The Attraction of Urbanism

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of urbanization – pollution, crime, sprawl, or maybe poverty? These are all very common issues associated with urbanization. However, if there are so many negative connotations associated with urban areas, why do people continue to move there? The rate of urbanization has been rising rapidly over the past century, even in India. In 2001, 34.6% Indians lived in urban areas and there were 27 cities with over one million residents (Census of India). Individuals may decide to move to cities for many reasons. It could be for economic reasons, health reasons or out of necessity.  As India continues to urbanize, it is important to be familiar with the important issues relating to cities and to understand the consequences of these decisions.

Moving to Urban Areas

Cities sometimes present enough economic opportunity for individuals to move there. Urban areas provide positive spillovers that benefit businesses and promote economic growth (Glaeser). Individuals have more business related interactions and this presents them with more employment opportunities. Employment, however, is only one reason individuals decide to move to cities. Urban areas, especially in India, provide better educational opportunities to children. Children living in urban areas have higher literacy rates and education attainment ratios than children living in rural areas (Census of India). As we discussed in class, the un-educated class are the people who are being left behind in today’s world market. This means even more adversity for individuals living in rural areas.

As with education, there are many other wide urban to rural disparities in India. This is the care for health care availability. There are wide inequalities in enfant mortality rates and health service utilization (measured by immunization to measles and births attended by skilled health professional) between urban and rural individuals (World Health Organization). Parents living in rural areas have an incentive to live in urban areas were health care is more accessible.

It is important to remember that people sometimes must move to urban areas out of necessity. Rural conflicts, famine, and drought can all cause individuals to migrate to cities. Rural flight occurs when survival is no longer possible in urban areas. This is becoming more and more common as farming practices become more efficient. As we discussed in class, many of the people living in the slums are former agricultural workers.

Consequences of Urbanization

With so many people moving to cities, it is important to be familiar with the consequences of urbanization. We discussed many of them on our first day of class. Deforestation, segregation, habit loss, pollution, and car dependency are all issues we discussed. Given the gravity of these issues, it is important we have a good understanding of them.

It is important to have functioning cities – not only for individuals’ sake, but also for the environment. As the world population continues to rise, it is essential that people are able to live healthy lives in urban areas.

Given our current status of limited natural resources, it necessary that we begin planning now for future generations. How we manage and distribute our resources today will have enormous affects in the future. Many available interventions are relatively inexpensive. Our reading from class (Frumkin) provides solutions that are more suitable for richer countries. There are, however, many interventions that are suitable for India. In my opinion, one of the most important investments to be made is in water quality. We have discussed the harmful effects of fluoride and arsenic in the water. We also know how fatal contaminated water is to infants. The opportunity to improve water quality is an investment that would pay off greatly and quickly.

Citations

Census of India. Retrieved from: http://censusindia.gov.in/

Frumkin, H. (May 2002). Urban Sprawl and Public Health.

Public Health Reports, Vol. 117, 201-217.

Glaeser, E., Kallal, H., Scheinkman, J., Shleifer, A. (July 1991). Growth In Cities. National Bureau Economic Research Working Paper Series, Vol. 2787.

World Health Organization. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/countries/ind/en/