Describe the process of urbanization based on the reading by Kingsley Davis and chapters 1 and 2 of Levy.
The U.S. lands were primarily agricultural originally. Urbanization was limited due to the activities being agricultural predominantly. The period between 1800-1900 witnessed increased agricultural activity, factory production and development of low cost modes of transportation. It was the low-cost mode of transportation that helped increase in urban development during the 19th century. The suburbanization started with the development of electric street car. The automotive transportation, electronic communication and increased income were the main factors responsible for the suburbanization during the 20th century. There was sluggish growth or even decline in population during the period of World War II in the largest cities and inland industrialized cities such as Cleveland and St. Louis. Rapid mechanization of agriculture forced poor population to migrate to large cities during the post war period. During the same period, there was also outmigration of better-of f households, migration from overseas, loss of employment were responsible for the poor growth of central cities. The changing age structure of the U.S. population has reversed the trend of shrinkage in population of largest central cities during the period between 2000 and 2010.
The process of urbanization contributed to planned development. Interconnectedness and complexity of the population necessitated planning. There would have been no need for planning if there had been very few people. But because of the largeness of the population and complicated technologies, the planned development became imperative. Thus, the interconnectedness explains the character of development of a particular stretch of land and the traffic it is capable of generating. Traffic flow will be different depending on the development of single-family houses or apartments. The latter will require a neighborhood shopping center also. As such traffic decision coincides with land development decision. This affects the population living therein. Which of the areas need pavements and materials used for pavements decides the speed of draining of rain water from properties. The water runoff can affect the flooding of the areas far away. The land use decision of a community decides the shape and extent of walking areas and driving areas. It depends on the existing business and jobs and attractiveness of the community. The land-use decisions can have an effect on fiscal health of the community. The development of properties or rather urbanization carries with the burden of obligations such as police, education, fire protection, recreational and social services.
What have been trends in the growth of population and urban areas during the last couple of centuries?
The U.S. population in the year 1800 was five million and about 5 % of it i.e., 300,000 lived in urban areas. The population grew to seventy-six million and thirty million for the country and urban areas respectively in hundred years. That is, by 1900, urban population increased by thirty- five percent. The country’s population grew by a factor of 15, an annually compounded rate of 2.4 percent between 1800 and 1900. The urban population grew by a factor of 100, an annually compounded rate of 5 %. The population of the largest city of the United States, New York was 100,000 in the year 1800 which increased to three million by 1900. By the year 2000, the total population of the country was around two hundred eighty million and by 2050, it has been projected to exceed four hundred million.
Based on the video, will population growth overwhelm the ability of the earth to sustain continued population growth?
The Population Bomb predicted that by 1970s, the world would be famished and hundreds of millions of people would die of starvation. The author based his theory on the basis of population growth’s ongoing outstripping of the earth’s resources that would result in destroying of ecology and endangering survival of humanity. His solution was population control by the introduction of contraceptives’ use and small family incentives and cessation of food aid to India and other developing country. Environmentalists would however not confer with the Ehrlich’s Population Bomb theory. They state that pollution effects are not due to population growth but are the consequences of deliberate technological choices of using more paper, petroleum, cement and synthetic materials. Pollution increase has been faster than the rate of increase in population. Environmentalists argue that India’s population growth did not increase the pollution in that country. They further argue that there is no reason food production could not keep pace with population growth. Contrary to Ehrlich’s warning, famines have decreased worldwide since 1968. The Population Bomb’s author Ehrlich’s conclusions are based on his expertise in evolutionary biology which helped study community of snakes and conclude that there could be a straightforward relationship between food and population i.e with more organisms there will be less food and more competition for survival. It is argued that while some of raw materials like petroleum will be completely depleted in the near future, mankind has already started experimenting with alternative sources of energy. Energy being indestructible and a life giving source, the surviving population on earth will continue to find food through alternative sources. Land shrinkage due to urbanization has found means to maintain food production through alternatives such as GM food etc. This being the case, the Population Bomb’s predictions are unlikely to materialize.
What are the debates that emanate from the video on this question?
It is the argument of Ehrlich that earth’s resources are becoming scarcer with the increasing rate of population growth. According to him, the population of the earth will crash at 1.5 million and the population of the US at just under 23 million. It has been disproved today. The argument of the critics is that population does not grow exponentially forever. Even Malthusian theory of population has not become true.
Finally, identify two or three challenges that the City of Los Angeles faces with a growing population.
Population of Los Angeles has more of aging population. Its population of the 65 years old and still older people has grown by 19 % between 2000 and 2008. Its minority elder population is growing rapidly. Its Hispanic and Asian older population has grown by 40 % since 2000 while African American older population rose by 9 %. White population has not grown at all. By 2030, older adult population will be 2.2 million compared to the present level of 1.1 million as of 2010. By 2030, the non-whites will form 2/3rd of the county’s older population. Los Angeles is most densely populated place of the U.S with 7,544.6 people per square mile. However, there will be a decline in growth due to the sharp decline in immigration. The main challenges faced by the city are provision of health for the older population, density of population and pollution levels caused by an increase in population levels.
References
Kao, D. T. (2010). Los Angeles Population Change and Healthy Aging. USC Edward R.Royal Institute on Aging. .
Levy, J. M. (2013). Contemporary Urban Planning. Prentice Hall.
Reed, S. O. (2008). The Publication of Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb by the Sierra Club, 1968: Wilderness-Thinking, Neo-Malthusianism, and Anti-Humanism. Weleyan University.
Schneider, J. A. (2003). Environmental Investigations: Paul Ehrlich vs. Julian Simon - Have We Reached the Limit? . Retrieved from http://www.oswego.edu/~schneidr/CHE300/envinv/EnvInv08.html.
WorldPopulationReview. (2014). Los Angeles Population 2014. Retrieved from http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/los-angeles-population/.
