Problems_of_Urbanization.pptx

Geo ppt very useful

1. Problems of Urbanization in India

2. Some of the major problems of urbanization in India are: Urban Sprawl Overcrowding Housing Unemployment Slums and Squatter Settlements Transport Water Sewerage Problems Trash Disposal Urban Crimes Problem of Urban Pollution

3. 1. Urban Sprawl Urban sprawl or real expansion of the cities, both in population and geographical area, of rapidly growing cities is the root cause of urban problems. In most cities the economic base is incapable of dealing with the problems created by their excessive size. Massive immigration from rural areas as well as from small towns into big cities has taken place almost consistently; thereby adding to the size of cities.

4. The first large flow of migration from rural to urban areas was during the “depression” of late 1930s when people migrated in search of jobs. Later, during the decade 1941-51, another a million persons moved to urban places in response to wartime industrialization and partition of the country in 1947 . During 1991-2001, well over 20 million people migrated to cities. The greatest pressure of the immigrating population has been felt in the central districts of the city (the old city) where the immigrants flock to their relatives and friends before they search for housing.

5. This is due to the fact that such large cities act as magnets and attract large number of immigrants for their employment opportunities and modern way of life. Such hyper-urbanization leads to projected cities sizes of which defy imagination. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, etc. are examples of urban sprawl due to large scale migration of people from the surrounding areas.

6. 2. Overcrowding : Overcrowding is a situation in which too many people live in too little space. Overcrowding is a logical consequence of over-population in urban areas. It is naturally expected that cities having a large size of population squeezed in a small space must suffer from overcrowding. This is well exhibited by almost all the big cities of India.

7. For example, Mumbai has one-sixth of an acre open space per thousand populations though four acre is suggested standard by the Master Plan of Greater Mumbai. Delhi has a population density of 9,340 persons per sq. km (Census 2001) which is the highest in India. Population density in central part of Delhi could be much higher. 

8. 3. Housing : Overcrowding leads to a chronic problem of shortage of houses in urban areas. This problem is specifically more acute in those urban areas where there is large influx of unemployed or underemployed immigrants who have no place to live in when they enter cities/towns from the surrounding areas.

9. An Indian Sample Survey indicated that 44 percent of urban households (as compared to 34 per cent of rural families ) occupied one room or less. In larger cities the proportion of families occupying one room or less was as high as 67 per cent . Moreover, the current rate of housing construction is very slow which makes the problem further complicated.

10. Taking India as whole, there are 179 million residential houses, i.e., about six people to each house . Thirty-nine per cent of all married couples in India (about 86 million) do not have an independent room to themselves. As many as 35 per cent (18.9 million) urban families live in one-room houses . For about a third of urban Indian families, a house does not include a kitchen, a bathroom, a toilet—and in many cases there is no power and water supply.  Only 79 per cent (42.6 million) urban household live in permanent ( pucca ) houses. 67 per cent (36 million) of the urban houses are owned by the households while 29 per cent (15 million) are rented.

11. 4. Unemployment : The problem of unemployment is no less serious than the problem of housing mentioned. Urban unemployment in India is estimated at 15 to 25 per cent of the labour force. This percentage is even higher among the educated people.

12. It is estimated that about half of all educated urban unemployed are concentrated in four metropolitan cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai). Furthermore, although urban incomes are higher than the rural incomes, they are appallingly low in view of high cost of living in urban areas.

13. One of the major causes of urban unemployment is the large scale migration of people from rural to urban areas. Rural-urban migration has been continuing for a pretty long time but it has not always been as great a problem as it is today. The general poverty among the rural people pushes them out to urban areas to migrate in search of livelihood and in the hope of a better living.

14. 5. Slums: The rapid urbanization in conjunction with industrialization has resulted in the growth of slums. The proliferation of slums occurs due to many factors, such as, the shortage of developed land for housing, the high prices of land beyond the reach of urban poor, a large influx of rural migrants to the cities in search of jobs etc.

15. In spite of several efforts by the Central and State Governments to contain the number of slum dwellers, their growth has been increasing sharply exerting tremendous pressure on the existing civic amenities and social infrastructure.

16. Socially, slums tend to be isolated from the rest of the urban society and exhibit pathological social symptoms (drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, vandalism and other deviant behaviour ). Slums have invariably extreme unhygienic conditions. They have impoverished lavatories made by digging shallow pit in between three or four huts and with sackcloth as a curtain, hanging in front. When the pit overflows excreta gets spread over the surrounding area and is rarely cleaned . Piped water is not available to slum dwellers and they mainly depend upon shallow hand-pumps for water supply.

17. 6. Transport : With traffic bottleneck and traffic congestion, almost all cities and towns of India are suffering from acute form of transport problem. Transport problems increase and become more complex as the town grows in size. With its growth, the town performs varied and complex functions and more people travel to work or shop.

18. As the town becomes larger, even people living within the built-up area have to travel by car or bus to cross the town and outsiders naturally bring their cars or travel by public transport. Wherever, trade is important, commercial vehicles such as vans and trucks will make problem of traffic more complicated.

19. Since most of the commercial activities of the towns are concentrated in the Central Business District (C.B.D.), the centres are areas of greatest congestion. However, other parts of the town are not free from traffic congestion . C ongestion becomes greater when the centre is built up in tall skyscraper blocks whose offices sometimes employ thousands of workers, because at the end of the office hours everyone leaves the building within a short space of time to make their way home . This puts tremendous pressure on public transport and causes journeys to take much longer period than they normally would. In most cities the rush hour or peak traffic hour lasts for about two hours and during that period buses and trains are crammed to capacity, roads are overcrowded with vehicles and the movement of traffic becomes very slow.

20. 7. Water : What is one of the most essential elements of nature to sustain life and right from the beginning of urban civilization , sites for settlements have always been chosen keeping in view the availability of water to the inhabitants of the settlement. However, supply of water started falling short of demand as the cities grew in size and number.

21. The individual towns require water in larger quantities. Many small towns have no main water supply at all and depend on such sources as individual tubewells , household open wells or even rivers. 

22. Today we have reached a stage where practically no city in India/ gets sufficient water to meet the needs of city dwellers. In many cities people get water from the municipal sources for less than half an hour every alternate day. In dry summer season, taps remain dry for days together and people are denied water supply at a time when they need it the most . T he water requirement per head per day 204 litres for cities with population between 5 lakh and 2 million and 272 litres for cities with population more than 2 million. This amount of water is supposed to be used for drinking, kitchen, bathing, cloth washing, floor and vehicle washing and gardening . Sadly majority of the cities and towns do not get the recommended quantity of water. Gap in demand and supply of water in four metro cities, viz., Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai varies from 10 to 20 per cent. The condition is still worse in small cities and towns.

23. 8. Sewerage Problems : Urban areas in India are almost invariably plagued with insufficient and inefficient sewage facilities. Not a single city in India is fully sewered . Resource crunch faced by the municipalities and unauthorized growth of the cities are two major causes of this pathetic state of affairs. According to latest estimates, only 35-40 per cent of the urban population has the privilege of sewage system. Most of the cities have old sewerage lines which are not looked after properly. Often sewerage lines break down or they are overflowing

24. Most cities do not have proper arrangements for treating the sewerage waste and it is drained into a nearly river (as in Delhi) or in sea (as in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai), thereby polluting the water bodies . In most Indian cities, water pipes run in close proximity to sewer lines. Any leakage leads to contamination of water which results in the spread of several water borne diseases.

25. 9. Trash Disposal : As Indian cities grow in number and size the problem of trash disposal is assuming alarming proportions. Huge quantities of garbage produced by our cities pose a serious health problem. Most cites do not have proper arrangements for garbage disposal and the existing landfills are full to the brim. These landfills are hotbeds of disease and innumerable poisons leaking into their surroundings.

26. Wastes putrefy in the open inviting disease carrying flies and rats and a filthy, poisonous liquid, called leachate, which leaks out from below and contaminates ground water. People who live near the rotting garbage and raw sewage fall easy victims to several diseases like dysentery, malaria, plague, jaundice, diarrhea, typhoid, etc.

27. 10. Urban Crimes : Like other problems, the problem of crimes increases with the increase in urbanization . In fact the increasing trend in urban crimes tends to disturb peace and tranquility of the cities and make them unsafe to live in particularly for the women . Growing materialism, consumerism, competition in everyday life, selfishness, lavishness, appalling socio-economic disparities and rising unemployment and feeling of loneliness in the crowd are some of the primary causes responsible for alarming trends in urban crime.

28. Occasional failures in life also drag youngsters to crime. The problem of urban crime is becoming more complicated in the present day world because criminals often get protection from politicians, bureaucrats and elite class of the urban society.  Not only the poor, deprived and slum dwellers take to crime; youngsters from well-to-do families also resort to crime in order to make fast buck and for meeting requirements of a lavish life. 

29. 11. Problem of Urban Pollution : With rapid pace of urbanization , industries and transport systems grow rather out of proportion. These developments are primarily responsible for pollution of environment, particularly the urban environment.

30. National Pollution Map

31. Human overpopulation and its Impacts

32. The term  human overpopulation  often refers to the relationship between the entire human population and its environment: the Earth ,  or to smaller geographical areas such as countries. Overpopulation can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. It is possible for very sparsely populated areas to be overpopulated.

33. Countries with Population Density

34. Environmental Impacts 1.Public-health :   Unclean water, along with poor sanitation, kills over 12 million people each year, most in developing countries. Air pollution kills nearly 3 million more. Heavy metals and other contaminants also cause widespread health problems . 2.Food-supply :   Will there be enough food? In 64 of 105 developing countries studied by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the population has been growing faster than food supplies. Population pressures have degraded some 2 billion hectares of arable land — an area the size of Canada and the U.S.

35. Percentage of Undernourished People

36. 3. Freshwater :   The supply of freshwater is finite, but demand is soaring as population grows and use per capita rises. By 2025, when world population is projected to be 8 billion, 48 countries containing 3 billion people will face shortages. 4. Coastlines and oceans:   Half of all coastal ecosystems are pressured by high population densities and urban development. A tide of pollution is rising in the world’s seas. Ocean fisheries are being overexploited, and fish catches are down. 5. Forests :   Nearly half of the world’s original forest cover has been lost, and each year another 16 million hectares are cut, bulldozed, or burned. Forests provide over US$400 billion to the world economy annually and are vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems. Yet, current demand for forest products may exceed the limit of sustainable consumption by 25%.

37. 6. Biodiversity :   The earth’s biological diversity is crucial to the continued vitality of agriculture and medicine — and perhaps even to life on earth itself. Yet human activities are pushing many thousands of plant and animal species into extinction. Two of every three species is estimated to be in decline. 7. Global climate change:   The earth’s surface is warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, largely from burning fossil fuels. If the global temperature rises as projected, sea levels would rise by several meters, causing widespread flooding. Global warming also could cause droughts and disrupt agriculture