The article convinced me that there are serious problems going with this unstoppable urbanization. Unprecedented urban sprawl, new slums, unbalanced development and income inequalities are all the negative effects of this ever growing urbanization. It is near impossible to solve the problems above without stopping the trend of urbanization. To stop urbanization or limit the speed of urbanization is an impossible mission. Since there is no way feasible to completely eradicate all the vices of the urbanization, tentatively, I’d like to suggest some ideas about what we can do to improve the present situation and contain its harmful effects to the lowest level possible. First, we can develop more villages into towns. Towns, in my opinion, are the most suitable place for people to live in. Life is more convenient and comfortable in towns than in villages, where people have to go miles to buy their life necessities, entertainment is scarce and they are generally so much like a secular place that people would get used to being cut off from the outside civilization and being deprived of fully enjoying the modern conveniences. Towns, where there is less pollution and traffic congestion, can surely be exempt from most vices of modernization and should therefore be given priority in development over cities. Second, cities should be well planned and designed. Cities generate wealth and drive economy more efficiently than towns and villages, so it’s out of the question to stop towns growing into cities. But what we can do here is to have a good plan for city development. Cities should not be the results of outgrown towns, which are unfortunately the case. It’s better for a government to plan ahead which towns should be developed into cities, though it’s difficult to foresee the development of a town. For cities whose growth is already out of control, the government can still do something. It can improve the living condition of slums and ghettoes and try to create more jobs for poor people. Or it can develop better satellite cities or towns and encourage poor people in mega regions to migrate there. Last but not the least, we ordinary people should change our way of life. We should not always find the government our enemy to blame whenever a disaster hits or a problem arises. It’s we ourselves that are to blame. Why should we cluster in cities even though they cannot offer us better living conditions? Why do so many people prefer to live like refugees in cities than go to towns and villages to make a living? In China, many farmers go to mega regions like Yangtze delta and Zhujiang delta. Most make great contribution to the development of the cities, but there are still some who are paid extremely low and looked down upon in factories. Some migrant workers work in inhuman conditions like modern slaves, but they refuse to go home. Farmers don’t pay taxes any longer and can enjoy many benefits provided by the government. It seems that some people would prefer to live in poverty and without dignity in cities rather than find opportunities elsewhere in towns and villages. That puzzles me. How can we search for quality life in an iron box which is doomed to bring poverty and disgrace? Many people might take it as an extreme suggestion but I would like to think it feasible: if people living in slums and ghettoes migrate to other small towns or villages, the slums and ghettoes will surely disappear and inequalities in cities will no longer be so serious a problem.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:36:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015