Urbanization Of China 's Urbanization

“Beijing lie between longitudes 115°25′E and 117°30′E and between latitude 39°26′N and 41°03′N in North China. Specifically, Beijing is located at the eastern edge of the Eurasian continent and belongs to the Bohai sea rim economic circle, with small plain in the south and mountains in the west and north, covering an area of 16,807.8 km2. The city’s climate is a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate.” (Gengyuan Liu et.al., 2011). As the capital city with full of the long history and Chinese traditional culture and one of three economic-centered cities, which are Beijing, Shanghai, Hongkong respectively, in China Beijing has been regarded as one successful city that has

Urban sprawl has contributed greatly to air and water pollution as well as increased water and energy consumption. Since urban sprawl places people outside of walking distance to shopping areas and work areas, they are forced to rely heavily on cars for everyday transportation. This over reliance on vehicles has contributed significantly to air pollution and greenhouse gases becoming more abundant within the planet’s atmosphere. Pollution from vehicles is often the number one cause of pollution in many urbanized cities, such as Los Angeles. Another thing to take into consideration are the recent heat waves that have been experienced in the past few summers across the nation. People fail to realize that urban sprawl and pollution, which is a by-product of urban sprawl, have contributed significantly to the higher temperatures large cities have experience over the last few years.

Urban development is the social, cultural, economic and physical development of cities. The development of cities is the main topic of human geography. Urban development can be used in different ways by the researchers. It can cause the price of things to increase fast. Urban development occurs in major cities like New York City, Tokyo, Japan. Urban development started back in the earlier cities like Mesopotamia, Egypt. This spreads the culture that affect people which makes them want to go to the major cities. Over fifty percent of the earth’s population lives in urban areas. Studies show by 2045 that the number of people living in a urban area will increase.

Humans have evolved immensely throughout centuries and the trend toward urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon that impacts the environment, economy and various aspects of human life. In America before the 18th century, manufacturing was done by hand using homemade tools and basic machinery, the industrialization of America led to an increase of immigration and an influx of people drawn to cities where new economic opportunities were available. “Urbanization is the process by which town and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas”. It occurs casually from individual and corporate efforts to reduce expense in commuting and transportation. The level and growth of urbanization differs by region

Urbanization has been constant over the last few hundred years. It continues even today and will continue with the constant increase in world population. Urbanization affects all levels of society and an accommodating urban environment is a necessity. But as humans we haven’t really been good at it. The process of urbanization can vary by country. Within the urban communities the political economy determines the existence of social classes.

According to the data from United Nations urbanization prospects 2014, in the early 20th century the urbanized population only accounted 15 percent of the world’s total population. Half century later the pace of urbanization rate accelerated and the figure reached 30 percent in 1950. After nearly 60 years of development, in year 2008 it was the first time that urban population outstripped rural population. Now in 2014 there has been 54 percent of world’s population become urban dwellers. However due to historical geographical and economic reasons, the level of urbanization varies significantly across regions. Highly urbanized regions include Northern America and Caribbean and Latin America with over 80 percent of their total population urbanized.

The level and growth of urbanization differ considerably by region. Among different countries, Latin American countries have the highest portion of the people that live in the country living in urban areas. But the south and the east of Asia are the most likely to have the most urbanized area over the next 30 years. Almost all of future world population growth will be in towns and cities. Urbanization is a powerful force of human nature because as they move, the climate shifts with them. The more humans in one area make more pollution in that one area because of all the Homo sapiens living there. “In 1800 only about 2 percent of the world's population lived in urban areas. Until a century ago, urban areas were some of the unhealthiest places for people to live. The increased density of populations in urban areas led to the rapid spread of infectious diseases. Consequently, death rates in urban areas historically were higher than in rural areas. The only way urban areas maintained their existence until recently was by the continual in-migration of rural people.”(prb.org,

Since the industrial revolution, many developed and developing countries have begun the process of urbanization to achieve faster development. The transformation from rural to urban brings the human beings convenience and wealth. However, in the past decade, many cities have met not only benefits but also challenges. Environmental problems continue to grow in those high-density areas. To investigate these problems and their influences, two cities, from a developed country and a developing country each, New York City (the U.S.A) and Shanghai (China) are chosen to compare. Both cities are economic centers in their own countries. New York City started its urbanization in the 19th century while Shanghai started in around 1980s. The process NYC has experienced, especially environmental problems, is a good example for Shanghai government to learn from when it continues its urbanization step in the future. Three problems are investigated: air pollution, water quality and soil contamination. These ones are significant in our lives as they can affect our organs and thus influences our health directly.

China is developing at an unprecedented fast pace in recent years, it is now the second largest economy in the worldwide with at least 7 percent annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) (See Appendix A). Unfortunately, this rapid economic growth comes with a price, excessive use of fossil fuel leads to a very serious environmental issues to people’s habitats, and the air they breathe every day.

This evidence shows that urbanisation contributes a lot to the public transport system in Guangdong. There have built several different kinds of public transports that can connect to many other cities. People can use these public transports equally. By using these convenient transports, people can live a high-efficiency life because less time is spent on the way. That is to say, even those people far away from Guangdong can go to Guangdong quickly and access the resources in Guangdong more easily. So people can enjoy different kinds of resources equally because of convenient transport. Secondly, urbanisation brings more goods to citizens and people can improve their life quality by using these goods. According to Li & Yao (2009, p. 1995), electrical appliances are becoming popular because of urbanisation. For example, air conditional owner-ship is rapidly growing up in China. Some families even have more than two units. From this evidence, it can be showed that urbanisation brings more modernised goods such as air conditioners to citizens. Citizens can access these useful goods more easily and they are able to live a higher standard life by using these goods. They have the same opportunities to buy these goods to improve their life quality. This means the opportunities to improve the quality of life can become equal in the society. All in all, urbanisation builds an equitable

With a population of 1.3 billion, China faces unprecedented urbanization challenges. The Chinese government, at various levels, strives to accelerate the urbanization process through city expansion and lowering the threshold for farmers to move into cities. Although urbanization is an inevitable consequence of modern economic development, this process has shown signs of "overheating." Hidden drawbacks, such as intensive pressures on employment and social security, and bubbles in the real estate industry, suggest that the government needs to put the brakes on this trend by carefully scrutinizing and taking steps to control the process.

In addition, a lot of infrastructure is provided in cities. It leads directly increased the life quality. There are transportation, libraries, parks, zoos in close proximity which is not as many as the countryside. Noise, air pollution, light pollution are taking place because of population explosion. For instance, the destroying of the eco-system leads to the deaths of most of the wild creatures who lives around cities. Moreover, these pollutions also has serious impacts on human’s developments. That utilize of the energy resources for the next generation that will be limited. That is to say, environmental problem is facing a baptism of life. In brief, although urbanization leads directly to increased amounts of pollution, it also provides greater opportunities for employment and access to localized infrastructure. Taking into account both sides of argument, living in cities is more suitable for those who want to have a hurried life. Housing problems have it challenges of Urbanization in which when the industrial age began their was options of families that would either buy a home on the outskirt of town where transportation would be a problem for families to get around, or there was the option to rent little rooms in boardinghouses. Later after families

Air pollution has been an ever-growing concern in the world. With the rise of fossil fuels and industry, air quality has been declining around the world. While this is not novel information, recently, rapid developing cities have been highlighted as producing hazardous levels of air quality. Air pollution causes adverse health effects such as lung and heart disease, respiratory problems, asthma attacks, and more. One of these critical level cities is Delhi, India. Just a few months ago a health emergency was declared due to the worsening air pollution levels. Pictures of roads and sidewalks shadowed by a permanent gray fog appeared in newspapers and even social media caught wind of the issue, with Snapchat having a story with citizens sending videos with masks on and kids being sent home from school. This paper delves into the background and current knowledge around the air pollution problem as caused by motor vehicles while analyzing potential solutions to the problem.

Due to the steady increase in population in China, living conditions have become a serious issue that mainly involves urbanization and migration. In China, people’s housing decisions have been greatly influenced by social and

China’s fastest growing economy is often referred in coupled with the clogging pollution of its cities. The air pollution in Beijing remains among the worst in the world and thus has drawn alarming environmental attention. It’s devastating effects on mankind and environment is a serious challenge China has been facing over the last decades. The rapid growth in urban population, high coal-fired energy use and increasing vehicle numbers in Beijing has been contributing to the grey smog and frequent occurrences of Haze in Beijing (Zhang et al., 2013).