Introduction
Urban development has been the cause of increase of emissions that affect the ozone layer; it also results in accelerated rates of global warming effects. The consequences of urban sprawl affect the environment in a number of ways with high level of energy consumption and use of transportation, cooling and heating facilities as well as sustenance of social thriving of urban neighborhoods. The appearance of such situations has risen from the need to mechanize transportation in neighborhoods without any consideration of the effects of the human activity. Sprawling of urban centers leads to an increase of demand of consumer goods, for example, household appliances and automobiles to facilitate the urban lifestyles1.
Problems and causes
Motorization remains a significant contributor to gas emissions into the atmosphere and environment translating to cases of global warming. Green house emissions also contribute highly to emissions which in turn pose social impacts on the community through creation of social polarization, being main contributors to loss of agricultural land. Urban sprawl and motorization have led to significant environmental and social problems. Rapid motorization leads to social problems with greenhouse emissions being a critical point of concern2. It is a cause for loss of farmlands and the reason for polarization of urban centers leading to social alienation and stratification. As much as motorization was seen as a development in the past, it has now become necessary to implement change as a means of initiating compact structures of defined and structured cities.
Popularization of vehicles started as a venture for mobility though it never had the consideration of mobility and that is a serious social problem for the society. People can no longer access places in good time because of the motor congestions on roads. Congestion constrains social livelihoods from catering for the needs of people by increasing pollution from the use of fossil fuels. Through polarization, social inequality arises which leads to a critical economic impact on people with serious stratification in the prices of important requirements, such as the constructions of houses.
Loss of farmland resulted from extensive suburbanization, which transformed geographical composition of landscapes and changed social settings. New dispositions of land developed changes in social ecologies, leading to changes in urban settings following the motorization sprawl. Increase in motorization leads to an increase in need of parking spaces, and that takes up farmland as well as pushes the development of sustainability to the rural areas. Such developments without any boundaries for urban growth damage natural preservation of the environment. Motorization results in privatization of social conform of the society with people spending their lives in their cars and in their suburban homes3. It delineates the population into to lifestyles without social attachments, leading to inequality of urban economies and personalization of public roads needed for public use. The use of the roads becomes overdone by private car owners, limiting any possibilities of equitable use by poor people within the society. Therefore, motorization robs public materials and leaves the roads at the mercy of overcrowding and unequal use.
Effective solutions
There ought to be policies in regards to the best manner of using land through an effective planning system in countries. Planning allows the preservation of natural landscapes of countries and gives a chance for the thriving of urban areas with boundaries, which allow an urban development and preservation of some bits of land for forests and farming. Through such steps, it becomes possible to mitigate the polarization problem, which derails land of any natural activity and leads to minimization of farming lands. Pedestrians are easier managed within small spaces than cars, which require multiple spaces and wasting of land that can be used for productive activities such as farming.
Motor congestion can be reduced by development of public transportation through the development of a transit-oriented system to facilitate accessibility of places by pedestrians because the success of neighborhoods depends on the efficiency of accessibility of motors and facilitation of commercial activities, such as retails. Through balancing between economic activities and the transportation system, there are environmental benefits and there is saving of land for other activities instead of congestion with numerous parking spaces for private vehicles. It is an effort, which can promote social equality for usage of public utilities, such as roads.
Planning a pedestrian friendly economy provides a chance for reducing gas emissions; people learn to appreciate the importance of public transportation since it promotes the enticement for trekking or cycling. It is an incentive important for the improvement of quality of life since walking or cycling is a form of exercise; fume free environment is healthy and the economy can grow through availability of commercial activities at close disposal of pedestrians4. Reducing polarization through provision of cheap public transport options allows people to reconsider the issue about their cars which helps in balancing the social existence of people within the community.
Bibliography
Gonzalez G. A., Urban Sprawl, Global Warming And The Limits Of Ecological Modernization. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
Martin G, “Global Motorization, Social Ecology and China”, Area, vol. 39. no. 1, 2007, pp. 66–73.
McCartney, D. Urban Sprawl to Sustainable Urban Village, Web.
Van, D. M, Consolidating Developmental Local Government: Lessons from the South African Experience. Cape Town, South Africa: UCT Press, 2008.
Footnotes
- GA Gonzalez, Urban Sprawl, Global Warming And The Limits Of Ecological Modernization, 2005.
- D McCartney, Urban Sprawl to Sustainable Urban Village, 2009.
- G Martin, Global Motorization, Social Ecology and China, Montclair State University,U.S.A, 2007, pp. 39.1, 66–73
- M Van, Consolidating Developmental Local Government: Lessons from the South African Experience. Cape Town, South Africa: UCT Press, 2008.