week 7

• More than half of the world's population lives in urban areas
• Due to the ongoing urbanization and growth of the world's population, there will be about 2.5 billion more people added to the urban population by 2050, mainly in Africa and Asia
• Many cities and towns are facing problems such as a lack of jobs, homelessness and expanding squatter settlements, inadequate services and infrastructure poor health and educational services and high levels of pollution
• Urbanization


  An increase in the number of people living in towns and cities
• Urbanization occurs


  1. People move from rural areas to urban areas

  2. Growth in the size of the urban population

  3. Growth in the extent of urban areas

  4. Changes in land use, economic activity and culture
• Urbanization


  • Historically associated with significant economic and social transformations
  • Linked with higher levels of literacy and education, better health, lower fertility and a longer life expectancy, greater access to social services and enhanced opportunities for cultural and political participation
  • Disadvantages caused by rapid and unplanned urban growth resulting in poor infrastructures such as inadequate housing, water and sanitation, transport and health care services
• In 1960, the global urban population was 34% of the total; however, by 2014 the urban population accounted for 54% of the total and continues to grow

  
• By 2050 the proportion living in urban areas is expected to reach 66%
• Mega-city


  An urban area of greater than ten million people
• In 1970, there were only three mega-cities across the globe, but by the year 2000, the number had risen to 17 and by 2030, 24 more mega-cities will be added
• Asia and Africa currently have the highest rates of urbanization
• Ethiopia is one of the least urbanized countries in the world today, and only 18% of its population lives in urban areas
• Ethiopia's urban growth rate is more than 4.0% per year, which places it among the highest in Africa and the world
• Peri-urban areas are those areas immediately around a town or city. They are areas in transition from countryside to city (rural to urban), often with undeveloped infrastructure, where health and sanitation services are under pressure and where the natural environment is at risk of degradation
• Defining the boundaries of urban, peri-urban and rural areas is not straightforward. They do not neatly separate themselves by lines on a map
• Numbers and sizes of urban settlements in Ethiopia

  • Up to 2,000 population: 171
  • 2,000 to 4,999 population: 339
  • 5,000 to 19,999 population: 310
  • 20,000 to 49,999 population: 79
  • 50,000 to 99,999 population: 14
  • 100,000 to 200,000 population: 8
  • Above 200,000 population: 4
• In 2007, the population of Addis Ababa was more than 3 million, which amounted to about 25% of Ethiopia's urban population
• Causes of urbanization


  • Natural increase of population
  • Rural to urban migration
• Natural increase of population

  Significant cause of the growing urban population in developing countries
• Rural to urban migration


  People move from villages to settle in cities in hope of gaining a better standard of living
• Factors influencing migration


  • Economic growth and development
  • Technological change
  • Conflict and social disruption
• Pull factors attracting people to urban areas

  • Employment opportunities
  • Educational institutions
  • Urban lifestyle and 'bright lights'
• Push factors driving people away from the countryside

  • Poor living conditions
  • Lack of opportunities for paid employment
  • Poor health care
  • Limited educational and economic opportunities
  • Environmental changes, droughts, floods, lack of availability of sufficiently productive land, and other pressures on rural livelihoods
• Rural to urban migration can be a selective process, as some types of people are more likely to move than others
• If more men move to towns and cities than women, this leaves a predominantly female society in rural areas
• Positive impacts of urbanization

  • Thriving towns and cities are an essential element of a prosperous national economy
  • Gathering of economic and human resources stimulates innovation and development
  • Better access to education, health, social services and cultural activities
  • Higher child survival rates
  • Easier and less costly for government and utilities to provide essential goods and services
• Rapid population increases and unplanned growth create an urban sprawl with negative economic, social, and environmental consequences
• In Ethiopia, the rate of urban growth often strains the capacity of local and national government to provide urban residents with even the most basic services of housing, water supply, sewerage and solid waste disposal
• Problems in slum areas


  • Poor housing with small, overcrowded houses built very close together using inadequate materials and with uncertain electricity supply
  • Restricted access to water supplies
  • Little or no sanitation/latrine facilities and no solid waste disposal, which leads to a polluted and degraded local environment
  • Inadequate health care facilities which, coupled with the poor living conditions, increases sickness and death rates
  • Insecure living conditions – slum dwellers may be forcibly removed by landowners or other authorities

  
• Poverty is one of the most critical issues facing urban areas. Urban poverty degrades both the physical and social environment
• Challenges in providing water and sanitation services

  • Increased demand for water from the growing population can place added stress on already stretched resources
  • Water is commonly in short supply and subject to increasing competition by different users
  • Difficult to provide water and sanitation services to deprived areas and the poorest people
  • Many people live without access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation
  • Inadequate sanitation and wastewater disposal contaminate surface water and create a serious health risk
• In Africa and Asia most of the urban centres have no sewers at all, which affects rivers and other water bodies
• Urbanization


  Leads to increasing demand for water for industrial and domestic use, which conflicts with agricultural demands
• It is especially difficult to provide water and sanitation services to deprived areas and the poorest people
• Many people in these areas live without access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation
• Even where adequate water supplies are available, sanitation and wastewater disposal are often inadequate or missing
• Pit latrines and septic tanks

  • Limited capacity and not always adequate to cope with the quantity of waste produced by many people living close together
• Overflowing latrines and septic tanks

  Contaminate surface water and create a serious health risk
• The lack of these essential services threatens not only the health and the environment of people in slum areas, but also that of people living in formal urban areas
• In Africa and Asia most of the urban centres have no sewers at all, which affects rich and poor alike