Blog post #2 - Summary

Summary of "Living on an Urban Planet" (pp. 51-53)

 

In 1800, most people lived in rural areas, but from the 20th centuries, the number of people living in cities has been increasing rapidly. As large urban areas began to grow and spread, many people thought that it causes some serious problems like bad environments, disease and crime.

 

However, recently, people like urban planners, economists, and environmentalists have positive views on these urbanization. Many planners believe big cities offer a solution to dealing with the problem of Earth’s growing population. And, one economist insists that living in the cities is more efficient in economic aspect because it reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. Also, one environmentalist says moving people out of cities would be disastrous in ecological perspective. It is because people living in out of cities like suburbs and rural areas use more energy and produce more emissions.

 

Therefore, rapid growth of cities is an inevitable part of development rather than a real problem. And now, it is important to focus on how to manage rapid urbanization. And urban planners regard Seoul, South Korea as a nice example of successful urbanization. As for Seoul, a poor country can urbanize successfully and incredibly fast. Furthermore, it enabled economic growth, which paid for the buildings, roads, and other infrastructure that helped the city absorb even more people.

 

Urban planners expect dense and carefully planned cities are important solution for lifting people out of poverty without wrecking the planet. Therefore, urban planners around the world continue to struggle with the problem of how to manage urbanization.

 

In my opinion, I agree that cities bring largely positive benefits. However, the urbanization has had huge impact on Korea's family system. The rise of "apartment culture" has encouraged smaller families with one or two generations living in a household. Many people, particularly in urban areas, live single and lonely lives. The ageing population means a large proportion of the people will spend long but lonely lives without anyone to care for them. Korea already has one of the highest suicide rates among the elderly. In the past, family members used to take care of the elderly and sick. But with the decline of the family many elderly people must take care of themselves. Therefore, although urbanization offers lots of conveniences, I am personally sorry about the phenomenon.