Earlier this month, February 8 to 13 to be precise, some 20,000 delegates from over 150 countries met in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for the 10th session of the World Urban Forum, convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Held under the theme, ‘Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation’, the conference kicked off the UN’s ‘Decade of Action’, which seeks to accelerate sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges, in the 10 years left to achieve the UN-chartered Sustainable Development Goals. Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, sustainable and resilient is the 11th of the 17 goals on the 2030 agenda for sustainable development adopted by UN member states in 2015.
Urbanisation, the term used to describe the movement of people from rural areas to cities, has been growing exponentially over the last few decades, mostly in developing countries. The reasons include economic opportunities, health care, education and infrastructure. In less economically developed countries, particularly in South America, Asia and Africa, rural villages have few to no job opportunities, no or inadequate health care facilities, no or low-grade schools and no or poor infrastructure, including roads, drainage, potable water, electricity and telephone service.
Generally, people who have endured such conditions as children, tend to want something better as adults. They assume they will find it in cities, so they migrate. Or they move because they need better health care and education for themselves and their children. There is an assumption, too, that big cities with their bright lights offer a better quality of life; that is rarely ever the case. Although, for the most part, cities demand a higher standard or living, which involves heavy outlays of funds/cash. Rural to urban migrants tend not to have the wherewithal, or if they do, their savings dwindle very quickly. Urban housing, for example, is usually not only expensive, but scarce.
Some of the results of such issues are urban slums. The UN estimates that today more than half of the world’s population live in urban areas, jam packed in dense cities, some of which are devoid of green spaces and that just under one in three urban dwellers live in slums, meaning they lack proper access to potable water and sanitation, possibly electricity as well. Their living space is woefully inadequate for the number of people under one roof and their living quarters lack durability; in many cases they are simply shacks. In essence, they have exchanged one type of misery for another. The only pros are that they might now have access to better health care and educational facilities.
Another huge downside to this type of migration, which affects not just the people involved but the world at large, is the growing percentage of arable spaces left vacant as a result of it. Abandoned farmlands or even kitchen gardens translate to less food available for humanity as a whole. That this is continuing in an era where food security is an issue, should concern all of us.
It has been suggested that a way to counter urbanisation would be to adopt models found in developed countries where every town, village or hamlet has access to basic necessities – health care, education, potable water and electricity. Of course, there will be need for industries as well, where people can work and earn. It goes without saying, however, that none of this is likely to be attainable in the short or medium term in developing countries. On the one hand, the finances needed to make it possible simply do not exist and on the other there is an amazing lack of foresight by leaders/public officials.
Of course, another way to deal with urbanisation is to embrace it, make room for it. This has been done successfully in some of the largest and best-known cities in the world. The World Economic Forum has named the top seven as London, New York, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul. These are followed closely by Los Angeles, Shanghai, Beijing, Amsterdam, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Madrid, Sydney, and Washington DC. These are cities where significant urban planning was done, adhered to and is still ongoing. Huge investments in infrastructure means they have well-functioning public transport systems and in today’s world digital connectivity, because where would we all be without it. These cities also benefited from good municipal governance and continue to do so. And while they are crowded, they rigorously maintain green spaces. For example, 47% of London is green space including the well-known Hampstead Heath and New York has 28,000 acres of green space, including its famous Central Park. Furthermore, each of these cities, particularly the top seven, attract millions of tourists annually because they work to maintain their unique cultures, experiences not available anywhere else in the world. There is much that can be learned from their resilience and history.
