Is urbanization a problem? Not always. Is suburbanization a problem? Most definitely.

Urbanization tends to provide the most efficient means of human habitation, because it places food, housing, education and government resources in a centralized location.

Suburbanization is the worst-case scenario of city development, because it creates all of the problems of urbanization -- ecological damage, increased crime, etc -- with none of the benefits, such as centralized resources.

Name: Jon Dreisker
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Force cities to handle and dispose of all wastes associated with life there: garbage, discarded cars/white goods, radioactive, toxins WITHIN their own geographical boundaries and you will very quickly see rationally sized cities evolve.

Name: Cao Qi
Location: Nanjing, China

Urbanization is not a menace at least for about 1 billion rural people in China.

It's actually their life-long dream, and most of them prefer losing nearly everything in the struggle to realize it for their children or grandchildren.

Name: Liz
Location: Austin, Texas, U.S.

Urbanization would do Austin some good, provided we can keep parks and the surrounding rural areas can keep some of their charm.

What we have now instead is growing urban sprawl, characterless vast expanses of strip mall hell.

We live in our cars, or worse, SUVs, polluting our environment and cutting ourselves off from others.

We need a dense, liveable, walkable city with decent public transportation, and that's going to take urban planning.

Name: Beeri Moalem
Location: San Francisco, California, U.S.

Build upwards, improve public transportation, research clean engines.

Name: Kyle
Location: Denver, Colorado, U.S.

Americans believe that we need cars to survive, that we need to own a house in the suburbs and commute everywhere we want to go.

Some people like this, though planners and architects don't necessarily realize that there are many ways to design.

Los Angeles is a great example of a city gone wrong. Its reliance on private vehicles has turned the city into a 24-hour traffic jam. A nightmare.

Contributing to this is the lack of knowledge not only in the average citizen, but those who are entrusted to design for those citizens' needs.

Name: Daniel Gate
Location: Israel

World class examples of liveable and sustainable urban areas exist in Scandinavia.

Greater Copenhagen and Greater Stockholm are both based on integrated transit and land-use corridors flanked by deep green wedges.

Name: Claro l. Panesa III
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Empower and/or delegate provincial, city and municipal governments with authority to process and approve official documents.

Where I come from -- the Philippines -- one has to go to the already congested metropolitan city just to have birth certificates issued, verified or annotated, when it could instead be done in the municipality where you were born or reside.

This may not sound related to urbanization, but if the Philippine government de-centralizes the functions of some of its service-oriented departments, then provincial folks will not travel to Manila to have their papers processed, the waiting time of which entices them to permanently settle in the big city.

Name: Peer
Location: Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.

The most important step is to put into place restrictive zoning ordinances and the infrastructure to support more vertical growth, such as rail lines, busing, pedestrian friendly sidewalks (replete with trees and benches), and bike lanes.

A great example of this not being done is Houston, Texas, the only major US city not zoned and spectacularly sprawling. Traffic is atrocious and nobody walks anywhere.

Without zoning the US will start to look and feel like Southern California, one continual suburb.

One major impetus for change will be the price of gasoline increasing. There is a break even point where people will realize it is too expensive to drive everywhere and as a result will push politically for more centralized urban areas.

Name: Oreste Assereto
Location: Miami, Florida, U.S.

Urban areas of the future will have to tend towards the European model of buildings of six to 10 floors, with gardens and urban transportation facilities, to decrease the need for cars within the town and provide some sort of social cohesion among people.

The villas, mansions and one-house dwellings eat up land surface which should be dedicated to green areas.

In some of these cities (New York, Madrid ,etc), having a car is a burden and an extra expense. People should rent cars for weekends, if necessary. It could become the model of the future.

Name: Blaine H
Location: Peoria, Illinois, U.S.

I see the modern American urban/suburban sprawl as just the single most disgusting thing ever -- wasteful and superficial.

Like the article said, it's the American tradition to have as much space as we want and we have homeowners' rights.

Well, it's time to remove those. It's time to start looking at giving land back to nature and not the terror of the cities and the suburbs that support them.

We need public transportation and we need to limit the purchase of vehicles, or at least their size.

Our cities are clogged and guess what, we can't all have the monster SUV status symbol.

We need to start looking at ways to better use our space and live smaller. Not everyone needs a fenced in lawn, a swimming pool, and a four-car garage.

The days of waste are over -- forget everything that the idiots of the post-war years and ignorance and greed of the baby-boomers have taught us, we need to stop the way cities are being run now.

Name: John Hooper
Location: Washington, DC, U.S.

We should look at rewriting zoning laws passed after World War II, which allowed for the expansion of the suburbs. Consolidate growth in depressed parts of our cities with mixed income accommodation -- rich, middle class, and poor living side-by-side.

This would also require an overhaul of our property tax structure.

Name: J. D. Edwards
Location: Gwinnett County Georgia, U.S.

Enough is enough -- stop new development until all abandoned buildings are recycled.

The open land mass (in the United States) is disappearing rapidly, and it is beginning to look like a country made of cement.

Name: Shawn DeSarker
Location: Edmonton, Canada

Urbanization should be taken in moderation. At this rate, people will starve to death or start eating one another due to lack of food, because all of the natural ecosystems will be dead.

Name: Erin Trostle
Location: Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.

Urbanization can be especially positive economically and socially for less developed countries, but there are always environmental risks involved.

Air and water pollution are the most recognized, but there aren't enough people aware of the damage that is being caused along the coasts of urbanized countries.

Name: Michael White
Location: Mexico

Cities breed more crime than opportunities for personal growth, also more cases of respiratory diseases, as people breathe less-than-pure air.

Earthquakes in a city can kill thousands at a time, which does not happen when people live in flatter homes, more separated from each other.

The only people who want more growth of cities are those who make money out of it -- builders, contractors, services and more.

Name: N. Simms
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.

As a migrant from the north to a southern city that is growing at a rapid rate, cities like this one need to weigh out all the pros and cons of becoming a metro city.

Many capitalists do not take the advice of urban planners about the problems that can arise from rapid development.

When making a metro area, capitalism should not rule over every decision. Consideration and care for the environment and for all economic classes should take preference.

Name: Bruce Brashear
Location: San Francisco, California, U.S.

Urbanization IS a menace. We have reached peak petroleum production (aka "peak oil") and this means a major, permanent, gas shortage is around the corner.

Urbanization has not in any way taken this into account. Without the almighty car and with the economy then in ruins we will have to reconsider the small community way of thinking.

Name: Gloria Roman
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico

While I am concerned with the phenomena of urban and suburban sprawl which can infringe on farmland, woodland, animal habitats, etc., I do believe that "city life" represents a responsible way for many people to use a relatively small area of land for living and laboring, and may even be the kindest alternative for our increasingly over-taxed environment and natural resources.

Cities provide stimulating environments for business, education, culture, and family life. They can offer medical care, social services and employment to thousands. The typical city block can house as many families as some suburban developments in a fraction of the land space.

The availability of public mass transit in many urban centers represents an alternative to the needless traffic snarls, suffocating pollution, and maintenance expense of our ever-expanding highway systems. Responsible planning and analysis along with redevelopment of already ubanized areas remains the key to providing the citizens of the world with safe, affordable housing and supportable systems for living and laboring.

We citizens of the world (especially Americans), are not born with a God-given right to abuse the Earth. If we Americans make a commitment to foster the conservation of undeveloped areas and live responsibly in those areas that are already developed, it would be an excellent first step towards a more caring approach to how we use our diminishing natural resources.