Urbanisation Essay

TO WHAT EXTENT CAN THE PROBLEMS OF URBANISATION BE MET BY A POLICY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

Since the beginning of human history people move from one place to another in order to seek for better life conditions. Although for slightly different reasons – but still strongly tied to life conditions improvement –, this is something that still happens to the modern human being. Most of the times, this movement can be seen going from rural to urban areas, causing these places to spread out in order to fit in these brand new habitants. This process, which is called urbanization, potentially brings a range of adverse effects to the widened area, and most of them are related to lack of urban space and public transportation. However, some authors maintain that these issues could potentially be addressed by development policies focusing on sustainability. This, which definitions by the Dictionary of English Language (cited in Adams 1999) are all related to the word continuity, is applied in this context as using natural resources in an intelligent way and reducing the impact on the environment, which enables humans to use them for the longest time. This essay, however, will argue that the issues caused by urbanization can be met by sustainable development policies to some extent, since each policy might face limitations to be covered in the body.

As mentioned before, some problems can be pointed out when it comes to urbanisation and public transport. Firstly, it causes the entire system to face failures. Tyler-Miller & Spoolman (2008) mention that all the new urban areas constructed by the process are usually poorly connected by a public transport system. This is because it might be a challenge to adapt the system already being used to the areas which construction is caused by the spreading. This leads to the second problem also caused by urbanisation: car dependence. Thisdell (1999), for instance, reports the case of Los Angeles, where public transport is...