Rapid Urbanization and its Adverse Effects

Rapid Urbanization and its Adverse Effects

 Phyo Phyo Wai 

 

1. Introduction 

Urban is the place of which people ultimately by choose to live over their lifetime. The reason for this choice is the advantages existing in the urban areas such as advance communications, information transformation, education, job opportunities, etc. Urbanization is one of the symptoms of development as it is closely linked with modernization and industrializations. On the other hand, it can brings different issues: adverse social, resource allocation and environmental and through this adverse impacts of rapid urbanization. 

UN Habitat mentioned on its website that the current rapid urbanization – especially in cities of the developing world – is bringing about many challenges in the spatial distribution of people and resources, as well as in the use and consumption of land. In some regions, urban land has grown much faster than the urban population, resulting in less dense and more inefficient land use patterns. Car-centred urban models are still the widespread norm, with strict zoning policies dividing urban space into residential, commercial, and industrial areas. These horizontally sprawling cities find it gradually harder to deal with an ever increasing urban population, and are not sustainable over the long-term, owing to overwhelming negative externalities such as congestion, infrastructure issues, pollution, and social disaggregation.

According to the World Urbanization Prospects report published by UNDP, it is seen that there is significant increase the number of population in urban areas compared with the rural areas. In 1950, 30 per cent of the world population lived in urban and in 2014, 54 per cent of world population lived in urban areas. By 2050, research says that about 68 per cent of world population is projected to be urban. This seem to imply that the world can face more and more complicated challenges in accordance with the rapid changing of urban setting and urban population. 

In 2009 in Myanmar, estimated 8 millions people or 13 percent of total population lived in cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants. This figure is estimated to increase to 18 millions over the next 15 years (2030). According to 2013 data, the two largest cities – Yangon and Mandalay – have populations of 5 millions and 1.25 millions respectively, and 8 cities have populations greater than 200,000. In 2017, 6.2 million population are now living in Yangon. Increasing rates of urbanization in Myanmar resulting from a rapidly changing economy have the potential to complicate existing conflict dynamics in urban centers as well as to strain the capacity of local governmental agencies to adequately serve the needs of local populations in a fair and balanced manner.

This paper aims to explore whether the dwellers from the most and rapid urbanized places in Yangon are facing the negative effects of rapid urbanization or not. If yes, what kinds of negative effects are they facing and what are the motivation factors that pushes them to bear these negative effects and continuous living in the urban place. 

2. Urbanization 

The term “urbanization” is referred to in a variety of ways by different scholars and different institutions. However, the common theme mentioned in these different definitions is increasing number of population and rural- urban migration for different reasons. World Health Organization refers to urbanization as the process of global scale changing the social and environmental landscape on every continent. Urbanization is a result of population migration from rural areas in addition to natural urban demographic growth. Urbanization is also mentioned in Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia (2016), as a process of transformation from a traditional society to a modern metropolitan society, associated with major changes in socioeconomic and land-use structures (Liu, 2002; Cheng & Masser 2003; Tan et al., 2005)

2.1 Characteristics of Urbanization 

Scientists and scholars generally come up with two specific characteristics: economic development, industrialization and density. It is also seen as an indicator of the country’s economic development. Scholars say the level of urbanization is considered as an index of economic development. The more the cities develop the more employment it generates, and in this way economic development also takes place. Likewise, Economic growth results in the shift in demand and therefore to a reallocation of resources –land, labor, and capital- out of agriculture into manufacturing and services. 

From the side of industrialization and density, scholars mentioned that the relative importance of manufacturing and services does not only characterize an urban settlement but more importantly, by a high density of population. Much of manufacturing is cheaper when produced on a large-scale because of the economies of scale. Economies of scale and cost of transportation cause concentration of production and people in a specific location. The bigger cities have one advantage. Most businesses are subject to fluctuations. In big cities, one may switch from one employer to another in case of need or any other reason since there is a wide choice. In that way, a wage laborer is better off in migrating to a big city rather than to a small city, where (big city) he is likely to be more fully employed. All these factors increase the density of population in the cities.

2.2 Rapid Urbanization 

Urbanization in developing countries has proceeded faster than in developed countries, but the correlation of the rate of urbanization with economic growth has been weaker than in developed countries (United Nations, 2013b) Developing countries like Myanmar are facing rapid rates of urbanization. The very obvious symptom of rapid urbanization is increasing rate of population in urban areas. Yangon, the commercial city of Myanmar, is currently facing the rapid rate of urbanization. 

2.3 Causes of Rapid Urbanization/ Migration 

Urban places have normally attracted many people because they offer a variety choice of positive inspirations, information and opportunities for housing work and leisure. Several factors can be seen as reasons for urbanization. However, the following common factors can lead to urbanization: 

i) Migration of rural people to urban areas 

ii) Employment opportunities in urban centers 

iii) Transport and communication facilities 

iv) Education facilities 

v) Increase in the standard of living.

Moreover, disasters can be one of the push factors of rapid urbanization. For instance in 2008 in Myanmar, because of cyclone Nargis that hit the Ayeyarwaddy Region, (180,000) people move to Cities such as Yangon. These people first move only to Hlaing Thar Yar Township. However, as times passed, they gradually moved to the more urbanized areas: Hledan, Sule (Pan Soe Dan), Bayintnaung, Thamaing, etc. What is more, due to extreme climatic events and unpredictable weather, numbers of migrant people are from the areas which are suffering from the adverse impacts of extreme climate disasters: central Myanmar, Rakhine State, Ayeyarwaddy Region, etc. Extreme climatic events and unpredictable weather make people less inclined to invest in farm works and more inclined to migrate to the urban areas, like Yangon. 

2.4 Consequences of Rapid Urbanization 

Urbanization can yield positive effects if it takes place up to a desirable limit. In World Urbanization Prospects (2018 Revision) published by UNDP, it is mentioned that sustainable urbanization is a key to successful development. Urban growth is closely related to the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Well-managed urbanization, informed by an understanding of population trends over the long run, can help to maximize the benefits of agglomeration while minimizing environmental degradation and other potential adverse impacts of a growing number of city dwellers. 

On the other hand, people can also face the negative impacts of rapid urbanization. Thangavel Palanivel, Deputy Director of the Human Development Report Office argued, “Not all urbanization is positive, especially if it is unplanned. To be able to fully capitalize on the opportunity, policymakers will have to address a few key issues. There is, however, no one-size-fits-all urban strategy.” As cities grow, governments will need to cater to rapidly growing demands for public services and infrastructure. In many places, they are not keeping up. For example, almost 700 million urban slum dwellers lack adequate sanitation, which, along with the paucity of safe drinking water, raises the risk of communicable diseases, particularly among children. And urbanization creates income and opportunity disparities, not only between rural and urban areas but also among socioeconomic groups in cities.

Unplanned urbanization may also result in adverse effects such as problems of over population and the growth in slums, costs of living, increase in crime rates, problem of pollution, impersonal relation and stress. Environmental psychologists even mentioned that urban nature resulting from planned-urbanization can also provide psychological restoration, which refers to the reduction of stress and mental fatigue (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989).

In Yangon, there are also lots of consequences can be seen because of rapid urbanization. When the area is urbanized, the most obvious symptom apart from population is the increasing the amount of solid waste disposed. Air quality becomes one of the major pollutants in the most urbanized areas in Yangon. One of the major concerns of all the people are also the quality of air they are inhaling everyday. They are mainly concerned about the elderly and infants. Moreover, disaster related issues are concerning for the people who live in very urbanized areas, such as fire, earthquake, high risk of irreversible soil damage and all the issues related with the pollution. 

3. Reasons for continuous living 

Although there are several adverse effects seen for the dwellers’ side in urbanized area, there are also motivational factors for the dwellers to keep living in this very populous area. 

3.1 Job opportunities 

The main reason for the people, especially migrants, to keep living in this area is the wide-range of choices for well-paid jobs. There is less opportunity for them to get such amount of income in their native homes. 

Most of the migrant labors stays in hostels and send their salaries (as remittances) to their homes in different areas of Myanmar. 

3.2 Accessibility of Knowledge/Training 

Easy accessibility of training centers for their capacity enhancement is one of the core reasons for living in urbanized area, for instance Yangon. Most of the people also think that urban areas are like a knowledge zone since the accessibility of information, education are easy for everyone. They can learn whatever they want to learn because there are a number of training centers are in the urban area. 

4. Recommendations 

Seeing the adverse effects of rapid urbanization of the urban area, it is notable that immediate interventions have to be considered to take action for the sustainability of the urbanized areas. Here, planning strategically and implementing systematically are crucial for the sustainability of urban areas. Planned urbanization is crucial for the future (potential) urban areas as well. The eight specific concepts need to be considered for sustainable urbanization: walkability, connectivity factor, structure of the neighborhood, diversity, environmentally friendly urban development, density of population, mixed housing & aesthetic urban planning, the objective to improve Quality of Life (QoL).

Thangavel Palanivel, Deputy Director of the Human Development Report Office commented that “urban policy priorities and choices depend on a variety of factors - including the scale, speed and source of urbanization, the size of cities and the stage of urban development. Local governments will need technical and managerial skills, the ability to engage with the public and strong capacities to design, implement, monitor and evaluate local public policies and services.” 

5. Conclusion 

Urbanization is the positive sign for the country’s development since it is link with economic development and industrialization as mentioned earlier. However, if the people and/or government urbanize the cities without understanding of the new urbanism concepts and unplanned it can result the people/government having to face a variety of adverse effects. 

The rapid rate of solid waste disposal is makes the job of the City Development Committee (CDC) and the administrative body complicated. Moreover, it is makes residents’ life worse through different types of pollutions: air pollution, vision pollution, water contamination, etc. From the environmental psychology point of view it is a questionable situation for the Quality of Life standards. 

On the other hand, this urbanized area is contributing to the enhancement of the per capita income and thus lead to the development of individuals’ household income through remittances of the migrant workers. When household increases income it directly leads to increase investment in education and health. Thus, indirectly leading to enhanced living standards. This is also one of the facts to be considered in planning for the sustainable urban development. Seeing the positive effects of urbanization, the government and individual should make a systematic approach to lessen its negative effects. closely worked with UN agencies, especially with UN-Habitat, to develop better plan for urbanization and implement existing guidelines.