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Alleviating the side-effects of urbanization in South East Asia and Latin America

Forum: United Nations Economic and Social CouncilStudent Officer: Jerry An, Deputy Chair

IntroductionUrbanization is now a global trend. Currently, more than half of

the world’s population live in urban areas, and by 2050, it is predicted by the UN-Habitat that 70% will be living in cities. Urban living can offer many educational and employment opportunities; however, a rapid and unsustainable urbanization often accompanies negative results as well: “creation of more slums, more people in inadequate living conditions and lacking secure tenure of their housing and land, and greater disparities, inequalities and discrimination.” Places such as Latin America and South-East Asia underwent drastic shifts as 80% of Latin America is now urbanized and 130 million South Asians live in informal settlements. Careful actions should be taken to prevent unsustainable urbanization.

BackgroundEconomic growth and industrialization can be cited as the trigger

for this trend of growing cities. Statistics shows the effects of rapid urbanization and highlights the significance of this issue, especially in Latin America and South-East Asia. To be specific, now, people living in large cities in Latin America generate 60% of its GDP, which is 1.5 times what is expected in large Western cities. The cities also serve as the hub of technological innovation, also making a progress in communications infrastructure and citizen connectivity.

In contrast, the side effects can be observed as well. As an example, “one in three urban dwellers lives in slums, or a total of 1 billion people worldwide.” Rapid urbanization has also caught the attention of the World Health Organization (WHO) as Dr. Jacob Kumaresan, director of the World Health Organization’s Centre for Health Development based in Kobe, Japan stated, “while urban living continues to offer many opportunities,

© MUNiSC 2018"A busy street in Medellín, Colombia, where more than two million people

commute in the country’s second

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including potential access to better health care, today’s urban environments can concentrate health risks and introduce new hazards”.

Cities will, in the coming decades, grasp more power as they make more national decisions and policies, and to alleviate diverse side-effects of wrongly directed urbanization, economic opportunity and citizen participation should increase: recently the state and local authorities have been decentralized as citizens demanded for more participation in the government and democratization. Battling corruption becomes also crucial, to prevent urban planners and decision makers from overlooking crucial human right principles, leading to a further sustainable urbanization.

International ActionsIn Quito, Ecuador, Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on

Housing and Sustainable Urban Development took place from 17- 20 October to direct global urbanization in a safe and sustainable way. Taking account of the vision in 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Conference established the New Urban Agenda, which focuses on protecting and implementing the human rights as urbanization takes place. “The model of development that we promote must ensure the free, active and meaningful participation of the beneficiaries of development, and in particular of the most marginalized,” says Marcia V.J. Kran, Human Rights Office’s Director of Research and Right to Development Division. “Urban and spatial development should be done with and for city dwellers.”

Various international and local organizations have shown great concern and efforts in solving this issue. Many cities have planned campaigns and events to promote social unity and health care, as it was led by the World Health Day campaign “1000 cities, 1000 lives” during 7~11 April 2010, opening public spaces and closing off busy streets. In addition, Atlantic Council, an international affair think tank headquartered in Washington D.C., has also provided innovative urban solutions such as the Urban World 2030 project to steer urbanization into a positive direction for the future.

Major CausesIn a rural to urban migration, the causes can be summed up in to

“push and pull factors,” which compel the citizens to pursue urban lifestyles. As these factors serve as the major driving force for rapid urbanization, measures taken to tackle these factors can greatly slow down radical changes.

The “push factors” encourage the rural people to leave the rural

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"A busy street in Medellín, Colombia, where more than two million people

commute in the country’s second

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and migrate to urban environment, and they include “poverty, low living standard, lack of security of life and property, worse sanitary conditions, lack of transportation and communication, lack of health facilities, lack of educational facilities, and lack of job opportunities.” Whereas, the “pull factors,” which are the characteristics of cities that attract individuals, include “health facilities, high standard of living, high standard of education, better recreational facilities, job opportunities, better security of life and property, and better social environment.”

Problems Raised

Economic Problems

Urbanization is accompanied by an increase in natural resources consumption, accelerating depletion. In addition, extreme concentration of population in urban areas “reduces the per capita availability of basic resources.” This means that although many rural residents move to urban centers hoping for better living standards, living standards in cities might in fact deteriorate as urbanization takes place in an

extremely fast pace, without thorough preparation and measures taken to alleviate the detrimental effects. Agriculture in rural areas are greatly influenced by urbanization as well, as a significant portion of workforce is transferred into cities. However, even in cities, people suffer greatly from low employment rate; it is

also estimated that more than half of the unemployed youths live in urban areas.

Environmental Problems

Development of cities can drastically alter the original ecological environment, often leading to deforestation and the denuding of arable land. In addition, due to overpopulation in cities, urban centers are undergoing resource crisis in managing its residents. To be specific, inadequate sewage facilities often drain into lakes, rivers, streams, and seas nearby, damaging the surrounding ecosystem and contributing to water scarcity in cities as well. In order to create more housing space,

urban environments also tend to

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“Motor vehicles are a major contributor to air pollution”

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replace original rural landscapes; as workforce deployed on agriculture diminishes, portion of agricultural lands transform into urban areas. However, a great number of urban dwellers still needs a safe home and the original ecological environment is continuously damaged and replaced.

Health Problems

Better healthcare (pull factor) is one of the main reasons for urbanization. In fact, disease related to “water, environment, violence and injury, noncommunicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases), unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol as well as the risks associated with disease outbreaks” all have certain connection to urban lifestyle. Common features of cities such as “increased pressures of mass marketing, availability of unhealthy food choices and accessibility to automation and transport all have an effect on lifestyle that directly affect health.” Rapid increases in urban slums, due to urbanization, is a huge concern as well, as diarrhea, typhoid, gastroenteritis, water related diseases, and sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS are all common in slums. Currently, 25- 30% of the world population lives in inadequate and poor housing or water facilities.

Urban crime

Many adverse side-effects of unsustainable urbanization such as overcrowding, unemployment, poverty, and lack of social services can lead to higher crime rate in urban environment. “Murder, rape, kidnapping, riots, assault, theft, robbery, and hijacking are reported to be more prominent in the urban vicinities.”

Places of High ConcernBrazil

Brazil has undergone drastic urbanization in the 20th century, and this “rapid adjustment to urban living has left many of Brazil’s poorest behind.” The prevailing modern, urban social inequality is rooted in its history. Like many parts of Latin America, the aristocracy had great power until the First Brazilian Republic formed in 1899. However, since then, from 1940s to the 1970s, Brazil maintained a high annual rate of 4.5% in growth of metropolitan areas. The problems arise as elites controlled important resources and retained their wealth; whereas, the rural poor suffered from insufficient infrastructure and growth of slums,

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moving in to the periphery of the cities. To be specific, Brazil suffers from a housing crisis, as “the housing shortage in the country is at around 7 million units, mostly among those earning less than the minimum wage.” The dichotomy between the rich and the poor serves as the main reason for Brazil’s unsustainable urban development.

MexicoDue to economic globalization and Mexico’s entry into the free

trade agreement with the United States and Canada that began several decades ago, a massive rural to urban migration has been taking place. Country’s major urban centers like Mexico City (with a population of more than 21 million) is swelling, and these cities are having a hard time managing their rapid growth. For example, according to the Mexico City’s environmental agency reports, 200,000 cars are added to the city every year, revealing Mexico’s process of urbanization.

ChileSince the middle of the nineteenth century, urban centers,

including both big cities like Santiago and small cities like Valparaíso and Concepción, grew rapidly, and the urbanization was preceded by Chile’s rapid industrialization. In order to protect the mistreated rural poor who has migrated to the metropolitan areas, the Workers’ Federation of Chile was created and grew radically. Like many other Latin American countries, the wealth discrepancy is distinct, as the extent of the poverty, illiteracy, and poor health among the working class is alarming.

MalaysiaMalaysia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world. 74%

of the population lives in cities, and the percentage is expected to further rise as the country also have a high urbanization rate of 6.8%, according to the World Bank. Many people are looking toward better living condition, school, infrastructure, healthcare, and job opportunities in urban centers.

LaosLaos has an urban population density of 36.5%, but the urban

population growth rate reaches up to 5.6%. In 1964, the United States launched a nine-year bombing campaigns in Laos, dropping 260 million bombs in total. This caused a mass displacement of people and serves as one of the primary cause of poor living conditions. People, both in urban and rural areas, require “better access to social amenities and job opportunities.”

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Possible Solutions:

Policy making

Better urban planning can lead to more sustainable urbanization. The government should pass laws and strengthen infrastructure to provide safe and healthy environment away from polluted and unsustainable slums. There should be a clearer standard of living and laws like minimum wage policy should be reinforced. Restraining the excessive usage of natural resources and promoting sustainable environment through means such as “investment in green infrastructure, sustainable industries, recycling and environmental campaigns, pollution management, renewable energy, green public transportation, and water recycling and reclamation.” Since there are many human rights being violated in urban areas, measures should be taken by the government to better protect natural rights.

However, as the cities gain more power and increase in population, a small group of elites who are “marked by highly concentrated control of political and fiscal resources” gain more and more authorities. The government can further embody democratic values, so that citizens can be allowed and encouraged to take part in the decision-making. Like in the situation of Peru and Bolivia, the government gradually becomes decentralized, and the citizens, in response, should be better educated and be able to make informed decisions to promote sustainable development and stability.

Improving urban living conditions

As people move from rural regions to urban areas, hoping for a higher standard of living; however, in reality, the cost of basic services in cities are much more expensive than in rural areas. Especially regarding the necessities and the very basic services such as water, housing, education, and security, these services should be better supplied to those living in slums. The poor urban living conditions also serves as the primary reasons for other harmful side-effects of urbanization such as health problems and urban crimes. In addition, especially regarding overpopulation and housing crisis, most cities actually have enough space to sustainably hold all residents; however, the problem is that these areas are not fully being utilized. Effective redistribution and rezoning can alleviate this problem.

Future Expectations

The working-age population is estimated to peak at around the 2040s. The number of potential workers increases, and these urban workers are the ones who will be the running the economy and supporting the society; therefore, the urban workers can receive high-

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quality education to increase their future values and maximize their abilities to propel economic development. In addition, more opportunities and jobs for the urban residents should be provided, as unemployment is one of the major problems that the rural migrants suffer from. Jobs can be created from utilizing private investments in tourism promotion and safe exploitation of natural resources.

Glossary

Urbanization: the trend and the phenomenon of increasing population in cities compared to rural areas and the expansion of urban areas (cities).

Infrastructure: “the underlying foundation or basic framework (as of a system or organization).”

Slum: dirty and densely populated urban area inhabited by the poor.

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