Cities are urban settlements where technology and development advances first. But are all the advancements for the best? Then why does the world shiver every time at the topic of global challenges?
Since the countryside is fast converting to urban settlements and we are evolving with technology, global challenges are also multiplying with grave intensity. Let’s explore how can cities at this point pave the way to shape challenging situations.
Management of food resources
As the population increases, one of the major challenges is the availability and production of food. Since the green cover is fast dwindling, it is pretty obvious that the current pace of urban development can soon bring a food crisis. If no fertile land or depletion in agriculture threatens food availability, the developing technology can balance the loss.
Lately, public areas like parks, nurseries, commercial farms, and even botanical gardens are developed to improve the green cover and develop possible patches for food production. As this development can’t suffice the demand, technology should take the lead to develop soil-less farming.
The world recently introduced aquaponics, internal vertical gardening, and rooftop gardening in many cities, which is an effective approach to compete for this challenge.
Concern towards the climatic effect
The top-most challenge and the greatest concern is climatic depreciation, among which air pollution ranks the highest. We can count many more, as noise, water, and land pollution also follow with heavy statistical analysis that shows their spike with urban development.
Though technology and new resources emerged, the e-wastes and the number of effluents were unbeatably high. Many cities have actually started smart saving procedures to curb this challenge too. We can see several people choosing public transports and many working on digital devices. Fossil fuels and nuclear emissions are replaced by eco-friendly energy alternatives.
If these developments are spread in every domain and followed by every city, they can easily strike off the massive global challenge of climatic damage.
Tackling poverty around the world
A place to live and money to obtain are two essential resources that many urban dwellers don’t enjoy. Poverty seems like an emerging truth when the vast cities start looking dingy with the crowding population searching for livelihood.
With every town and land turning into a developing urban settlement, the growing poverty and the imbalance in resource distribution seem like soon-approaching challenges. However, smart cities can develop well-settled residential areas, employment for all, and analytical resource distribution encouraged through a single authority. A plan and organization from the start can erase this challenge from the list.
How can cities can both shape and destroy?
The global challenges aren’t one or two to count, but they are emerging at every step in our life. As no two cities or no two countries are the same, the challenges and the approach differ for all.
As discussed in the above-stated issues, urban development can either drag down or alleviate the building challenge, changing its shape in the future. Thus, it entirely depends on how we people come together to use urban development to build the world with a vision of a peaceful society.