Why is Smart Urbanization important?
Remember the time when there were more colorful birds in the city than just the crows, common myna, hummingbirds, and hawks but we don’t see them now because of intensive and poor urban growth.
Urbanization is an administrative action aimed at sustaining and improving the aesthetic nature of a town however its rapid growth and poor planning have made it challenging, it’s more like taking the rough with the smooth.
It is worth mentioning that by 2050, 6.5 billion people will live in urban centers, two-thirds of the projected world population.
Right now developing cities in Pakistan are facing problems such as urban sprawl, lack of equitable access to basic facilities, mobility, poverty as in the development of slums, traffic congestion, and quality of life.
The poor planning and land use for commercial, residential, industrial, and other purposes have become a great concern and need attention and yet again it has led to the loss of urban tree cover, poverty, more waste creation, and greater air pollution with significant impact on health and environmental hazards. Subsequently, spurring a set of different issues to humans, animals, and the environment.
Urbanization is a part of demographic transition so it can’t be stopped however it can be improved and done in a better way.
To address this grave issue of accelerating urbanization, a proper systematic mechanism is needed by wise planning and decentralized systems. An integrated sustainable and environment-friendly township for amalgamation of residential, institutional, commercial, and other purpose land use patterns would serve the purpose.
The government should pass laws and establish national urban policies that plan and provide environmentally sound cities. Good planning, sound management, technical and managerial skills can be done by formulating a national urbanization strategy as a first step to cope with this issue.
Identify urban development priorities, shape plans & designs accordingly, and create better coordination with public and private sectors followed by Intergovernmental relationships.
It is of utmost importance to incorporate the care of green spaces and to build smart cities as key elements in urban planning. Planting more trees and reducing air pollution by upgrading energy use. Creating private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal.
Such moves will provide a host of benefits to the communities that will cope reduce transportation energy use and make our cities more livable and green.
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