STS L1 URBANIZATION

human population growth

• humans have expanded into almost all of planet’s climate zones and habitats for the past 200 years

• emergence of early / modern agriculture allowed us to grow food for each unit of land area farmed

• death rates dropped bcs of improved sanitation and healthcare

• rate of population growth slowed but still grew adding 83 million during 2011

• growth is unevenly distributed

• 1% of 83M were added to more developed countries

• 99% were added to world’s middle and low income, less developed country.

cultural carrying capacity

maximum number of people who could live in reasonable freedom & comfort without decreasing earth’s ability to sustain future generations

measures of sustainability

1. biocapacity: ability of ecosystems to regenerate / reproduce resources people demand / absorb (e.g: water, food, etc)

2. ecological footprint: measures how much of earth’s resources a human population consumes.

the problem / issue in PH ecological footprint and biocapacity

the PH is currently experiencing biocapacity deficit. thus, we are utilizing / demanding more resources from the nation than what the nation holds. in simple terms, mas marami tayong ecological footprint than biocapacity.

the global context

• main idea: everyone is moving quickly into the cities especially in asian countries

• 54% people in the world live in cities

• 53% of people in asia are in urbanized areas

• it is asia and africa where urbanization is the fastest

• prediction: by 2050, afria and asian will be 64% and 56% urban

• PH urbanization ranking 2025:

  • 49.3% to 51.2% (local)

  • 206th globally manila

philippine context

• 2000: 76.5M

• 2010: 92.3M (16M added)

• 2015: 100.9M (8.6 added)

• 2021: 110.4m (ranked 13th most populated country at the time)

annual growth from 2010 to 2015 is 1.72%. this growth is slower than growth rate in 2000 to 2010 which was 1.9.

4 biggest cities:

• QC, MNL, DAVAO, CALOOCAN

women’s fertility context

• main idea: world’s population is still growing but the baby-making (hindi k n alam tamang word gagi) is slowing down

• fertility rate (TFR): average number of babies a woman has in her reproductive years

• average global lifetime no. of births from 5 dropped from 2.5 between 1955 to 2011

• TFR of 2.1 will halt world’s population growth. “just enough” number.

factors that affect birth and fertility rate

• importance of children as part of the labor force

• cost of raising / educating children

• availability of / lack of private / public pension system

• urbanization

• educational & employment opportunities for women

• average age at marriage

• availability of legal abortions, birth control, religious beliefs / traditions and cultural norms. 

factors that affect death rates

• main idea: advancement / improvement in society allowed people to have better living conditions = mas matagal sila nabobohai. 

• increase food supply / distribution, better nutrition, safe water supplies

• medical advances, improved sanitation

• life expectancy, married women working

• 2 useful indicators of health of people in a country: life expectancy (average number of years a person is expected to live) and infant mortality rate (measure of society’s quality of life reflecting nutrition and healthcare)

• women tend to live longer than men

• more than 4M infants die during their first year of life

  • factors include: undernutrition, malnutrition and infectious disease.

affect of migration in population size

• migration: movement of people into (immigration) & out of (emigration) specific geographic areas

• factors why people migrate: (overall idea: better opportunities)

  • seeking job, religious persecution, ethnic conflicts, political oppression, wars, environmental degradation, climate change.

• environmental refugees: people who migrate due to environmental degradation (e.g: soil erosion, water / food shortages)

• formula: # of births + # of immigrants = # of deaths + # of emigrants

  • meaning population size stays the same due to equal number of people leaving & entering the country.

the AIDS tragedy

• 1981-2010: aids killed more than 29M people and takes about 2M more lives each year

• kills many young adults & leaves children orphaned causing change in the young adult age structure of a country

• causes a drop in life expectancy esp in african countries

• aids can cause a pandemic loss of productive young adult worker and trained personnel

rapid population decline

• main idea: growing population can be tough but a shrinking population is also a problem

• PH is growing and not experiencing this, but many rich countries is: japan, korea, germany, italy, etc. more on aging population sila. hence, they’re open for migrations.

• list of problems with rapid population decline:

  • threaten economic growth

  • labor shortages

  • less government revenues w fewer workers

  • less business, likelihood for technology development

  • increasing public deficits to fund higher pension & healthcare costs

  • cut off of pensions and retirement age increase

3 ways to slow down population growth

1. reduce poverty

2. elevate status of women

3. family planning and reproductive care

reducing poverty

• countries should become industrialized & economically develop. hence, populations tend to grow more slowly to transition.

• 4 stages of demographic transition

  • preindustrial: slow growth (high birth & death)

  • transitional: rapid growth (high birth & low death)

  • industrial: growth slows down (dropped birth 7 low death)

  • post industrial: (very low birth date almost stable & fall death rate)

elevate status of women / empowering women

• main idea: give women more power over their own lives

• women tend to have fewer children if they are educated, have the ability to control their fertility and hold a paying job outside home

• women make up 70% of the world’s poor and 64% of its 800M Illiterate adults. 

• uneducated women often have an average of 5-7 children

family planning

• provides educational / clinical services that helps couple choose how many children to have / when to have them

• began 1970s. without it, 8.5B is the predicted population instead of the current 7M.

• why a success: slowed global population

  • fewer abortions and deaths of mothers & babies during pregnancy

• family planning methods only allowed by catholic church:

  • rhythm and calendar method where a woman tracks her cycle to avoid pregnancy. church does not allow artificial methods like BC, IUDS, condoms.

  • pull out and pray atake charot

• abortion is illegal in the PH

• countries with legal abortion: USA, canada, UK, most of europe, AUS, china, New Zealand

3 urban trends

1. increasing number of people in the world living in urban areas

2. rise of urban areas (megacities and megalopolises)

3. urban poverty: creates vast slums and shantytowns

case study: how PH cities grew

• main idea: cities are sinasakop ang countryside

• cities like manila began small during colonial period (spn & american) to be manageable

• after WW2, government built more roads which allowed people to move and live in affordable suburbs

• people with money moved out to new suburbs like QC and makati = old city centers become poor, crowded and run down. 

• urban sprawl: uncontrolled spread / development of cities & towns

• urban decay: deterioration of a city leading to neglect. a product of affordable land, automobiles, cheap gasoline and poor urban planning

land uses classification

1. residential

2. commercial

3. industrial

4. institutional

5. parks and open spaces

6. roads and utilities

negative impacts of urban spraw

• traffic and pollution (water, land, air)

• destroys nature (croplands, forests, etc)

• economic deaths of central cities (ppl and business move out)

advantages of urbanization

• center of everything (better job, schools, hospitals, overall better quality of life)

• urban residents tend to live longer than rural residents 

• lower fertility and infant morality rate

• better access to medical care (e.g: family planning)

• recycling is more economically feasible

• save energy due to residents relying on energy efficient mass transpo, walking and bicycling.

disadvantage of urbanization

• unsustainable system

• lack vegetation / destroys nature / harms animals

• water, air, and climate problem

• flooding problems

• destroying / degraded large areas of wetlands

• pollution 

• health problems due to increase of infectious diseases

urban heat island effect

• main idea: cities are often hotter than rural areas almost like they have their own climate

• air pollution like cars or factories pump heat which acts like a blanket that traps warmth

• dark surfaces like roads and black roofs absorbs heat from the sun during the day and slowly release at night. para siyang oven na even if patay na, mainit parin

• cities have fewer plants, trees and soils that provides cool air. hence, cool downs are often slow.

• artificial light created by cities confuses plants and animals of time. hence, affecting their sleep, hunt, fall, and bloom.

life in urban poor less developed countries

• Atleast 1B people live under crowded / unsanitary conditions in the city

• slums: are dominated by tenements & rooming houses where several people live in a single room

• squatter settlements and shantytowns: outskirt of cities where people build their own houses from whatever they can find.

cities can grow upward & outward

• upward: “compact city”

  • ex: HK and tokyo

  • tall apartment buildings & shop below homes

  • people mostly walk, bike, and quality public transpo

  • occurs when: everything is closer tgt which saves energy, reduce traffic and prevent urban sprawl

  • considered as more efficient

• outward: “dispersed city”

  • cities with large suburbs, houses w backyards and lots

  • people are dependent on individ transpo like private cars

  • occurs when: country has a lot of open land making it easy to spread out

  • this is an example of urban sprawl

motor vehicles

• advantage:

  • mobility, convenience & comfortable

  • symbol of power, sex appeal, social status & success

• disadvantage:

  • dangerous due to accidents that can cause death & injuries

  • harmful to nature (animals & source of pollution)

  • bad for climate

  • takes up space

  • waste of time when sitting in traffic conditions

ways to reduce automobile

1. "user pay” approach: drivers pay directly for environmental / health cost due to automobile use

2. raise parking fees and tolls

3. promote car sharing: bills members monthly for the time they use a car & distance travelled to decrease car ownership

alternative to cars

1. bikes

2. mass transit rail system

3. bus system

4. bullet trains

smart growth

• encourages environmentally sustainable development requiring less dependence on cars, controls and directs sprawls

• using zoning laws to channel growth into areas where it can cause less harm

new urbanism

• less developed villages within the city

• people can live within walking distance of where they work, shop, go to entertainment, etc