Sustainable Development Policies Can Solve Problems in Urbanization Conditionally

Sustainable Development Policies Can Solve Problems in Urbanization Conditionally

Cloris Hu

3537577

University of New Brunswick

NCPM 1303

1 February 2016

Second draft

Outline

1. Introduction:

The problems of urbanization can be met by a policy of sustainable development only conditionally depending on the cultural factors and whether the policy is well-structured.

1. Culture factors: A policy of sustainable development can meet urbanization problems in urbanization when the planning culture fits the broader societal culture.

1. Negative cases in Los Angeles and China.

1. L.A. underground transit system case (Thisdell, 1993)
2. Western China “stone Buddha” case (Deng & Bai, 2014)
3. L.A. and western China failed to solve problems of urbanization by sustainable development policies because they neglected the cultural factors.

1. L.A. ignored a cultural influence: multi-centers city pattern and crime rate.
2. China did not respect the ethics’ religious believes.

1. Approaches to improve their sustainable development policies so that these policies can solve urbanization problems.

1. Analysis local cultural thoroughly
2. Respect local cultural

1. Comparison between Netherlands and Flanders case. (Vries, 2015)

1. Netherlands successfully develop well and applied some sustainable development policies.
2. Although Flanders shares common language and similar geographical, economic and political contexts, Flanders government failed to apply the similar sustainable development policies as Netherlands adopted.
3. The reason why Flanders failed but Netherlands succeed in implementing similar policies is that they have different public opinions respectively.
4. Advices for this situation.

1. Do not copy directly from successful experiences in using sustainable development policies to solve urbanization problems.
2. Do value the feedback and care about what people think about their government.
3. Governments should do their best to build a good reputation.

1. System thinking: A policy of sustainable development can meet problems of urbanization when the policy is structured well and is based on a holistic view.

1. An appropriate policy should be the one that address negative ramifications caused by urbanization through well-planned processes but not the one just overshadow the positive implications of urbanizations, or sustainable development will not be realised. (Cobbinah, Erdiaw-Kwasie, & Amoateng, 2015)

1. L.A. has not considered the San Andreas Fault whose activities have caused damage in underground transit system in San Francisco at 1989. (SPUR Board of Directors, 2010)
2. Some countries in Africa has not face directly with the negative implications of urbanizations, which worsen the problems such as unsustainable land use and increasing urban poverty. (Cobbinah, Erdiaw-Kwasie, & Amoateng, 2015)

1. This kind of problems can be fixed by system thinking planning method

1. What is system-thinking?
2. Why city planners need system thinking? (L.A.)
3. Use sustainability decision-making frameworks and systems thinking (Davidson & Venning, 2011)
4. Planners should make decisions according to the latest scientific research and take firsthand feedbacks from local people into account. (Ko, Schubert, & Hester, 2011)

1. Conclusion

The main problems of urbanization are inadequate water supply, urban poverty and pollution. (Bilham-Boult, Blades, Hancock, Keeling, & Ridout, 2009)

Sustainable Development Policies Cannot Solve all Problems in Urbanization

Urbanization, a result of population explosion globally, causes many problems, especially in developing countries. Although policies of sustainable development which means try to support humankind for future and further development attempted to solve urbanization problems, transport problems were examined here to show that sustainable development policies are not entirely successful in addressing this kind of problems in developing countries. The factors which can influence the success of a sustainable policy should be rethought. It is true that only when cultural factors and consequences in relevant fields was considered by city planners, the policies of sustainable development will succeed. Moreover, because of the unprecedented situation in today’s developing countries, copying directly from developed countries’ experience has been proved as an unsuitable way. Thus, city planners and related organizations have to create suitable, scientific and specific policies by themselves.

Background

The planet people live on is overloaded with people, as the whole population in the Earth has overweight the biocapacity of this planet; furthermore, if the tend of humankind’s consumption of sea and land had been continuous, people would need another earth (Shaker, 2015). It is time for people to think how to survive without damaging the natural environment. According to World Bank, the global population in 2013 is 7.125 billion which is 21.6 times more than that in 1960, and the increasing tendency will be going on.  In these population, from 1950 to 2000 the proportion of population who live in urban areas increased from 29.2% to 46.6% (IUCN/UNEP/WWF, 1980). Then, one argument now is coming to the fore with the urbanizing era’s coming – whether a policy of sustainable development can address the problems of urbanization.

The first related concept of sustainable developing was mentioned in 1980, which stated by the World Conservation Strategy, in which the social, ecological and economic factors are all mentioned as essential factors to assist humankind in further sustainable developing (IUCN/UNEP/WWF, 1980). After the first concept of sustainable development was stated, some organizations began to define the phrase “sustainable development” (Adams, 1999). Considering the coverage and authority, this essay based on the definition given by Brundtland et al. in their report “Our Commen Future”(1987). In this report, sustainable development was defined as “a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”