12th December Academic Task 2

In many countries, the quality of life in large cities is becoming worse. What causes this problem? What measure can be taken to solve it?

It is irrefutable that urbanization is occurring at an unprecedented rate. Unfortunately, this development does have some negative aspects. This essay intends to analyze the causes of this situation and suggest some solutions to address this problem.

The main reason for the deteriorating quality of life in large metropolitans and mega cities is the high population pressure on these cities. This means that there is always a demand supply gap, which further means that there is a shortage of infrastructure because of which the price of real estate and other products is always higher than normal. This high population density also leads to a high density of private vehicles on roads, which leads to traffic jams and high air pollution. Thus, city inhabitants have to deal with increasing commuting times and a poor quality of air leading to stress and health problems.

Another reason for the worsening city life is poor planning. Most city planning is done with regard to the current city conditions and problems rather than the problems expected in the future. The creation of slum areas in cities is because of housing shortage due to poor planning, which fails to account for increasing population and migration into cities. Finally, a huge problem faced by city dwellers these days is the rising crime. This is due to shortage of law and order personnel, which is again a failure on the part of the urban administration.

The solutions are not simple, but many of these problems can be solved with proper planning. Firstly, the government can tackle the problem of high population density by controlling the migration to cities. This can be done in many ways, such as by creating livelihoods in nearby towns and villages. If these jobs employ the people living nearby, they would not have to move into large cities. The government and the real estate businesses can also try to plan affordable housing in different areas of cities to ensure that slum areas are not created. A second measure could be to create high speed connectivity between nearby towns and cities. This would ensure that people commute to cities rather than moving there. This has been successfully done by the South Korean government by constructing high speed rail to control the population influx into Seoul in Korea. Lastly, technology like CCTV and surveillance cameras can be used to reduce crime to a certain extent.

To sum up, high population pressure and poor planning on the part of urban administration are the main reasons that have impacted the quality of life in large cities. However, these problems can certainly be addressed by proper measures.