Cities

The Problem

As society’s advance, the majority will urbanize and become cities. With cities come unparalleled opportunities for creating weal and prosperity, however, they simultaneously bring irreversible changes in consumption and production patterns. As human activity concentrates in cities, the way we use land, water, energy, and other natural resources is change drastically. Also, with these urban centers, comes a higher cost of living and as such typically will cause some to be misplaced who cannot get by within the city. This leads to a group classified as the “urban poor” who have harsh living conditions.

Canadian Perspective

Within Canada, the major cities lead to many facing poverty; examples of these are Vancouver, where 16.9% of the city’s population is poverty stricken, to Toronto where 13.2% struggle to be financially stable. Besides these big cities, smaller towns tend to have low-income levels far below the national average. Perhaps the reasoning behind this is that big cities tend to be where needed resources are for those stuck in poverty, such as food banks, as well as services for single parents.

The Solution

An urban strategy to aid those living in harsh conditions comes through UN-HABITAT who work with governments to promote sustainable urbanization, improve access to drinking water and sanitation, as well as promoting global awareness of urban conditions and trends through evidence based global monitoring. Furthermore, they face the upcoming urban challenges such as responding to natural and human-made disasters, promoting energy conservation, as well as focusing on mitigation and adaption efforts. The issue of the urban poor is an ongoing factor, however, through organizations and simply aiding those less fortunate, it is possible to see a day where all may stand on their own, successful.

Our Perspective

Though the Town of Hampton is not a major center, it is evident that there is still a certain percentage of individuals living below the poverty line. Cities can impact an economy in a substantial way with opportunities galore, however, on the other hand, perhaps cities create a flocking ground for those less fortunate who cannot make use of those opportunities. The urbanization of the globe is simply inevitable. It’s bound to happen, though when it does, it could either lead to a boom in the economy, or a boom in the low-income level.

http://famouswonders.com/new-york-skyscrapers-and-its-marvelous-skyline/

http://wbi.worldbank.org/wbi/es/news/2012/05/17/blog-post-building-resilience-urban-poor

https://christianharvey.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/tell-dean-housing-people-is-not-to-expensive/

http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/cities/index.shtml

http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/cities/vitalstats.shtml