Urbanization is a process by which a high number of members of a society live in cities as well as the suburbs of cities. On historical bases, urbanization has been linked to is industrialization, which is a global economic element. Urbanization is determined by existence of various factors that may define it as a wise or useless economic move. It is linked to factors such as overpopulation, which define major social needs that must be taken care of as they are results of urbanization (Brown 13). Elements such as pollution, fire hazards, epidemics, poor sanitation, and unemployment are some of the negative effects of urbanization (Bowden 11). Different cities, which have undergone urbanization, have had different tastes of the effects of the economic factor.
Chicago is one of the cities that have witnessed extensive growth in the past few years. It has witnessed extensive growth in the population as well as the different groups of people who have been able to live in the city. The first people to settle in the city were Indians. Indians set up businesses in the city that attracted a good deal of people to the city as they came to look for jobs (Cannon and John 1591).This attributed to the fast growth of the city.
Railroad construction and existence of a river in the city contributed to the exceptional growth of the city. Before trains were invented, Chicago River was mainly used for transportation. Also, this made more people to camp at Chicago for the rest of their lives (Cannon and John 1592).
Lately, there have been massive improvements in the city. There has been extensive constructions, and manufacturing of products such as steel goods, fabricated metals, machinery, machine tools, cosmetics and sporting goods (Swiatkowski 1). These improvements have also been fundamental in extending growth for Chicago.
However, despite the city being so beneficial and attractive to many people, it has had its taste of the effects of urbanization. The major negative effects that the city has experienced are overpopulation and lack of unemployment. The city has a population of approximately 2, 783, 726 people. Overpopulation carries along other elements such as poor lifestyle among citizens, high levels of unemployment, and poor sanitation (Swiatkowski 1).
Beijing which is the capital city of China has also had its stake on urbanization. In the last two decades, it has been among the most highly developing cities in the world. The main factor that has made it one of the globe’s fastest growing cities is industrialization. This is the main factor that has been defined as the cause of development or urbanization. Beijing is home to most of the manufacturing industries in the republic of China (Li et al 895).
The city enjoys exclusively well structured road networks that join it to the rest of the country. This means that the transportation network of the city is well defined. Also, construction in the city has been taking place from time to time causing increase to the size of the city. The existence of a large number of industries in the city has influenced the population of the city. This is because, people have been moving from different regions in search for jobs in the city.
Urbanization in Beijing has brought in massive negative effects. The first one is overpopulation, which has attributed to other issues in the city. The other effect of urbanization which may also result from overpopulation is environmental pollution. There has been extensive air pollution in the city with health risks being warned against dwellers of the city. Overpopulation which has resulted to existence of a large number of cars has been contributive to air pollution in the city. Also, the large number of industries leads to massive release of waste into the air in form of smoke (Qiu 11). This makes the city pose exclusive health risks to the city dwellers as well as its visitors.
Las Vegas is the other city that has been extensively influenced by urbanization. This is a city that has grown to be the city of leisure where people always visit in such for comfort or for holidays. There are various factors that make the city a destiny for many people. Such factors include clean environment, proper sanitation, existence of exclusive social facilities, as well as proper infrastructure.
Most people have visited the city in the bid to invest in the city following the overflowing number of visitors and flow of money. Celebrities have camped in this city as it hosts different parties that would make a business for them. Social facilities including games such as rugby have made the city famous to many parts of the world, thus making it a destiny for most people in the globe. The city is well designed with excellent road network that allows transport for people, as well as proper construction of houses to host the high number of visitors to the city (Venkatesan and Sajjad 2619).
However, this level of urbanization has attracted other effects such as social crimes like prostitution and theft. Also, overpopulation has been a major problem in the city. This means that not all people who move to the city in search for jobs that get them. This may be a contributive factor towards the level of crime in the city (Les Jeux Sont Faits 32).
Urbanization brings exclusive change to cities, as well as the globe. There is exclusive need to check on the various factors that may control urbanization. Becoming aware of the effects of urbanization would be equally fundamental. In most cases, different cities will have similar effects of urbanization. However, this does not prevent uniqueness of the effects of urbanization.
Work Cited
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Brown, Larry R.. Effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems. Bethesda, Md.: American Fisheries Society, 2005. Print.
Cannon, W.F., and John D. Horton. "Soil Geochemical Signature Of Urbanization And Industrialization – Chicago, Illinois, USA." Applied Geochemistry 24.8 (2009): 1590-1601. Print.
"Les Jeux Sont Faits--or Not: The Wheel Still Turns in Vegas.(Arts&Entertainment)." The New York Observer 15 Nov. 1999: 32. Print.
Li, Ying, Tingting Guo, and Jing Zhou. "Study on the Development of Rural Urbanization in Beijing." Procedia Environmental Sciences 11.2 (2011): 893-898. Print.
Qiu, Jane. "Urbanization contributed to Beijing storms." Nature 21 (2012): 11. Print.
Swiatkowski, Donald . "Urbanization in Chicago." Urbanization in Chicago. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://www.lib.niu.edu/1995/ihy951212.html>.
Venkatesan, Arjun K., and Sajjad Ahmad. "Systems dynamic model to forecast salinity load to the Colorado River due to urbanization within the Las Vegas Valley."Science of The Total Environment 409.13 (2011): 2616-2625. Print.
