Transport and Communication

Chapter 8

 

Transport is a facility or a service for the movement of people , goods from one place to another.

 It is an organised service industry.

 

Modes of Transportation

  • The major modes of transportation are land, water, air and pipelines. 
  • These are used for inter-regional and intra-regional transport.
  • Several places (nodes) join together by a series of routes (links) to form a pattern is called transport network.

 

Land Transport
This includes movement of goods and services over land i.e. roads and rails. 

Among the new means of land transport are pipelines, ropeways and cableways. 

Rope and cableways are generally found on steep mountain slopes which are not suitable for bad construction.

 

Roads

It is most economical for short distance travel. 

It is also gaining importance for freight transport due to its door to door service. 

 

Road Density

  • The total motorable road length of the world is only about 15 million km, in which North America separately accounted for 33%. Although, North America in comparison to Western Europe registered the highest number of vehicles as well as highest road density.
  • Road density is the total length of roads per hundred square kilometers of area.


Countries and their Road Density

Traffic Flows

It refers to traffic on roads that has increased dramatically in recent years. 

As the road network cannot cope with the demands of traffic, congestion occurs.

 

Highways

  • They are metalled roads connecting distant places for unobstructed vehicular movement. 
  • These are 80m wide with separate traffic lanes, bridges, flyovers and dual carriageways
  • In North America, there is a dense network of highways. 
  • Pacific coast is linked to the Atlantic coast, Vancouver is connected to Newfoundland by Trans-Canadian highway and Edmonton is connected to Anchorage through Alaskan highway.
  • Trans-continental Stuart highway connects Darwin, Melbourne to Alice springs in Australia. 
  • Europe has a well developed highway network. 
  • The Moscow-Vladivostok highway is important for Russia. 
  • In India,NH-44 is the longest running highway in India. 
  • It connects Srinagar to Kanyakumari. 
  • In Africa, Algiers in North is connected to Guinea and Cairo is connected to Capetown in South.

 

Border Roads

These are roads laid along international boundaries. 

They help in transport of goods to border areas and military camps.

 

Railways

Railways are best suited for the transportation of bulky goods and passengers over long distances. 

Highly industrialised areas, urbanised regions and mineral rich areas are linked to railways for the transportation of ores, grains, timber and machinery. 

All the continents have dense networks while Europe has the highest density of railways. 

The railway network of Africa, Asia and South America connects the mineral rich and fertile areas and is developed primarily to utilise the natural resources.



Trans-Continental Railways

The railway line that runs across the continent and links its two ends is called a trans-continental railway line. 

They are constructed for economic and political reasons.

 

The following are the most important of these:

 

Trans-Siberian Railway
It is in Russia and the longest railway in the world. 

It runs between St. Petersburg in the West to Vladivostok in the East, passing through Moscow, Irkutsk, Chita, etc. 

It links an important agro centre with fur centre connecting rail routes to important cities of Asia.




Trans-Canadian Railway

It is a 7050 km long railway constructed in 1886 in Canada that links Halifax in the East to Vancouver in West. 

It passes through the industrial region connecting the wheat belt of Prairies and the coniferous forest area so it is considered an economic artery of Canada. 

Wheat and meat are the important exports on this route.

 

The Union and Pacific Railway
This rail line connects New York on the Atlantic coast to San Francisco on the Pacific coast passing through Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Evans, Ogden and Sacramento. 

The most valuable exports on this route are ores, grain, paper, chemicals and machinery.

 

The Australian Trans-Continental Railway
This rail line runs West-East across the southern part of the continent from Perth on the West coast to Sydney on the East coast passing through Kalgoorlie broken hill and port Augusta. 

Another North-South line connects Adelaide and Alice spring and to be joined later to the Darwin-Birdum link.

 

The Orient Express
This line runs from Paris to Istanbul passing through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade. 

It has reduced the 10-day journey to only 4 days. 

Cheese, wine, bacon, oats, fruits and machinery are chief exports on this rail route.

 

Water Transport
This is the cheapest mode of transport as no construction cost is involved and has very less maintenance cost. 

The linking of oceans has brought greater navigation for ships of various sizes. 

 

Water transport is divided into sea routes and inland waterways.

  1. Sea Routes

Sea and oceans provide smooth highways traversable in all directions with no maintenance costs. 

Modern passenger ships and cargo ships are equipped with various navigation aids. 

The important sea routes are as follows:

  • North Atlantic Sea Route: links North-Eastern USA and North-Western Europe. It is the busiest in the world and also called the Big Trunk route.

 

  • Mediterranean-Indian Ocean Sea Route: connects industrialised Western Europe with West Africa, South Africa, South-East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Natural resources such as gold, diamond, copper, tin, groundnut, oil palm, coffee and fruits are transported through it.

 

  • Cape of Good Hope Sea Route: links West Europe and West African countries with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in South America. Traffic is less on this route because the countries falling in this route have similar products and resources.

 

  • The North Pacific Sea Route: connects the ports on the West coast of North America with those of Asia. These are Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles of American side with Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore of Asian side.

 

  • The South Pacific Sea Route: This route is used for reaching Hong Kong, Philippines and Indonesia and also links Western Europe and North America with Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands via the Panama Canal. Panama is 12000 km far from Sydney. Honolulu is an important port on this route.

 

  • Coastal Shipping :is a convenient mode of transportation with long coastlines, e.g. USA, China and India. This type of shipping can reduce congestion on land routes.

 

Shipping Canals

There are two canals that serve as gateways of commerce for both Eastern and the Western worlds. 

They are:

  • The Suez Canal Constructed in 1869. It is a man-made canal linking the Mediterranean sea and the Red sea. It is 160 km long and 11 -15 m deep without any locks and sea water flows freely through it.
  • The Panama Canal :It is a man-made canal linking the Atlantic ocean with Pacific ocean. It is 72 km long and involves a deep cutting for a length of 12 km and has 6 locks. It shortens the distance between New York and San Francisco by 13000 km by sea.

 

  1. Inland Waterways

Rivers, canals, lakes and coastal areas are inland waterways for the transportation of cargo and passengers. 

The development of inland waterways depends on navigability, water flow and transport technology. 

The important inland waterways are: 

 

  • Rhine Waterways: This waterway links the industrial areas of Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands with the North Atlantic sea routes. 
  • The river Rhine flows through Germany and the Netherlands. 
  • It flows through a rich coal field, Dusseldorf is an important port in this region. 
  • This waterway is the world’s most heavily used. 
  • More than 20,000 ocean-going ships and 200,0 inland vessels move from these waterways every year.

 

  • The Danube Waterway: The Danube river which is navigable upto Tauma Severin, emerges in the Black Forest. 
  • It is used mainly for the export of wheat, maize, timber and machinery.

 

  • The Volga Waterway: is one of the developed waterways of Russia. It is navigable upto 11,200 km and drains into the Caspian Sea.
  • It is connected to the Moscow region and the Black Sea through Volga-Moscow canal and Volga-Don canal respectively.

 

  • The Great Lakes-St Lawrence Seaway: The Great Lakes along with the estuary of St Lawrence river form a waterway in North America. Duluth and Buffalo are two important ports on this route.
  • The Mississippi Waterways :The Mississippi-Ohio waterway links the interior part of the USA with the Gulf of Mexico in the South. Large steamers can move up to Minneapolis.

 

Air Transport

  • It is the fastest means of transport but it is very expensive. 
  • Air transport has brought a connectivity revolution in inhospitable deserts, mountainous regions and snow fields where other means of transport are not reachable. 
  • Due to high construction and maintenance cost, air transport is more developed in highly industrialised countries. 
  • Supersonic aircrafts cover the distance in a very short time.

 

Inter- Continental Air Routes

  • The USA accounts for 60% of the world’s airways. 
  • Important cities are nodal points where air routes converge or radiate to all continents. Africa, Asiatic part of Russia and South America lack air services, sparser population or limited landmass or low economic development.

 

Pipelines

These are used to transport water, petroleum, natural gas, liquefied coal for an uninterrupted flow. 

Milk is supplied through pipelines in New Zealand. 

The USA has a dense network of pipelines. 

Big Inch is a famous pipeline of the USA that transports petroleum from the oil wells of the Gulf of Mexico to the North-Eastern states. In Europe, Russia,

In West Asia and India, oil wells are linked to refineries through pipelines.

 

Communications

Long distance communication in the form of telegraph and telephone are important. In the mid-19th century, American Telegraph and Telephone company (AT&T) enjoyed a monopoly. In developing countries the use of cell phones has gained importance for rural connectivity.

Latest technology developments have resulted in Optical Fibre Cables (OFC). They allow large quantities of data to be transmitted that are virtually error free. Now telecommunication merged with computers to form integrated networks termed the Internet.

 

Satellite Communication in India

  • Artificial satellites are deployed in Earth’s orbit to enhance communication and improve connectivity. 
  • This is satellite communication which has reduced the per unit cost and time of communication also.
  • India developed its own satellite Aryabhatta and launched it on 19th April, 1979, Bhaskar -I in 1979 and Rohini in 1980. 
  • Bhaskar, Challenger and INSAT-IB satellites are used for long distance communication and weather forecasting.

 

CyberSpace-Internet

  • This is the latest technology in which there is instant connectivity by accessing the electronic computerised space. 
  • It is called cyber space or Internet and is encompassed by the World Wide Web (www).
  • Majority of Internet users are in the USA, UK, Germany, Japan, China and India. 
  • The social and economic space has expanded through email, e-commerce, e-leaming and e-governance.






International Trade

Chapter 9

 

History of International Trade

  • In ancient times, trade was restricted to local markets. 
  • Slowly long distance trade developed, an example of which is the Silk Route . 
  • The route was 6000 km long connecting Rome to China and traders transported Chinese silk, Roman wool, metals, etc through this route. 
  • Later, sea and ocean routes were discovered and trade grew.
  • The Slave Trade emerged in 15th century in which the Portuguese, Dutch, Spaniards and British captured African natives and sold to plantation owners in America. 
  • After the Industrial Revolution, industrialised nations imported raw materials and exported finished products to non-industrial nations.
  • International trade is the result of specialisation in production and division of labour. 
  • It is based on the principle of comparative advantage that is mutually beneficial to trading partners.

 

Basis of International Trade

The factors on which international trade depends are as follows:

  • Difference in National Resources: The resources are unevenly distributed in the world. These differences mainly refer to geology, mineral resources and climate.
  • Geological Structure: This means the relief features, type of land such as fertile, mountainous, lowlands, that support agriculture, tourism and other activities.
  • Mineral Resources: The regions rich in minerals will support industrial development that leads to trade.
  • Climate: It influences the type of flora and fauna that is found in a region, such as wool production in cold regions. Cocoa, rubber, Bananas can grow in tropical regions.
  • Population Factors :The size, distribution and diversity of population between countries affect the trade in respect of type and volume of goods. A Larger volume of internal trade than external trade takes place in densely populated areas due to consumption in local markets.
  • Cultural Factors: Distinctive forms of art and craft develop in certain cultures and give rise to trade e.g. porcelain and brocades of China, carpets of Iran, Batik cloth of Indonesia, etc.

 

Stage of Economic Development

  • Industrialised nations export machinery, finished products and import food grains and raw materials. The situation is opposite in agriculturally important countries.
  • Extent of Foreign Investment: Developing countries lack capital so foreign investment can boost trade in developing countries by developing plantation agriculture.
  • Transport :Lack of transport in older times restricted trade only to local areas. The expansion of rail, ocean and air transport, better means of refrigeration and preservation, trade has experienced spatial expansion.

 

International Trade

There are three very important aspects of international trade:

  • Volume of Trade It is measured simply as the total value of goods and services traded. However, actual tonnage of traded goods makes up the volume but services traded cannot be measured in tonnage.
  • Composition of Trade Earlier primary goods were more in total traded goods, then there was dominance of manufactured goods and now there is dominance of the service sector which includes transportation and other commercial services.
  • Direction of Trade Earlier valuable goods and artefacts were exported to European countries by the developing countries. Later in the 19th century, manufactured goods from European countries were exchanged with foodstuffs and with raw materials from their colonies.

 

Types of International Trade

There are two types of international trade:

  • Bilateral trade: It is between two countries when they enter into an agreement to trade certain goods in which they are specialised.
  • Multilateral trade: It is conducted with many trading countries at the same time at goods which the countries are specialised in. The country may also grant the status of Most Favoured Nation (MNF) to some trading partners.

 

Balance of Trade

  • It refers to the volume of goods and services imported and exported by one country to other countries. Favourable balance of trade means the value of exports is more than its imports.
  • Unfavourable balance of trade means that imports are more than exports. Balance of payments affects a country’s economy as a negative balance means a country’s expenses are more than its income.

 

Case for Free Trade

  • Free trade or trade liberalisation is the act of opening up of economics so that more trade takes place. This is done by bringing down trade barriers like tariffs. But trade liberalisation causes competition and can cause dumping.
  • Dumping is the selling of a commodity in two countries at a price that differs for reasons not related to costs. Countries need to be cautious about dumped goods.

 

World Trade Organisation [WTO]

  • The General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was formed in 1948 to make the world free from tariffs as well as non-tariff barriers.
  • On 1st January, 1995, the GATT was transformed into the World Trade Organisation to set-up an institution for the promotion of free and fair trade amongst different countries of the world.
  • The WTO sets the rules for the global trading system. The headquarters of WTO is located in Geneva, Switzerland and 164 countries are its members.
  • However, WTO has been criticised and opposed by those who are worried about the effects of free trade and economic globalisation. They argued that free trade is not beneficial to the ordinary people as it is widening the gap between rich and poor.
  • They also argued that issues of health, workers’ rights, child labour and environment are ignored.

 

Regional Trade Blocs

These are developed as a response to the failure of global organisations. There are 120 regional trade blocs that generate 52% of the world’s trade.

Some of the trade blocs are as follows:

Concerns Related to International Trade

 

  • Merits of International Trade International trade is beneficial if it promotes regional specialisation, higher level of production, better standard of living, worldwide availability of goods and sendees, equalisation of price and wages and diffusion of knowledge and culture.
  • Demerits of International Trade The demerits are, it leads to dependence on other countries, uneven levels of development, exploitation and commercial rivalry.



Gateways of International Trade

Harbours and ports are the chief gateways of international trade. These ports facilitate the passage of cargos and travellers as well as provide facilities of docking, loading, unloading and storage.

 

Types of Ports

Ports are generally classified according to the types of traffic which they handle. 

Types of ports on the basis of cargo handled are:

  • Industrial Ports: handle bulk cargo like grain, ores, oil, chemicals are called industrial ports.
  • Commercial Ports :handle packaged products, manufactured goods, passengers are commercial ports.
  • Comprehensive Ports : handle bulk and general cargo in large volumes are called comprehensive ports. Most of the world’s great ports are classified as comprehensive ports.

 

Types of Ports on the basis of Location

  • Inland Ports:located away from the sea coasts and linked to the sea through a river or a canal are inland ports.

e.g. Mannheim on the Rhine river.

 

  • Out Ports :Ports in deep waters built away from the actual ports and serving big ships are called out ports.

e.g. Athens and its out port Piraeus in Greece.

 

Types of Ports on the basis of Specialised Functions

  • Oil Ports : deal in the processing and shipping of oil are known as oil ports. These are tanker ports like Tripoli in Lebanon and refinery’ ports like Abadon on the Gulf of Persia.
  • Ports of Call: Ports which originally developed as calling points on main sea routes were ships used to anchor for refuelling, watering and taking food items are called ports of call.

e.g., Honolulu and Aden.

  • Packet Station :Also known as ferry ports, these are exclusively concerned with the transportation of passengers and mail across water bodies covering short distances. 

e.g., Dover in England and Calais in France.

  • Entrepot Ports :These are collection centres where the goods are brought from different countries for export.

e.g., Singapore is an entrepot for Asia.

  • Naval Ports :These ports serve worships and have repair workshops for them.

e.g., Kochi, Karwar in India.

Human Settlements

Chapter 10

 

Rural-Urban Dichotomy (Difference)

  • Human settlements can be differentiated in terms of rural and urban, population size, nature of activities, structure, functions, etc. There is no uniformity in the differentiation of the settlements. 
  • But, the basic difference between towns and villages is that in towns the main occupation of the people is related to secondary and tertiary sectors, on the other side, in villages people are engaged in primary activities.

 

  • Suburbanisation is a new trend of people moving away from congested urban areas to cleaner areas outside the city in search of better quality of life.
  • Census of India, 1991 It defines urban settlements as places which have municipal corporation, cantonment board, notified town area committee and have a population of 5000 persons and above and where 75% of male workers are engaged in non-agricultural activities and density of population is at least 400 persons per sq km.



Types and Patterns of Settlements

Settlements can be classified into compact and dispersed by their shape, pattern and types. The major types classified by shape are as follows:

  • Compact or Nucleated Settlements: In these settlements, a large number of houses are built very close to each other and they develop along the river valleys and in fertile plains. There are close knit communities and people here share common occupations.
  • Dispersed Settlements :In these settlements, houses are spaced far apart and often interspersed with fields such as a place of worship, a market that binds the settlement together.

 

Rural Settlements

These settlements are closely and directly related to land. They are dominated by primary activities like agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry, etc. 

The factors affecting the location of settlements are as follows:

  • Water Supply: Rural settlements are located near water bodies such as rivers, lakes and springs as water is needed for irrigation, fishing, navigation and drinking.

 

  • Land : Fertile lands suitable for agriculture are places of human settlement like villages in rolling countryside in Europe avoiding swampy areas, low lying river valleys and coastal plains suited for wet rice cultivation in South-East Asia.

 

  • Upland :Dry points like uplands, terraces, leaves that are not prone to flooding are places of settlements. In tropical countries, people build their houses on stilts near marshy lands to protect themselves from flood, insects and animal pests.

 

  • Building Material: Settlements are made in those places where building materials are available like cave dwellings in China, mud brick houses in African Savanna and igloos with ice blocks in polar regions.

 

  • Defence: Places that form good defensive sites are developed as settlements like defensive hills, islands, etc. In India, forts were built on hills.

 

  • Planned Settlements Planned settlements are constructed by the government by providing shelter, water and other infrastructure on acquired lands, e.g. canal colonies in Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area in India.

 

Rural Settlement Patterns

This refers to the way the houses are sited in relation to each other. The surrounding topography terrain influences the shape.

 

They are classified as below:

  1. On the basis of setting, the main types are plain and size of village: plain villages, plateau villages, coastal villages, forest villages, desert villages, etc.
  2. On the basis of functions: farming villages, fishermen villages, lumberjack villages, pastoral villages, etc.
  3. On the basis of forms/shapes of the Settlement: the villages are developed in geometrical forms and shapes such as:

 

Linear Pattern: The houses are located along the road, railway line, river, canal edge of a valley, along a levee.

 

Rectangular Pattern: The settlements are located in plain areas or in wide inter montane valleys. The roads are rectangular and cut each other at right angles.



Circular Pattern: The settlements develop around lakes, tanks and the central part remains open for keeping the animals to protect them from wild animals.

 

Star-like Pattern: These settlements develop where several roads converge and the houses are built along the roads.



T-shaped, Y-shaped, Cross-shaped or Cruciform Settlements: 

The T-shape settlements develop at tri-junctions, Y-shaped settlements emerge where two roads converge on the third and houses are built along these roads, cruciform settlements develop on the cross-roads and houses extend in all the four directions.



Double Village: These settlements extend on both sides of a river where there is a bridge or a ferry.

 

Problems of Rural Settlements

  • Rural settlements in developing countries are large in number and have poor infrastructure. There is inadequate supply of water in these settlements.
  • Water borne diseases like cholera, jaundice, etc are a common problem. There is a lack of irrigation facilities, problems of drought and flood in rural settlements. Inadequate sanitation facilities, toilet and garbage disposal facilities cause health related problems.
  • Proper housing and separate sheds for animals are not there. Rural settlements mostly lack metalled roads and modern communication networks. Health centres and educational institutions are less in number.



Urban Settlements

There has been a rapid growth of urban settlements around the world. The first city to reach a population of one million was London in AD 1810. At present 48% of the world population live in cities.

 

Classification of Urban Settlements

  • Population Size: It refers to the lower limit of the population for a settlement to be designated as urban. It is not universal and varies from country to country. In Columbia, a settlement having population of 1500 is termed as urban, in Argentina and Portugal it is 2000, 2500 in USA and Thailand, 5000 in India, 30,000 in Japan, 250 in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, 300 in Iceland, and 1000 in Canada and Venezuela.

 

  • Occupational Structure: In some countries, the major economic activities along with population size designate a settlement as urban. In Italy, settlement is called urban if more than 50% of its economically productive population is engaged in non-agricultural pursuits. India has set its criterion at 75%.

 

  • Administration: Administration set up also designates a settlement as urban in some countries. In India, if an area has a municipality, notified area council, then it is considered urban.

 

  • Location: Location of urban centres is examined with reference to their function, e.g. strategic towns offering natural defence, mining towns, industrial towns, tourist centres, places with historical relics and other places that can provide proper living conditions have the potential to develop into urban centres.



Functions of Urban Centres

On the basis of the functions, the urban settlements are classified into the following:

  • Administrative towns: National capitals having administrative offices like New Delhi, Canberra,London, Beijing, etc are called administrative towns. Provincial (sub-national) towns can also have administrative functions, e.g. Victoria (British Columbia), Albany (New York), etc.

 

  • Trading and Commercial Towns: Agricultural market towns like Winnipeg, banking and financial centres like Frankfurt, large inland centres like Manchester, transport nodes like Lahore, Baghdad,Agra are important trading centres.

 

  • Cultural Towns :Pilgrimage places like Jerusalem, Varanasi, Jagannath Puri, etc are considered cultural towns. Other centres like health and recereation (Miami), industrial (Pittsburgh and Jamshedpur), mining, quarrying (Dhanbad) and transport (Singapore and Mughal Sarai) are also urban settlements.

 

Classification of Towns on the basis of Forms

  • Urban settlements can be linear, square, star or crescent shaped. 
  • Cities in developed countries are planned while in developing countries have evolved historically with irregular shapes. 
  • Chandigarh and Canberra are planned cities while smaller town in India have evolved historically from walled cities to large urban sprawls.
  • Addis Ababa Established in 1878, capital of Ethiopia is located in hill valley topography. It is a large nodal centre, has large markets and government headquarters. The city has witnessed rapid growth and expansion in all directions.
  • Canberra Established in 1912, capital of Australia. It is a garden city with wide open spaces, parks and gardens. Initially, it was built to accommodate 25,000 people but now it has expanded to accommodate many satellite towns.



Types of Urban Settlements Problems of Urban Settlements

Depending upon the size and services available, urban centres are classified further as follows:

 

  • Towns: These can be well understood with reference to ‘village’. Specific functions such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, and professional services exist in towns.

 

  • City :They are larger than towns, have greater number of economic functions, tend to have transport terminals, major financial institution and administrative offices. In the words of Lewis Mumford, ”The city is in fact the physical form of the highest and most complex type of associative life”.

 

  • Conurbation: The term conurbation was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915. This is applied to a large area of urban development that resulted from the merging of originally separate towns or cities like Greater London and Tokyo.

 

  • Megalopolis: Popularised by Jean Gottman (1957), this signifies a super metropolitan region extending as a union of conurbations, e.g. urban landscape stretching from Boston to Washington.

 

  • Million City: It refers to a city whose population reaches more than one million, e.g. London reached the million mark in 1800 followed by Paris in 1850 and by 1950 there were around 80 such cities.

 

Distribution of Mega Cities: The number of mega cities or megalopolis has been rising rapidly. 

  • The number of mega cities is 25 currently. 
  • At present, the number of million cities in Europe is 58, 206 in Asia, 79 in North and Central America, 43 in South America, 46 in Africa and 6 in Australia. 
  • They are also inadequate in infrastructure such as electricity, sewage, disposal, health and education facilities.



Problems Of Urban Settlements

In developing countries, urban settlements suffer from unsustainable concentration of population, congested housing, lack of drinking water, poor infrastructure, no proper sewage disposal, health and education facilities, vertical expansion and growth of slums. 

 

Most of the cities in developing countries suffer from such unplanned growth. They are:

  • Economic Problems: The decreasing employment opportunities in rural areas push the unskilled and semi-skilled labour force to migrate to urban areas which are already saturated.
  • Socio-Cultural Problems: Cities in developing countries suffer from several social ills. Lack of financial resources fail to create adequate social infrastructure. Lack of employment and education tends to aggravate the crime rates. Male selective migration to the urban areas distorts the sex ratio in these cities.
  • Environmental Problems : Urban settlements in developing countries suffer from improper sewage systems, massive use of fuel that causes air pollution, lack of clean drinking water, dumping of untreated wastes and huge concrete structures that aggravate the environmental problems.

 

Healthy City

The World Health Organisation suggests that a healthy city should have a clean and safe environment, meet the basic needs of all its inhabitants, involve the community in local government and provide easily accessible health service.

 

Urban Strategy

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outlines the urban strategy that aims to increase shelter for urban poor, provision of basic services like primary healthcare, drinking water, education, sanitation, government facilities, upgrading energy use, alternative transport system and reducing air pollution.