Perspective
Currently half of the World Population, at 52%, lives in Urban Environment. Some countries like Trinidad & Tobago and Malawi have 14% and 16% respectively. Others like China have 52%, Angola 60%, Botswana 62%, while highly Urbanised countries like Australia have 89%, Kuwait 98%, Monaco 100% and Singapore 100%. The Global Urbanisation treads points to a future with more urbanisation, with the developing countries having the highest growth as depicted by China at 13.3% in a decade.
With the advent of Industrialisation, Urbanisation followed, as rural populations moved to the Cities allured by prospects of better paying jobs, and higher standards of living.
In recent times, Cities have provided economic advantages including pools of professional networks which have provided the necessary skills demanded by the Transnational Corporations (TNCs) including Engineers, Accountants, Lawyers and Doctors, besides providing pools of low skills. Cities with good infrastructural networks have also enabled people and goods to move efficiently. Large cities also provide suitable grounds for technological innovation and creativity as they attract people with skills to develop new ground breaking products. The cities have also seen concentration of large markets with the residents earning relatively higher than rural counterparts. However cities can be a challenge for smaller businesses due to high operational costs and stiff competition.
There has also been both beneficial and adverse social outcome of Urbanisation, as cities become melting points for various cultures and families get separated from their rural siblings.
The world has seen growth of Mega Cities and World Cities, with Urbanisation providing for better viability of major infrastructural development. The environmental impact would include loss of agricultural land and habitat, Urban Heat Island effects, air, water and noise pollution, and generated waste. Large cites have seen growth of expanse slums for low income earners, congestion of social infrastructure and transportation modes.
As the adverse impact of urbanisation start to take effect, the well being of the residents can start to deteriorate.
As more global populations become urbanised, knowledge gained from learnt lessons in projects like Masdar City in Abu Dhabi can be reapplied to manage the future.
In rethinking contemporary urbanisation, recent ideas have seen proposals of The Great City in China for 80,000 people. The city will be planned to have the necessary facilities within 15 minutes walk, efficient and adequate public transport, reducing the need for cars. The city would have surrounding buffer landscape, lakes and forests. 15% of the city would be zoned for parks and green spaces, 25% zoned for roads and infrastructure and the remaining 60% high rise structures with sufficient facilities to offers a great place to live, work and raise a family that would have a population density of over 61,000 per square kilometre and hopefully managing the effects of Urban Sprawl. The target is to use 48% less energy, 58% less water, 89% less landfill waste and 60% less carbon dioxide.
Currently New York is the most energy efficient city of America with more than 50% of the households using public transport. The highly efficient and cost effective New York City Subway rapid transit system with 1.65 billion rides per year has largely been responsible for this achievement.
Austica’s Role
Austica professionals have the necessary skills and tools to manage the challenges of urbanisation. Austica professionals including GIS, Railway Engineers, Spatial Planers, Environmental, and Subsurface Utility Engineering specialist are highly qualified to undertake new urban designs or where it would involve revamping an existing city by retrofitting new infrastructure.