COURSE 1: INTRODUCTION TO URBAN GOVERNANCE CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES

COURSE 1: INTRODUCTION TO URBAN GOVERNANCE CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES Block 2 : Trends in Urbanisation Unit 4 : Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation... 3 Unit 5 : Multiculturalism in Urban Society... 26 Unit 6 : Urban Infrastructure Basic Services... 38 Centre for Environmental Law, WWF-India 172-B, Lodi Estate New Delhi-110003 National Law University, Delhi Sector-14, Dwarka New Delhi-110078

UNIT 4 MULTI-FACETED RAMIFICATIONS OF URBANISATION Contents Page No. 1. Introduction 3 2. Current Urbanisation Scenario 4 3. Global Trends 19 4. Multifaceted Ramifications of Urbanisation from the Indian Perspective 20 5. References and Recommended Readings 23 1. Introduction Achieving the United Nation s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the international community s unprecedented agreement on targets towards the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, will depend to a large extent on how well the country governments manage their cities. Cities are currently home to nearly half of the world s population and over the next 30 years most of the two-billion-plus person increase in global population is expected to occur in urban areas in the developing world. In the year 2002, 47.7% of the world s population lived in urban areas which covered 2.8% of the earth s land surface. 1 The absolute figures of urban population increased from 750 million people in 1950 (which amounted to 30% of the world s population) to more than 2.8 billion in 2000. The share of urban population is projected to further grow to 54% in 2015. 2 The ever-increasing urbanisation rates have manifold effects on ecosystems in and around city centers and on human life and well-being and are interrelated with socio-economic aspects in various ways. The major problems of urban systems are unhealthy and unpleasant living environments for humans and other living beings, deteriorating relations with adjoining ecosystems and excessive ecological footprints of urban ecosystems. Although these problems can be correlated and mostly coexist in particular urban settlements, a general trend can be made out: As a city s economy develops, there seems to be a shift from issues involving the provisioning of private goods such as water for household consumption to the provision of public goods such as global climate stability. The environmental burden shifts from the local to a more global scale, traditional risks such as contaminated water give space to modern risks such as industrial pollution. The city s problems evolve from ones which are connected to poverty to issues related to production and consumption patterns. 3 As per the 2001 census, 28% of the Indian population (which was then equivalent to 285 million people) lived in urban areas. 4 The urbanisation rate is expected to increase to about 40 per cent of total population by the year 2021. It is estimated that by the year 2011, urban areas would contribute about 65 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). 5 1 UN Report 2002, p.3. 2 UN Report 2002, Table 3, p.6. 3 MEA Urban Systems, p.807. 4 Govt. of India, Census 2001 available at http://www.censusindia.gov.in/census_data_2001. 5 Govt. of India Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Overview, 2005; p.3.

4 Trends in Urbanisation However, such estimates of higher productivity depend upon the availability and quality of infrastructure services available infrastructural issues being one of the major challenges that urban agglomerations in rapidly growing nations such as India face. Up to date, services such as energy, communication, roads, (mass) transportation and water supply, coupled with civic infrastructure, such as sanitation and solid waste management pose important concerns to governments and municipal authorities. 2. Current Urbanisation Scenario I) Demographics While during the period of 1950 to 1975, global population growth was evenly divided between the urban and rural areas of the world, the period since then has been characterised by rates of urban growth exceeding the growth rates of rural population. In 2008, for the first time in history, over half of the world s population lived in urban areas and by 2050 this will have risen to 70 per cent. 6 This is mostly due to the rapid increase in urban population in many developing countries. Whereas Latin American nations are conventionally treated as developing countries along with nations of Asia and Africa, its level of urbanisation (67.9% of its population) is comparable to that of Europe (70.9%) or Northern America (81.5%). While the urban share of the population of African and Asian nations is below the world wide average of 46.7%, both these regions have the highest urban population density rates: on an average, 1270 people live on one square kilometre (see Table). 7 The proportion of people living in very large urban agglomerations or mega-cities is still small. In 2004, approximately half of the world s urban population lived in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. In 2000, 3.7% of the world population resided in cities of 10 million inhabitants or more and by 2015 that proportion is expected to rise to 4.7 per cent. 8 However, certain cities are projected to attain sizes that have not been experienced before: New megacities with populations of over 10 million and even hyper-cities of over 20 million are predicted. 9 In spite of this, the bulk of new urban growth will occur in smaller settlements of population sizes between 100,000 to 250,000, most of which are to be found in the developed and transitional regions of the world. The structure of urban population across different size categories changes and reveals a shift of growth dynamics from large to second order cities. 10 Thus, the proportion of the world population living in small cities is considerably larger, though it is increasing at a slower pace. The trend towards concentration of population in larger urban settlements will not result in a decline of the proportion or the number of persons living in smaller urban settlements. 11 Especially in successful economies with good transport and communication systems and increasingly competent local authorities also outside the large cities, new investment is often targeted 6 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.8. 7 Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University; Global Rural- Urban Mapping Project, 2004 available at http://beta.sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw. 8 UN Report 2002, Key finding No.13, p.2. 9 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.8. 10 Kundu, Amitabh, p.1. 11 UN Report 2002, Key Finding No. 15, p.3.

Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation 5 outside these mega-agglomerations, so that most large cities become more dispensed on the long run. 12 For example, 39 U.S.-American cities have faced population loss between 1990 and 2000, as economical restructuring processes made parts of the population move away from a historically dominant urban core. 13 In India, the share of the urban in the total population has been continuously and rapidly growing over the last century: The level of urbanisation increased from 10.8% in 1901 to 18.2% in 1971 and 27.7% in 2001. Through the accelerated pace of urbanisation in comparison to a more moderate expansion of rural population, the urban-rural ratio grew even more rapidly: whereas in 1901, every 100 rural dwellers were faced by 12 urbanites (urban-rural ratio hence being 12.16%), they faced 38 urbanites in 2001 (ratio 38.4%). 14 The number of Indian cities with more than one million inhabitants has increased from 5 in 1951 to 23 in 1991 and 35 in 2001. As per the 2001 Census, about 37% of the total urban population lived in these million plus-cities. 15 Table 1: Share and Density of Urban Population, Continents and World, 2004 16 Africa Asia Latin Oceania Europe America World America North Urban population as 38.4 37.5 67.9 70.8 70.9 81.5 46.7 share of total population (per cent) Share of urban 45.9 50.6 49.3 57.4 44.5 61.5 49.8 dwellers in cities over 1 million (per cent) Urban population 1,278 1,272 656 427 588 289 770 density (persons per square kilometre) Average population 27 120 26 4 32 17 46 density (persons per square kilometre) Driving Forces of Urbanisation As discussed in the previous units, driving forces behind urbanisation are factors which cause an increase in the proportion of a population living in urban areas. Apart from the natural growth of urban populations, main reason for the growth of urban population is the migration from rural to urban areas on the one side and mostly in consequence of this movement the transformation of rural to urban areas on the other side. 12 MEA Urban Systems, p.804. 13 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.8. 14 Datta, Table 6, p.6. 15 Datta, p.10. 16 Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University; Global Rural- Urban Mapping Project, 2004, available at http://beta.sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw.

6 Trends in Urbanisation Although high population growth is a serious problem in most developing countries, the actual prominent factor leading to rapid urban growth is internal migration from rural to urban areas. As there is an acute lack of data on migration in many developing countries, the difference between the urban growth rate and the natural (total population) growth rate is used as an approximate indicator of rural-urban migration. 17 Statistics show that rural migration constitutes between 35 and 60% of urban population growth in different developing countries worldwide. Migrants currently account for 50% of the world s urban population. 18 a. Push and Pull Factors The causes prompting such population resettlements can be divided into pulling and pushing factors, the former generally acting as principal driving forces and the latter merely facilitating the process. On the one side, rural dwellers are compelled to leave their home due to chronic poverty, landlessness, depletion of natural resources or common property resources, lack of year-round employment, debt, natural disasters and unavailability of basic facilities and services such as electricity, hospitals or schools. 19 On the other side, it is the supposedly better access to these public services and, first and foremost, economic incentives which act as pulling factors and attract rural population to move to urban agglomerations. It is primarily the difference in the average income or wage levels between rural and urban areas which incites migration to urban centers. As wages in cities are kept high by union pressure, (stricter) application of minimum wage legislation or through the payment of relatively high wages by governments, bigger companies and foreign corporations, the rural-urban wage gap in many developing countries is enormous. An urban steel worker in India, for instance, earns 8.4 times the rural wage in his country. 20 The prospect of improving income situation and living conditions clearly acts as main cause of migrations. It is thus mostly young people, able and ready to work hard, who constitute the masses of rural-urban migrants worldwide: In all developing countries, migration is concentrated in the 15-30 age group. 21 A survey carried out amongst young Cambodian migrants revealed that 45% of those asked had come to the urban centres in search for work, while 17% left their rural homes due to lack of food. Only 4% of the migrants mentioned natural disasters as cause for their coming to the city. 22 Urbanisation can hence be seen as a free market response to disequilibrium in labour markets. Economic growth, especially if taking place in urban centers without providing for possibilities of partaking for rural populations, can consequently be called the main driver of urbanisation. Advancing economies, undergoing structural changes moving away from agricultural to industrial or service related work, hence have the strongest urbanisation rates. 23 This also becomes clear from the fact that the most urbanised nations are those with the highest per capita income. 24 Most of the world s largest and most rapidly growing cities either have key roles for global or regional economies or are centers linking large national economies with the global economy. The exceptions tend to be (former) national capitals, such as Cairo or Delhi. 25 17 Wahba, p.3. 18 Kundu,Amitabh p.1. 19 CDRI, p.19. 20 Wahba, p.4. 21 Wahba, p.6. 22 CDRI, Figure 2.6, p.20. 23 McGee, p.11. 24 McGee, p.49. 25 MEA Urban Systems, p.804.

Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation 7 b. Over-Urbanisation The economic pressure on many rural dwellers is such, that they move from rural to urban areas with the prospect of better paid or more constant employment even at the risk of ending up as an unemployed urban resident. As the difference between the employment possibilities and average income between rural and urban areas is so tremendous, people are still moving to already overcrowded cities, despite the huge social costs of rural-urban migration and the uncertainties and risks involved. With the cities labour markets being unable to accommodate the masses of mostly unskilled workers, this so-called phenomenon of over-urbanisation rather results in a rapidly growing labour force found in the instable and unproductive informal sector than leading to reduction in unemployment and poverty. 26 As the Indian National Commission on Urbanisation has described it, urbanisation becomes a catalyst for economic development, if and as far as job opportunities for rural migrants are productive and they lead to gainful employment. If, however, urbanisation is merely a process of transfer of rural poverty to an urban environment, it results in a concentration of misery. 27 A dysfunctional urbanisation with an increasing concentration of population in a few large cities without the corresponding increase in their economic base hence results in a coexistence of urban misery and rural poverty. 28 Over-urbanisation is posing increasing problems in numerous developing countries worldwide. As the Director of UN HABITAT put it, 95 per cent of the urban expansion is taking place in those cities least equipped to negotiate the urban transition the secondary cities of Africa and Asia. As a result we are witnessing the urbanisation of poverty. 29 To avoid over-urbanisation, policies and legislation regulating rural-urban migration need to be enacted which should be accompanied by measures to strengthen the rural economy, 30 as unregulated markets as well as market failures (such as disparities in average incomes between rural and urban areas) promote and contribute to over-urbanisation. 31 c. The Effect of Migration: Urban Multiculturalism Due to rising levels of partly even international migration, urban areas in all parts of the world are increasingly becoming multicultural. It has always been an important characteristic of urban settlements that people from different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds live on close quarters. 32 An ethnic group can be defined as a collectivity of people who share some patterns of normative behaviour and who form a distinct group within a larger population, interacting with people from other collectivities within the framework of a social system. 33 Ethnic groups are generally engaged in a constant struggle for resources with other ethnic groups, even more so urban ethnic groups with resources in urban centers often being scarce and expensive. 34 Ethnic solidarity as a form of generalised 26 Kundu, Amitabh p.45. 27 Govt. of India, Delhi Planning Department, Economic Survey of Delhi 1999-2000, Chapter 14; available at http://delhiplanning.nic.in/economic%20survey/chapter_14.htm. 28 Datta, p.12. 29 Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT in her address at the FIG Working Week 2008. 30 Kundu, Amitabh p.21. 31 Wahba, p.10. 32 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.27. 33 Cohen, p.ix. 34 Hannerz, p.37.

8 Trends in Urbanisation moral obligation provides for a strong network within most urban ethnic groups. 35 Especially within minorities a strong feeling of belonging can be made out, as these ethnic collectives try to hold their ground against politically or economically stronger ethnic groups. In cities in both developed and developing countries, societal divisions have been increasing, partly as a result of the growth of ethnic minority groups in cities, and partly because of growing income and employment inequalities between and within such groups. 36 Such inequality often divides cities spatially, as ethnic or social-economic groups tend to form ghetto-like enclaves. 37 In Toronto, for instance, Canada s most important immigrant reception center since the Second World War, many suburban ethnic enclaves have been emerging since ever the beginning in the 1970s, since the time when huge numbers of immigrants from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South America arrived. 38 Economic and spatial separation can lead to massive tensions as well as to the formation and coexistence of different urban societies with relatively little interactions. Peaceful coexistence happens when even minority groups successfully claim their rights to occupy space and gain access to employment opportunities as well as public services. 39 II) Housing Urbanisation has both positive and adverse effects on human living conditions in terms of residential quality, availability of services and amenities, and health indicators. 40 While the affluent urban population benefits from the availability of public services such as hospitals and schools, unhealthy and unpleasant living conditions primarily affect the most vulnerable groups living in urban areas, those without financial or political power to access local ecosystem services and to evade or combat the effects of environmental degradation and natural disasters. 41 a. Slum Development As population growth in many rapidly expanding urban centers has outpaced the rate of housing provisions and availability of space, the demand for land by different groups of society creates a high pressure on scarce urban land and increases its commercial value. Consequently, access to land becomes more and more difficult, especially for those with insufficient financial power. Access to land, however, is essential for the ability of poor households to survive and lift itself out of poverty. Aside from being a basis for shelter and access to services, secure land rights provide financial security and protection in times of acute hardship. 42 Lack of access to land, because of its high cost or inadequate property rights and land tenure arrangements, causes the development and expansion of slum and squatter areas within urban settlement. 43 As defined by The Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1956, slums are areas which is primarily characterised by buildings which are (a) in any respect unfit for human habitation; or (b) which, by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement and 35 Hannerz, p.40. 36 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.7. 37 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.34. 38 Preston, p.72. 39 Preston, p.72. 40 Bentinck, p.131. 41 MEA Urban Systems, p.806. 42 UN HABITAT Housing, p.5. 43 MEA Urban Systems, p.816.

Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation 9 design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities, or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health or morals. 44 Increasing parts of urban populations live in such poor housing and environmental conditions which pose an affront to human dignity. 45 In the developing world, close to 37% of the urban population currently live in slums. In 2009, the number of slum dwellers worldwide amounted to 1 billion people as per estimates of the UN HABITAT. 46 In many cities, slum settlements account for more than 60% of the urban total. 47 For instance, the proportion of slum population in Greater Mumbai in 2010 was 53%, which amounts to approximately 9 million people, 48 in comparison to 48.8% or 6.5 million slum dwellers in 2001. 49 The living conditions in squatter settlements are primarily characterised by unavailability of ecosystems services such as water or sanitation (see Unit 6) and a scarcity of space. Though the quality of housing can vary substantially between different or even within certain slums, living conditions are generally harmful to health. In a study carried out in slums in Chennai in 2003, only 64% of the buildings were of permanent nature, the other 46% being semi-permanent or temporary housings. 50 Depending on the use of building materials, slum dwellers are often compelled to live in hazardous circumstances: Leaky houses produce dampness, especially in the rainy seasons, and consequently lead to a variety of diseases such as fevers. The use of low-quality paint can increase exposure to toxic substances; inflammable or weak building materials such as wood, plastic or cardboard further increases risks of injuries. Moreover, substandard building designs play an important role for human well-being: Inadequate ventilation can cause exposure to different pollutants and pathogens, poor lighting or heating influences both physical and mental health as well as potentially decreasing participation in activities such as education. 51 Furthermore, slum areas are most likely to be directly affected by environmental forces as informal settlements are often built in high-risk areas such as steep hill slopes or floodprone areas that are particularly susceptible to extreme weather conditions. 52 Combined effects of natural ageing of the buildings, lack of maintenance and neglect, wrong use of the buildings, poor sanitation in the disposal of sewage and solid waste, wrong development of land, and increasing deterioration of the natural landscape further lead to a poor housing quality. 53 Light, air and privacy are grossly inadequate. All these factors lead to severe social problems, the culminating effects of which are insecurity of lives and property, and poor health and productivity of the urban dwellers. 54 The exclusion of a significant portion of urban households from legal shelter tends to reduce a city s overall economic development: People living in fear of eviction are less 44 The Slum Areas (Improvement And Clearance) Act, 1956 section 3 (1). 45 Olotuah, p.2. 46 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.5. 47 Wahba, p.6. 48 Jain, Bhavika Mumbai s slum population up by 29%: Census Hindustan Times 17/10/2010. 49 Govt. of India, Census 2001 Metadata and Brief Highlights on Slum Population, p.2. 50 Chandramouli, p.84. 51 WHO Report 2002, p.70. 52 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.8. 53 Olotuah, p.4. 54 Olotuah, p.7.

10 Trends in Urbanisation likely to realise their full potential as workers or citizens, and are unlikely and often unable to invest in improving their homes and neighbourhoods. 55 Despite their weak economic situation and their mostly being ignored by wealthy urbanites and neglected by urban planners, cities need the poor to prosper. Processes of industrialisation which contribute strongly to a countries economic development and wealth have always been made possible through huge, low-paid workforces. The large supply of cheap labour which slum dwellers typically constitute allows for the development of a city s economic activities in many different sectors such as the industrial or construction labour market. The poor are equally important for the service sectors of urban agglomerations: It is to a large part their cheap work force in occupations such as domestic helpers, cleaners, maintenance workers, cooks, waiters and rickshaw pullers which keeps the city running. 56 Low-quality housing can often be found in direct neighbourhood to well-developed, wealthy residential colonies, as a characteristic feature of urban housing structures is high patchiness. Accordingly, clusters with a huge differential in availability of ecosystem services, quality of infrastructure and housing, depending upon their economic activity, can be found in close vicinity. In the outskirts of many affluent cities, greenbelts with high-quality housing can be found, where wealthy urbanites construct spacious residences to evade urban pollution and congestion. In poorer urban settlements, on the contrary, these areas tend to be occupied by squatter and slum areas, as the urban poor decide to settle down in peri-urban zones where land is more easily available and where they hope to escape the costs and threats of urban land regulations. 57 An important characteristic especially in rapidly growing urban agglomerations is the coexistence of legal and illegal types of housing within the city boundaries. Categories such as regularised unauthorised settlements, planned colonies or urban villages can be made out, indicating the simultaneity of a partly planned and organised, partly unregulated expansion of the urban center, comprising formerly rural areas on the city fringes. 58 The urban housing situation is typically in a constant process of development, with land use patterns and legal status of different clusters undergoing changes in the course of time, for instance illegal settlements being granted authorisation or slum settlements being evicted or resettled for the purpose of modernising or upgrading certain city parts. b. Resettlement and Eviction of Slums In an attempt to combat uncontrolled urbanisation, governments in developing countries often launch programmes for improving infrastructural facilities to improve the level of governance as well as to attract private investors from within as well as outside the country. Such programmes tend to push out squatter settlements, informal sector businesses and pollutant industries to a few pockets and peripheries of the cities. Income level and quality of basic amenities in the favoured parts of these cities, as a result, go up but are often associated with increased intra-city disparity and the creation of degenerated periphery and city fringes. 59 This shows how market forces are increasingly determining how space 55 UN HABITAT Land, p.7. 56 UN HABITAT Eviction, p.10. 57 UN HABITAT Report 2009, p.9. 58 Hazards Centre, p.11. 59 Kundu, Amitabh p.46.

Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation 11 is used in cities. Displacements are the direct or indirect consequences of a development aiming to make more profitable use of urban land. Not only government agencies evict poor people from large areas of cities to free up the land they manage for urban infrastructure projects or to use it for profitable rather than social purposes, 60 but private landlords as well engage in similar activities for the purpose of commercial development of their properties. 61 For instance, Deutsche Bank, the world s fourth-largest bank, is alleged by the Los Angeles City Attorney to have illegally evicted tenants from properties it owns. 62 Evictions put additional burdens on the city s poor, already marginalised residents: They are further distanced from proper health care and educational facilities as well as employment opportunities as they are often forced to shift to the outskirts of the urban centers, where the competition and demand for land is comparatively lower. As slum dwellers are unable to afford both time and transport expenses for commuting to more central parts of the city, where most of their work places are located, eviction often leads to even higher unemployment amongst them. Because of social structures being disturbed and broken up by forceful evictions, slum dwellers are moreover exposed to situations of alienation and conflict which potentially increase levels of crime and violence. While contributing to modernisation and beautification of city, eviction does not alleviate housing shortage within the urban center. The evicted slum dwellers either move into existing slum areas or new squatter settlements developing on the periphery of the city. 63 As defined by the UN, evictions are a permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection. 64 Such expulsions clearly violate Art. 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his household, including food, clothing and housing. 65 Another relevant international Human Rights Document is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Art. 11 (1) of which recognises the right to adequate housing. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights General Comment No. 7 on Art. 11, which illustrates and explains the Right to Housing, states that the State itself must refrain from forced evictions and ensure that the law is enforced against its agents or third parties who carry out forced evictions. 66 Thus, not only state driven evictions but also those carried out by private landlords are illegal and in violation of internationally recognised Human Rights. However, eviction programmes can legally be carried out, if they provide for adequate resettlement options, avoid rendering slum dwellers homeless and are consistent with other Human Rights. 60 UN HABITAT Eviction, p.7. 61 UN HABITAT Land, p.6. 62 Garrison, Jessica; Linthicum, Kate L.A. suit calls Deutsche Bank a slumlord Los Angeles Times 05/ 05/2011 63 UN HABITAT Eviction, p.15. 64 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Comment 7 on Article 11.1 of the CESCR: The Right to Adequate Housing Forced Evictions; 1997; para 3. 65 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, Art. 25 (1). 66 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Comment 7 on Article 11.1 of the CESCR: The Right to Adequate Housing Forced Evictions; 1997; para 8.

12 Trends in Urbanisation III) Effects on Environment and Ecosystems Through the concentration of economic and social activities and the respective bio-chemical processes, changed and intensified consumption levels, increased levels of pollution and ignorance of the existence and importance of naturally existing ecosystems, cities and urban agglomerations impose burdens on ecosystems within, surrounding and even at great distance from urban areas. 67 Generally, burdens that urban activities impose on other groups of the population, whether residing close to or distant from the city, and even future generations by reducing their access to ecosystem services, either because these services are diverted to urban uses or because the ecosystems themselves are degraded: this raises international issues of spatial justice as well as issues of temporal justice. 68 Though most of these negative relationships between urban and other ecosystems have little to do with urban settlement patterns per se, some of them are directly caused by and many of them are aggravated and intensified by the spatial concentration of urban consumption and production. 69 a. Effects on Ecosystems within the Urban Settlement Apart from affecting human living conditions in the various ways depicted in the other subchapters, urbanisation has a strong impact on ecosystem services such as water, air and green spaces. These shall be analysed in detail in Unit 6 Urban Infrastructure, Basic Services. Moreover, urbanisation has grave effects on non-human living beings within the city boundaries. Through providing abundant food resources and possibilities for shelter, urban areas typically contain numerous opportunities for the persistence of native nonhuman species. 70 For instance, an estimated number of 40,000 stray cattle lived in Delhi in 2004 and the stray dog population in Moscow is said to be about 35,000. 71 Due to economic activities and a higher share of built-up surface, the ambient temperature in cities is generally 2-3 degrees higher than in adjacent rural areas (so-called urban heat island effect ). 72 The thus created more moderate climate is another favourable factor for the invasion or introduction of exotic species, plants as well as animals, from warmer regions. Urban areas tend to be high in species richness as a result of the high habitat diversity of urban areas. Urban ecosystems are highly patchy and the spatial patch structure is characterised by a high variation of species between different areas and a great degree of isolation between patches. The patchwork nature of urban ecosystems is accentuated by the variety of individuals and businesses, carrying out their respective activities and managing their spaces as per their needs. Parcels of urban land range from municipal parks and private gardens over abandoned industrial areas to railway corridors and metro tunnels, which renders the urban environment full of ecological discontinuities. 73 In many studies the quantity of different species of plants as well as animals was consequently found to be higher in urban agglomerations than in the surrounding landscape. 74 This fact reflects 67 Grimm, p.264. 68 MEA Urban Systems, p.806. 69 MEA Urban Systems, p.815. 70 MEA Urban Systems, p.807. 71 Sternthal, Susanne, Moscow s Stray Dogs Financial Times, 16/01/2010. 72 Nowak, p.18. 73 MEA Urban Systems, p.808. 74 Altherr, p.3.

Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation 13 the ability of plants, animals, and microorganisms to survive and exploit the man-made changes connected to urbanisation. 75 However, the higher number of exotic, invasive or accidentally introduced species is not merely to be seen as a positive increase in biodiversity. If the most aggressive and adaptable ones amongst these non-native species replace native plants or animals, they reduce biological uniqueness of a local ecosystem. 76 Notwithstanding the greater diversity of animals and plants within urban areas, the most important consequence of urbanisation is habitat loss due to habitat fragmentation or habitat alteration. 77 Urban construction and production typically conflict with wildlife and habitat conservation. 78 In studies aiming at recording the number and frequency of occurrence of animals in cities, the number of mammals and birds typically declines with a higher degree of urbanisation, while going along a rural-urban gradient. 79 High levels of pollution and noise create stress for and pose dangers to living beings, overall decreasing their frequency of occurrence as well as their health and persistence. Likewise, the high human population density in cities leads to a high visitor pressure, which causes disturbance and stress to animals. Furthermore, what can be called planned disturbance maintenance of green spaces, such as mowing of lawns and regular cuts of undergrowth in forests and along railway tracks creates another burden of stress on living beings. 80 The aforementioned patchiness of urban habitats and the poor connectivity between them, due to roads or built-up space creating barriers difficult to overcome, leads to isolation and fragmentation of habitats, preventing or complicating search for food, shelter and partners for reproduction. b. Effects on Surrounding and Distant Ecosystems Ecosystems directly adjoining urban settlements and even more distant urban and rural areas can be affected by urban centers. Urban water demands often conflict with agricultural demands: Structural modifications and pollution of streams and rivers can affect hydroecology in ecosystems located downstream. 81 Moreover, urban water pollution can damage downstream agriculture. Although institutions for monitoring and reconciling such conflicts exist in many countries, they tend to work neither efficiently nor equitably, as the social, economic and political importance of cities often ensures that their demands are given priority. For instance, inequity can be observed in interregional resource allocation: In most countries, no system for economic compensation has yet been established, which would ensure that regions which provide other (urban) areas with natural resources at their own cost are duly compensated for such losses. Instead, the distribution of water between different regions is often simply carried out by administrative order. 82 In many rural areas adjoining large urban centers, scarcity of water has consequently become the limiting factor for agricultural productivity. 83 Such shortage of agricultural water supply 75 MEA Urban Systems, p.807. 76 Altherr, p.5. 77 Altherr, p.5. 78 MEA Urban Systems, p.808. 79 Altherr, p.7. 80 Altherr, p.6. 81 MEA Urban Systems, p.815. 82 Bai/Imura, p.32. 83 MEA Urban Systems, p. 815.

14 Trends in Urbanisation can in some cases even cause the illegal use of untreated urban sewage, which potentially bears great risks for human health. 84 Similarly, urban demands for fuel wood and charcoal have an impact on surrounding areas: Rings of deforestation are developing around many African and Asian cities where charcoal is major cooking fuel. 85 Agricultural activity close to urban centers is further influenced by changing land use patterns when urban dwellers and industries on the one side and agriculturalists on the other compete for land in the process of urban expansion, land prices in adjacent rural areas rise, often rendering agricultural activity uneconomical. Moreover, the increasing and changed demand for agricultural produce, for example the tendency of many urban markets to demand standardised produce, favours monocultures, which pose a serious threat to biodiversity. 86 Increased levels of pollution resulting from urbanisation and the respective social and economic activities of urban dwellers affect both regional as well as global ecosystems. 87 Urbanisation generates air pollutants the impacts of which can occur both near the emission sources and many hundreds to thousands of kilometers away, as a result of longrange transport and atmospheric chemistry. Such pollutants hence potentially affect even distant ecosystems. 88 The phenomenon of climate change, which affects all ecosystems worldwide to different extents, is in large parts caused by industrialisation processes closely linked to urbanisation. The most important anthropogenic activities that impact climate are the increase of greenhouse gases and the changes in land use which are both related to increasing urbanisation. 89 It is estimated that urban areas account for approximately 80 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, as per capita emissions in urban areas are higher than those in rural areas because of differences in productive and consumptive behaviours between rural and urban populations. However, in many high-income countries, large cities have lower levels of average greenhouse gas emissions than those of the rural population, as urbanites tend to use environmentalfriendly public transport services more frequently and an increased share of energy is generated from renewable energy resources due to availability and usage of advanced technologies. 90 Due to the difference in economic activities, enactment and enforcement of environmental regulations as well as in methodology while measuring urban greenhouse gas emissions, data varies considerably for different cities: 91 From more than 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per capita and annum in Sydney or Washington to about 1 tonne in Kolkata and Sao Paolo. 92 Caused to a considerable extent by urbanisation, climate change will in turn gravely affect urban settlements: The coastal regions of the world are disproportionately more urban than other regions such as dryland or mountain territories with 10% of the world s sea shore area being urban. The reason for this distribution is that the proximity to the sea 84 Bai/Imura, p.34. 85 MEA Urban Systems, p.815. 86 MEA Urban Systems, p.814. 87 Grimm, p.265. 88 Grimm, p.268. 89 Cai, p.1. 90 Satterthwaite, p.2. 91 Hoornweg, Daniel et al. Cities and greenhouse gas emissions 2011, p.1. 92 Kennedy, C. et al. Greenhouse Gas Emission Baselines for Global Cities and Metropolitan Regions p.33, Table 6.

Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation 15 makes the sea s ecosystem services (such as food provided by fishery products) easily available and allows access to water transportation. 93 As these coastal regions are ecologically more fragile and susceptible to changes in the ecosystem, they are likely to be most intensely affected by the expected rise in the global sea level as well as natural disasters related to climate change, such as hurricanes. 94 Globally averaged air temperature at the earth s surface has already increased between 0.3º and 0.6ºC since the late 1800s. The average surface air temperature is currently expected to increase by 1º to 3.5ºC by 2100. 95 IV) Human Living Conditions and Health Even though the urbanisation of a region generally leads to a loss of local ecosystem services, the economic growth affording and/or accompanying such development processes usually outweighs the health hazards so created: Urbanisation often brings about major investments in public infrastructure, for example hospitals, due to which life in urban habitats is on average healthier than life in rural surroundings. 96 In many developing countries, better accessibility and quality of public health services thus renders urban surroundings advantageous to people s health. 97 Even where the quality of care provided by government hospitals is low, as often the case in developing nations, private doctors, clinics and pharmacies can ensure relatively easy access to medicines, basic care in case of emergencies, and the distribution of information on diseases and hygiene. 98 Along with the improved access to health-care facilities, the rising economic standard in urban centers is one of the main explanatory factors of the higher average life expectancy in urban and peri-urban areas as compared to rural areas. 99 A study showed mortality of adult Chinese in rural areas to be 30% higher than in urban centers. 100 In 2006, the mortality rate in India was 6.0 in urban centers, in comparison to 8.1 in rural areas 101 which means, that out of a sample populations of 1,000,000 people each, approximately 6000 persons in urban and 8100 persons in rural settlements died within one year. In 2009, the infant mortality was 55 deaths on every 1000 live-births in rural areas as compared to 34 deaths/1000 live-births in urban settlements. 102 However, the health services offered in cities are not accessible by everybody. Poor ruralurban migrants often find themselves living in suburbs, without even the most basic facilities such as supply of drinking water or sanitation and high unemployment rates. Moreover, a range of urban health hazards and health risks associated to urban living conditions such as substandard housing, air pollution, contaminated drinking water, inadequate sanitation and solid waste disposal services pose additional risks to health and well-being of the urban poor. Consequently, especially amongst high-poverty groups, mortality in urban areas can be the same as or even higher than in rural areas. For instance, African- Americans living in poor rural areas tend to have better life-expectancy than African- 93 MEA Urban Systems, p.801. 94 Grimm, p.265. 95 Nowak, p.6. 96 Montgomery, p.4. 97 Zimmer, p.3. 98 Bentinck, p.133. 99 Bentinck, p.133. 100 Zimmer, p.2. 101 United Nations Statistics Division, Mortality, Table 16: Infant deaths and infant mortality rates by age and sex; 2008 available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/mortality/. 102 Registrar General, India Sample Registration System Bulletin January 2011; Table 1, p.1.

16 Trends in Urbanisation Americans living in inner-city urban areas. 103 The probability for black men from highpoverty areas to survive to the age of 65 was 60% in rural and only 37% in urban areas, despite same poverty rates in the respective neighbourhoods. The mortality ratio was 4.1% in urban and 1.9% in rural areas. 104 This difference in life expectancy is to be attributed to the extremely unhealthy living conditions in poor urban areas: Increased population density, as compared with rural settings, leads to an increased risk of infectious disease. Environmental toxins are more likely concentrated in urban areas than rural ones and, therefore, may contribute to cancer death rates in urban areas. 105 Because of the huge discrepancy in availability and access to public health services, many cities, especially in developing countries, show substantial intra-urban variations in health due to urban inequalities. 106 a. Spread of Infectious Diseases Human settlements are host to many microorganisms, some of which cause human diseases. Changing patterns of settlement influence health conditions as they alter the relations between humans and these microorganisms. 107 The living conditions in urban centers affect availability and quality of ecosystem services, such as water, and hence human health. The problem of unhealthy and unpleasant living conditions, especially in low-income cities and neighbourhoods is primarily caused by inadequate access to safe water and a lack of hygienic sanitation. These insufficiencies are a major factor for the spread of infectious diseases and consequently lead to a loss of human well-being and dignity. 108 Historically, cities have been playing an important role in spreading infectious diseases. Without sufficiently large urban settlements, a number of diseases, including measles and smallpox, could not maintain themselves in human populations. 109 In a study carried out by the World Health Organisation, unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene, typically found in urban low-income settlements, ranked sixth amongst the main risk factors for the spread of infectious diseases, 110 with more than 80% of all cases of diarrhoeal disease worldwide attributable to them. 111 According to WHO, approximately 3.1% of deaths worldwide, which amounts to about 1.7 million deaths per year, are directly caused by insufficient water supply and inadequate sanitary facilities. Out of these, 99.8% occur in developing countries, and 90% of the victims are children. 112 Hence, the improvement of water supply and sanitary conditions has been made a target included in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Target 7.C states the goal to Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. 113 103 Geronimus, p.3. 104 Geronimus, Table 1, p.4. 105 Geronimus, p.20. 106 Zimmer, p.3. 107 MEA Urban Systems, p.799. 108 MEA Urban Systems, p.806. 109 MEA Urban Systems, p.811. 110 WHO Report 2002, p.68. 111 WHO Report 2002, p.24. 112 WHO Report 2002, p.68. 113 United Nations Millennium Development Goals, Goal 7 C; available at http://www.un.org/ millenniumgoals/environ.shtml.

Multi-faceted Ramifications of Urbanisation 17 Especially in slum settlements, the water available to residents, many times stemming from hand-pumps and bore-wells directly yielding unprocessed groundwater, is often nonpotable and unfit for household purposes such as cooking. Concentration levels of bacteria or chemical particles beyond the desirable limit render the water harmful to health. In a survey in different Delhi slums, faecal coliform bacteria, which can cause waterborne diseases such as jaundice and cholera, were found present in 3 out of 5 water sources. 114 In other cases, water was rendered non-potable by high levels of chlorine, fluoride and other salts. The high incidence of gastro-intestinal diseases in areas of urban low-income settlements can to a large extent be traced back to inadequate chlorination, contamination due to improper storage and contamination of drinking water sources, mostly on account of garbage accumulation and open defecation. 115 In 63% of the households participating in a survey carried out in a slum in Khulna in Bangladesh, at least one family member had been seriously ill during the past 3 months, with water borne diseases being most prevalent. 116 Toilet and sanitation conditions in squatter settlements are often inadequate. In 2000, almost 35% of all households situated in slums in Chennai, had no access to any latrine. 117 As per a study of the Indian National Sample Survey Organisation carried out in 2002, as many as 51% of the non-notified slums in India had no latrine within their premises. 118 Apart from these extreme cases, latrines are often situated far from the dwellers places of residence, are over-crowded and badly maintained and hence in an unhygienic condition. Consequently, many slum dwellers have no option but to use open spaces to defecate, a compulsion which clearly poses an affront to human dignity. 119 This infringement of private sphere is problematic especially for women, who have to wait for the dark to avail at least of a little privacy. However, due to the absence of street lights, such ventures can also be dangerous, as slum areas typically are unsafe surroundings in the dark. Other factors constituting risks to health and lives of slum dwellers are the absence of proper drainage systems and provisions for waste collection. In the year 2002, only 56% of the households in Chennai slums disposed of closed drainage facility. 30% had no drainage system whatsoever, 14% used open drainage facilities. 120 The consequence is collection of polluted, stagnant water, which breeds mosquitoes and insects, causing various kinds of illnesses such as malaria and dengue. Even the open containers, in which the slum dwellers store drinking water they have carried home from pumps and wells, can act as breeding grounds for these disease vectors. 121 As becomes clear, many of the environmental conditions that facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases in urban low-income areas lie in the public domain. They create health risks which private actions cannot address effectively, especially as those who are most affected tend to have very little financial as well as political power with which to influence government agencies. 122 114 Hazards Centre, p.30. 115 Chandramouli, p.87. 116 Rana, p.6. 117 Chandramouli, p.88. 118 Govt. of India, National Sample Survey Organisation: Condition of Urban Slums 2002 2003; p.28. 119 Hazards Centre, p.31. 120 Chandramouli, p.89. 121 Chandramouli, p.87. 122 MEA Urban Systems, p. 812.