Urbanization in Bangladesh: causes and consequences

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Urbanization is a word that describes the transition of rural conditions (farms and small towns) to urban conditions (cities). It also describes the migration of population from rural to urban areas. On the other hand, it is the process where an increasing percentage of a population lives in cities and suburbs. This process is often linked to industrialization and modernization, as large numbers of people leave farms to work and live in cities. Urbanization is also facilitated by improvements in surplus agriculture, as cities are always dependent upon external farming for food.

The United States and most European nations began to urbanize heavily in the 19th century. One of the most profound effects of the Industrial Revolution, which developed rapidly in England during 1750-1850 and spread to the continent after the Napoleonic Wars, was to stimulate the growth of cities. Throughout Europe, only 17% of the population lived in cities in 1801. By 1851, the percentage increased to 35%, and by 1891, it was 54%. Growth accelerated and was most remarkable in England in the first half of the nineteenth century. An industrial midlands involving the cities of Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds grew in an area which, in the mid-eighteenth century, was almost entirely rural. On the other hand, in 1800, only about 5% of the U.S. population lived in cities. By the late 1900s, this number had climbed to 80%. Rural-urban migration continued to spread globally. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Background:

To be true, “we have ten, maybe fifteen years, to get on to a new track. After that the slum problem, environmental damage and urban insecurity will become so entrenched that they will dominate international relations for the rest of the century. Among these mega cities, The World Bank says Dhaka, with its current population of 15 million people, bears the distinction of being the fastest-growing in the world. Between 1990 and 2005, the city doubled in size — from 6 to 12 million. By 2025, the U.N. predicts Dhaka will be home to more than 20 million people — larger than Mexico City, Beijing or Shanghai. Urbanization in Bangladesh is facing a crisis. The capital city-centric development strategy has led to an explosion of Dhaka city’s size, without corresponding expansion of the infrastructure. What was once, a charming city full of gardens, lakes, and canals is now becoming unlivable. As a result,
•   Basic urban utilities are now in acute shortage.
•   Greenery and water bodies are disappearing
•   Slums have spread beside high rise buildings.
•   Horrific traffic jam is bringing life to a standstill, imposing huge costs on the economy.
•   Pollution has become a serious threat.
•   The air quality remains dangerously poor.
•   Household, medical, and electronic wastes are increasing in volume and worsening in composition.
•   Untreated sewerage contaminates neighboring rivers unceasingly.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Some Common Problems in urban area:

Urbanization is the movement of people from a rural to an urban area.  During the Industrial Revolution, people began moving into the cities to work in the factories and industries that would change or eliminate their previous jobs in rural communities.  While this helped cities to grow exponentially, it brought with it a number of social problems and conflicts.

River Pollution
Lacking Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP), most industrial enterprises are dumping their toxic effluents into neighboring water bodies and rivers. The erroneous, Cordon Approach towards rivers, pursued for decades under foreign advice, is disrupting the rivers.

Water logging:
More than 4,500 people die everyday from lack of clean water. The water bodies inside cities and towns are decaying and getting encroached and filled up. By encouraging below-flood-level settlement inside them, the cordon embankments are making more people vulnerable to flood. Embankments have also in general failed to protect towns from river erosion. Air pollution, waste overflow, and spread of slums .The pollution and the Cordon Approach to rivers have created a crisis in urban water supply. On the one hand, the Cordon Approach has encouraged dependence on groundwater, which has now descended, making further extraction difficult, and creating the danger of subsidence. On the other hand, pollution has made neighboring river water unfit for consumption.

Air pollution: 
Unfit traffic, brick field, industries, dust from construction, particles of paints and wood are extremely high in Dhaka city what causes uncountable health hazards and economic losses. Childs and women are highly vulnerable in this pollution. For example, Air pollution in capital city Dhaka has gone higher than Mexico City and Mumbai killing thousands prematurely each year. According to the Department of Environment (DoE), the density of airborne particulate matter (PM) reaches 463 micrograms per cubic meter (mcm) in the city during December-March period - the highest level in the world which is about nine times the acceptable level. Mexico City and Mumbai follow Dhaka with 383 and 360mcm respectively. [Source: The Daily Star: 11/11/2009]

Imbalance administrative development:
The Dhaka-centric development has resulted in relative Neglect of divisional, district and upazilla cities and towns. The country faces a vicious circle, whereby lack of development in district and upazilla towns is causing their affluent residents to flock to Dhaka, fueling its growth, while perpetuating and aggravating underdevelopment of district and upazilla towns. Yet, tragically, in whatever urbanization efforts they can manage, the district and upazilla towns are following in the footsteps of Dhaka city, heading toward the same horrendous consequences these have created. Given the crisis already reached, it is disquieting how Bangladesh can make further progress in urbanization, particularly when the population increasing unrelentingly.

Neglected urban issues:
There is as yet no integrated, comprehensive, and effective effort to overcome the urbanization crisis facing Bangladesh. Urbanization efforts so far remain ad hoc, isolated, and partial in nature. In many cases, these efforts contradict and nullify benefits of each other. There is a lack of vision and integrated effort in resolving the. It is in this background that the current conference is convened.

Housing scarcity:
The housing shortage is so acute that one third of the city's population lives in slums. Parks and open spaces are gradually disappearing. The influx of migrants from rural areas and deprived towns continues. The city authorities can neither respond to the problems nor coordinate their work.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Causes of Rural-Urban Migration
 
Of the domestic models the most popular is the Push-Pull model pioneered by Everett S. Lee (1996). Migration is the combined effect of both push and pulls factors and it is often difficult to separate the role of the two.

Within the Push-Pull model, push factors (at rural end) may be identified for Bangladesh as:

1) Population pressure, adverse person-land ratio, landlessness and poverty.
2) Frequent and severe natural disasters (particularly river bank erosion).
3) Law and order situation.
4) Lack of social and cultural opportunities (applicable for rural rich).

The pull factors are operative at the urban destination end.
•   Real or perceived job Opportunities and
•   Higher wages in the city are the main pulls.
•   Rural-urban disparities in other opportunities and services are also responsible.
•   A large proportion of rural-urban migrations are due to marriage and other familial reasons.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Consequences of Migration and Urbanization

The impact rural to urban migration is both diverse and deep, both at the urban destination end and at the rural origin. At both ends there are economic and socio-cultural impacts. There are very few studies on the consequences of rural-urban migration at the rural end are there. Most of the researches have been at the urban end. Urbanization and urban growth occurring due to migration (and other factors) have both positive and negative consequences and impacts.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Some of the positive consequences of urbanization are the following:

•   Economic benefits: higher productivity, better income etc.
•   Demographic benefits: lowering of age at marriage, reduction of fertility rate.
•   Socio-cultural benefits: modernization
•   Political benefits: empowerment, democracy etc.
•   Improved access to information technology.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Negative Consequences of Migration and Urbanization

Urbanization is not an unmixed blessing. Its negative consequences are of great
concern. These assume critical role under situation of rapid and uncontrolled or unplanned urban expansion.

The negative consequences can be grouped as the following:
• Environmental consequences: pollution
• Encroachment on productive agricultural land and forests
• Extreme pressure on housing, growth of slums and the pressure on services
• Economic consequences, leading to income inequality and poverty, ill effectsof globalization
• Social consequences, resulting in increased violence and crime, social degradation
• Cultural consequences: entry of alien culture, loss of national cultural identity
• Political consequences: Criminalization of politics.

[marjan.jmc]

very good post.