Human geography Class
Tianjin city is a metropolis city located in the northern part of China. It is among the People Republic of China’s five central cities, and forms one of the four municipalities that are direct-controlled. This means that the city is directly administrated by the central government. This is as opposed to the municipal government. It borders Beijing Municipality, Hebei Province, Bohai Gulf and the Yellow Sea. It is the fourth largest city in China, after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (Hou, 2012). It is ranked as being fifth in the Mainland China. To date, the city s a major gateway and seaport to the capital of the nation, hence plays a significant role to the country’s economy.
There are two urban planning models that best explain the development of Tianjin: the sector model and the multiple nuclei model. The sector model was developed by Homer Hoyt, who was a land economist. Essentially, this planning model takes into account the city’s internal structures in order to maximize utility. As a major city in China, Tianjin is densely populated, hence the need for adequate planning. In Tianjin, the arrangement of social groups depends on the sectors available. Effectively, households with low incomes are exposed to places near railway lines and other commercial establishments. The railway sector in Tianjin is established; pointing out that this model played a significant role to promoting the city’s development.
The city also adopts the multiple nuclei model. In practice, this model is ecological. It argues that a city grows from various points that are independent as opposed to the central business district. When such multiple points expand, they merge and form an urban area. Such points include universities, ports, parks and airports (Pong, 2009). With the city having multiple attraction centers such as educational centers and sports centre, this model explains how all such attractions happened to be in one place.
Photo of a culture street in Tianjin (Pong, 2009)
Problems associated with the city
The city’s rapid expansion means it faces various challenges. First, the issue of environmental degradation cannot be understated. The increase in industries in the city means that more gases are emitted during the production of goods (Pong, 2009). These gases pose major health challenges to the residents of the city. The effect of this is promoting global warming which has adverse effects on the environment. Poor disposal of waste products also means that environmental degradation is promoted. Other challenges may include soaring energy consumption and runaway urbanization.
Improving the city
In order to improve the city, several factors have to be taken into consideration. Such factors depend on the issue or challenge being addressed. In solving the problem of inadequate living space, it is important to consider expanding the city. Currently, the population in the city is so high. Through expansion and building more infrastructures, decongestion will be enhanced. It is also important to consider the challenge of environmental degradation vis s vis sustainability. Most industries in the city do not adopt fair practices to prevent production of waste products which pollute the environment (Silberglitt, 2009). Through embracing sustainable practices, this problem will be adequately addressed. A good example is by embracing a re-cycle system where waste products can be put into use.
Tianjin city is a major economic hub in China. As already argued above, the city is the seaport to the capital of the nation (Zhang, 2010). This implies that the major economic activities are carried out in this city. It would be amazing to take advantage of this and improve the city. With such resources, industries can take initiatives to adopt modern technology in production of goods and services. This means there will be a better environment for people to live, and sustainability will be promoted.
One of the most important ways of improving a city is through improving its transportation network. As expected, Tianjin city is highly populated. Major industries in China are located in or around the city. There is a large population that commutes to and from their places of work. With such a big population relying on the road network, traffic congestion poses a major challenge. These challenges mean that people find it hard to arrive at their workplaces in time. It is important that in improving Tianjin, such factors are taken into consideration.
Major cities including Tianjin face the problem of rising crime and insecurity. Crime leads to loss of capital, destruction of property and at times, people die (Hou, 2012). This deprives the city hardworking individuals whose creative ideas would boost the economy. In an attempt to improve the security o this economy, it is essential that security is enhanced. This can be achieved through increasing the security personnel on patrol to protect citizens. It can also be enhanced by increasing security lights and surveillance techniques to identify criminals. With terrorism fast becoming a global challenge, necessary mechanisms should be taken to prevent such inhuman actions. Without this, development in the city will be hindered. In the year 2013, cries in the city of Tianjin increased from those in 2012 as shown below.
(excerpt from the table)
Source: Hou (2012)
Analyzing the above table shows that the number of crimes in the city increased. This is a major source of concern because the citizens feel insecure.
It would also be helpful if living space and community space are utilized to foster productivity. In the city of Tianjin, there are parcels of land which surround or adjoin the city that are dormant. These spaces are empty, meaning no economic or social activities take place. In order to improve the city, the idea is to ensure that such spaces serve a number of functions and uses. By remaining idle, the value will not be felt. It is only through putting them to work that the city will be improved.
References
Hou, Y., & Nie, J. (2012). Information Retrieval Technology 8th Asia Information Retrieval Societies Conference, AIRS 2012, Tianjin, China, December 17-19, 2012. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
Pong, D. (2009). Encyclopedia of modern China. Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner's Sons/Gale Cengage Learning.
Silberglitt, R. (2009). The global technology revolution China, in-depth analyses emerging technology opportunities for the Tianjin Binhai new area (TBNA) and the Tianjin economic-technological development area (TEDA). Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
Zhang, J. (2010). ICLEM 2010 logistics for sustained economic development : Infrastructure, information, integration : Proceedings of the 2010 International Conference of Logistics Engineering and Management : October 8-10, 2010, Chengdu, China. Reston, Va.: American Society of Civil Engineers.
