These days, more and more of us are living in big cities, and urban areas are expanding all the while. Although cities are very attractive places to live, while providing a wide range of work and leisure activities, they tend to host a significant amount of social problems. This essay will examine some of these problems in detail and propose some solutions.
One of the biggest problems people are facing is the high property prices. In many cities, buying a house, especially one near the centre, is usually way above their budget. This forces people to live far away from where they work. As a consequence, they not only waste more money to pay for transportation to work, but also their time. To solve this problem, the government could put more resources into building affordable and sustainable housing, which would allow more people to buy their own homes.
Another issue is the amount of traffic as well as public transport in cities. Generally, cities are overrun by cars, creating a great deal of traffic congestion. This causes a lot of road rage and wastes people’s time sitting in traffic jams. Because public transport in urban areas are not usually invested in, they are inefficient and old, making them difficult to use. At the same time, ticket prices for public transport are way too high, which puts people off from using them. The way forward is to either reduce ticket prices and improve public transport, encouraging more people to travel by bus and train, or charge a congestion fee for cars entering the city, thus effectively cutting down the amount of private vehicles.
Finally, a major problem is the amount of pollution in cities. The exhaust fumes from private transport worsens the air pollution, therefore subjecting the city dwellers to different kinds of respiratory diseases, such as asthma. Not only is the air polluted, but also the water too. For example, Tô Lịch river in Hanoi, Vietnam has been a dumping area for numerous amounts of rubbish, resulting in the river losing its original beauty while also becoming a central breeding ground for many dangerous bacteria. This problem may be addressed by cutting down the amount of cars and motorbikes to lessen air pollution problems and to encourage citizens to not collect trash in public places, but to reduce, reuse, and recycle their trash.
In conclusion, although there are many problems which flood cities, it is with no doubt possible to start tackling these issues to improve the quality of life in urban areas. The government as well as city councils must deal with these problems at hand as quickly as possible, otherwise city life will only get worse in the future.