By the middle of this century, two-thirds of humanity is expected to live in cities leading to the increasingly rapid pace of urban development. This phenomenon causes urban sprawl, one of the most prominent issues, triggering numerous other problems. This essay will delve into the reason for this persisting trend and its adverse effects.
The top reasons for urban migration are that more populated areas often present more occupation vacancies and better living standards. Firstly, it is factual that most constructions such as hospitals, factories, schools, etc are located in the cities’ centres, hence people are relocating to find employment in these locations. In other words, to meet the needs of the crowded population, urban areas offer a wider job market and a variety of careers, providing more space for employees to express their skills and accumulate more experience. Besides, citizens have better access to modern facilities from health centres, recreation attractions to renowned educational institutions since the infrastructure in the metropolis is usually invested more than that in rural areas. Therefore, most youngsters nowadays tend to move to bigger cities to attend higher education and later work and settle down in these areas, resulting in the growing number of inhabitants in metropolis centres and rapid urbanisation.
However, for such a fast speed of urbanisation, the higher density of demographics leads to various problems, namely social evils and lower life quality. The population extension can lead to inflation of the price of a wide range of commodities because the demand is higher than the supply capacities, contributing to the increasing basic production prices. As a result, citizens find it harder to earn enough money to maintain a stable life, some may potentially resort to social evils such as theft, gambling, prostitution, etc. Moreover, the size of some cities is growing uncontrollably; thus, housing is densely planned and the amenities are not taken care of well. Consequently, many have to live in slums with poor living conditions, especially for the working class with lower salaries.
In short, people have the tendency to move to cities in search of better living standards and wider work and study opportunities. Nevertheless, this phenomenon leads to population density in big urban areas, exacerbating some existing issues such as poor quality of life and negative social occurrence.