Urbanization
is a strategy in developing countries around the world, to avoid crowded people
in the cities and term of city development. More than 90 percent of urban
population growth in the next 30 years will occur in Asia, Africa and Latin
America (UN, ESC, 2013).
While
urbanization is increasing the standard of living for many, it has not been
inclusive, and urban growth patterns create several challenges for
policymakers. Particularly, urban population growth and steadily rising incomes
result in higher resource consumption.
Cities
in many developing countries have not been able to cope with the rapidly
surging requirements for housing, physical infrastructure including roads and
telecommunication technologies, and social services such as health and
education to address the needs of growing populations.
However,
science, technology and innovation can help achieve sustainable urban
development by taking into account the economic, environmental and social
dimensions of urbanization.
Moreover,
designing and building sustainable cities in developing countries will play an
important role not only for sustainable development but also to achieve several
of the current Millennium Development Goals, especially those related to
poverty, education and health.
In
2010, more than half the global population was living in urban areas and urban
areas will be home to more than two thirds of humanity by 2050 (UN, ESC, 2013).
This fast pace of urbanization, mainly in developing countries, is creating
cross-sectoral challenges for urban governance that need to be addressed
through integrated, multi-stakeholder mechanisms. Key challenges are urban
sprawl, lack of infrastructure, depletion of resources, environmental
deterioration and the risk of natural disasters.
Urban
sprawl refers to the lack of urban spatial plans or not adhering which leads to
unplanned and uncontrolled urbanization. Actually, rapid urbanization causes
areas in the immediate vicinity of cities to undergo fast transformation in
terms of land allocation, social structure and economic activity. Moreover,
rapid migration of people to expanding cities and the resulting population
growth make it harder to predict, plan and build efficient public transport
services.
In
developing countries, urban infrastructure is inadequate and insufficient to
meet the needs of rapidly growing populations and economies. The lack of
affordable housing furnished with basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity.
Especially, least developing countries have high urban growth rates and require
special attention in terms of covering shelter, sanitation, and other
infrastructure needs.
In
developing countries, growing incomes lead to increased consumption of
resources and the pressure on energy, food, and water resources is steadily
rising day by day. Moreover, the lack of healthy nutrition remains an important
issue in growing urban areas of developing countries which result of haphazard
urbanization of agricultural land. Most people in developing countries live in
slums in urban residents. Whereas, water scarcity can turn into a serious
health issue for both rapidly growing cities and urban areas and the lack of
water is negatively access to sanitation.
The
damage of environment and affection of livelihood of urban community by
covering land that could otherwise be utilized for agriculture, tourism, and
recreational activities, the people do not enjoy improvement in quality of life
due to adverse environmental consequences of urbanization such as air pollution
and lack of green space. Moreover, uncontrolled solid waste is another serious
environmental issue for cities in developing countries. The solid waste
generation is due to the increasing from population in urban areas.
Natural
disasters are the most key concern of all people in urban areas in which cities
in developing countries that are undergoing unplanned urbanization currently
faces the risk of huge economic and human losses from natural hazards. Some
causes that affect urban areas include sea-level rise, storm surges, extreme
rain, heat wave, water scarcity and air pollution, threaten health, the
environment and urban infrastructure and resources. Actually, informal
settlements at city fringes and other lower quality buildings remain a critical
challenge to overcome for urban areas in developing countries due to their low
construction standard and poor drainage systems. Moreover, many developing
countries lack of financial and human resources as well as institutional
capacity required to develop and administer disaster risk management
strategies.
III.
Solutions for Cities
Solutions for urbanization challenges
involve in science, technology and innovation which can provide a variety of
chance in the sustainable urban context development. Actually, each urban
setting faces different challenges and has different science, technology and
innovation needs, so choices in the developing countries differ from those in
developed countries due to limitations such as know-how, financing and human
resources
Urbanization development needed
various mechanism and strategies for sustainable urbanization and information
and communication technology have a key role in urban context which can be
applied to solve a variety of urban problems including geospatial tools such as
satellite maps and data layers of geographic information for spatial planning,
solution for optimize energy, water management, disaster monitoring and social
inclusion.
People need to travel in the urban
areas for working purpose or visiting, so mobility in cities can be improved
through the combination of three strategies namely, avoid, sift, and improve.
Avoid strategy aims to avoid the number of journey by means of urban planning,
and traffic demand management. Moreover, sift strategy is the purpose to more
environmentally efficient forms of mobility includes prioritizing non-motorized
transit in cities, light rapid transit such as tramways and mas rapid transit
such as subways. Whereas, improve strategy is the improvement of energy
efficiency of transport vehicles used.
Urban resource management is the key
problem for urbanization development in developing countries and energy, water,
and food consumption in urban areas is rapidly rising, so the higher
consumption leads to higher amount of waste. So, the urban sustainability
depends on technologies can conserve these resources and minimize waste. Cities
can encourage to advanced renewable energy sources by using technology.
Moreover, cities can make use of technologies to convert certain types of waste
into energy and managing solid waste in combination with spatial planning can
help optimize energy consumption and reduce waste in cities.
Innovation in the urbanization refers
to any new method, business model, policy, institutional design or regulation
that meets the needs of urban population in efficient, effective, and
sustainable way.
Urbanization needs new ways of
planning and governance based on inclusive leadership, addressing regional
needs holistically and providing long term perspectives. Moreover, urban
governance can be improved bother vertically and horizontally, these include
providing an overall framework for equitable, strategic metropolitan regulation
and planning, providing basic service s to the poor and resolving land disputes
that cause from urban sprawl. Actually, urban infrastructure systems are
interconnected. Water governance of urban areas by single authority can help
resolve water conflict.
Spatial plans refer the strategic
decision of cities on spatial design and density. Spatial plans can optimize
the density of cities according to urban development goals and enable public
services that achieve economies of scale. Furthermore, cities can accommodate
growing population with their land use, spatial planning through urban growth
boundaries with clear limits to any form of building development and land use
regulation for development. These spatial plans including promoting mixed use
settlement, density regulation, density bonus, special planning providing,
establishing polycentric cities, and parking standard.
Buildings are important for city views
and local government can address housing shortages by providing construction
initiative that aim to create affordable, sustainable housing and by upgrading
informal settlements. However, standard measurement and reporting requirement
for building performance in terms of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas
emissions can drive the spread of sustainable construction practices in the
real estate sector.
There are many strategies for
urbanization and possible measures including building new developments outside
of risk areas, upgrading informal settlement and addressing the lack of
infrastructure and degradation of the environment. In addition, cities need to
invest proactively into infrastructure that enhances their adaption capacities
to natural hazard and integrating spatial planning with infrastructure can also
improve resilience.
The use of science, technology and
innovation in urban context implies the application of high technologies and
low technology as well as innovation approaches to urban planning and
institutional innovation. However, the challenges of cities differ widely from
one country to another and require special approaches in the context of issues.
Moreover, urban planning is a key
consideration to ensure that the needs of urban areas are addressed in an
integrated way. Science, technology, and innovation are necessary for
sustainable urban development, including providing solutions to mitigate the
impact of climate change on vulnerable urban population. Furthermore, design
and engineering go hand in hand when building cities along with city planning,
so people will feel comfortable to live in.
-
International
Organizations
+ should provide a forum for sharing
of good experience and practice on the use of science, technology, and
innovation for sustainability in key urban sectors in developing countries.
+ should raise the awareness among
urban policymakers about the role of science, technology and innovation in
facilitating integrated regional planning, spatial design and informed resource
consumption.
+ should explore innovation financing
models, including the investment of pension and sovereign wealth funds, to
promote the greater integration of solutions based on science, technology, and
innovation for sustainable development and the management of cities.
-
Individual
Country
+ should establish governance
mechanisms that facilitate integrated, multi-sector and multi-stakeholder urban
planning. Urban projects should include participation from departments
responsible for spatial planning, mobility, energy use, waste management, environmental
protection, building and disaster resilience.
+ should put in place regulatory
framework at the national, regional, and local levels that mainstream issues of
sustainability into urban projects.
+ should encourage municipalities to
join national and international network of cooperation to learn from best
practice in cities of other regions and countries.
VI.References
- United
Nations, Economic and Social Council (2013). Science, technology, and innovation
for sustainable cities and peri-urban communities.
-
Asian
Development Bank and German Agency for International Cooperation (2011). Changing
Course in Urban Transport.
-
Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (2012). Compact City Policies: a
comparative assessment.
-
Green
Media (2012). Sustainable Cities-Building Cities for the Future. Green Media
Ltd. London.
