Science Bulletin 64 (2019) 281–283

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Urbanization: positive and negative effects

Urbanization is a sign of modernization, and both developed most efficient means of communication, particularly for
and developing countries attach great importance to this issue. It nuanced information. Urban areas allow opportunities for
is also a process in which the population continues to flow in urban the informal and formal exchange of information and knowl-
areas, the non-agricultural industries (manufacturing and service edge. Thirdly, urbanization allows input sharing, particularly
industries) concentrate and develop, and the structure of human as economic activities have become increasingly specialized
society gradually transforms. Urbanization drives economic devel- and complex. Many firms need access to upstream and
opment, changes the urban form, and influences production tech- downstream suppliers and customers. The productivity of
nologies, citizen lifestyles, and societal values. However, urban areas stems from agglomeration economies, which
urbanization can have negative impacts on social equity, public are the benefits firms and businesses derive from locating
health, and the natural environment. Leveraging the positive near to their customers and suppliers in order to reduce
effects of urbanization while mitigating the negative effects is nec- transport and communication costs. Therefore, large cities
essary for sustaining urban progress and improving human settle- tend to represent diversified and intensive agglomeration
ments. Otherwise, the ‘‘urban disease” and regional inequalities economies. Research finds that large cities spur the creation
caused by urbanization will become increasingly severe, especially of new, high-growth firms.
in rapidly urbanizing countries. (3) Shaping urban spatial structure. Urbanization naturally
changes urban spatial structure, and the changes can be
(1) Natural and geographical effects. Excessive exploitation of described at two spatial levels. One is the spatial and func-
natural resources, particularly of land, has had a significant tional structure of the metropolitan area/city, and the other
impact on the natural environment. Urbanization has chan- one is the structure of mega-regions. Spatial structure is
ged natural geographies in the following ways: Alteration of shaped by two forces. The first is the above-mentioned
topography and geomorphology has flattened the land- power of agglomeration economies, and the second is the
scapes of built-up areas. Special topographic and geomor- cost of negative urban economic externalities or agglomera-
phic conditions have transformed local urban climate tion diseconomies. Examples of the latter include traffic con-
areas, resulting in heat islands and turbid islands. Urban spa- gestion, air pollution, deteriorating natural environments,
tial expansion has destroyed original river systems. The dis- and high labor and land costs. The spatial form of cities or
ruption of natural hydrological systems has, in some metropolitan areas is an outcome of the continuous inter-
instances, led to urban flood disasters. Finally, urban con- play of these countervailing forces. Within a city or
struction waste has degraded urban land quality and metropolitan area, when agglomeration diseconomies dom-
reduced biodiversity. These natural and geographical effects inate, population and economic activities shift outward from
of urbanization, if not effectively mitigated, will affect the the central city. This is typically termed suburbanization. Los
survival and the development of human beings. Angeles is a well-known example of this type of urbaniza-
(2) Urban agglomeration effects. The clustering of economic tion. Eventually, population and economic activities may
activities in urban areas promotes agglomeration econo- begin to cluster again to take advantage of agglomeration
mies. Spatial proximity in urban areas allows three benefits economics. The occurrence of ‘‘re-urbanization” and the gen-
of agglomeration economies, identified by Marshall [1]. trification of inner-city neighborhoods have partially
Firstly, urbanization allows access to a large labor pool from reversed the trend of suburbanization. Large and small cities
which employers can easily find employees with suitable and metropolitan areas can expand due to continuous sub-
skills and expertise. Similarly, employees are drawn to urban urbanization and sometimes merge together to form urban
areas where abundant matching jobs are available. Secondly, corridors and mega-regions. These new configurations are
urbanization allows information exchange. Even in the infor- spatially and functionally connected when agglomeration
mation technology era, face-to-face meetings are still the economies dominate. They can break apart when negative

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2019.01.023
2095-9273/Ó 2019 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved.
282 C. Gu / Science Bulletin 64 (2019) 281–283

externalities overcome agglomeration economies. Such cers were strongly correlated with the urbanization rate.
changes are evident in many shrinking city regions, such Exposure to elevated levels of ambient air pollutants, such
as those of the Great Lakes region of the U.S. as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and par-
(4) Urban land appreciation effects. Living in cities offers spatial ticulate matters with a diameter of less than 2.5 mm
advantages associated with proximity and accessibility. As a (PM2.5), can cause DNA methylation of CpG sites in immune
result, land values continue to rise as the urbanization pro- cells, increasing the risks of cough, asthma, and lung cancer.
cess continues, and rising land values drive increases in Liu et al. [6] also show that the impacts of non-communica-
other costs in cities, including those of housing, labor, med- ble diseases continue to grow during the urbanization pro-
ical, and education. In China, urban built-up areas increased cess in China.
from 12,856 km2 in 1990 to 52,102 km2 in 2015, with a 6.8 (7) Climate change and urban heat island (UHI). Rapid urbaniza-
percent annual increase. This has also contributed to a surge tion processes contribute to climate change by altering the
in soaring house prices. In the late 1990s, prime real estate carbon cycle and other bio-geo-chemical processes [7]. Large
in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area sold for RMB 1,000–2,000 urban populations and economies produce significant car-
per square meter. Its price rose to RMB 13,000 in 2007 and bon emissions from transportation, household, and indus-
RMB 33,023 in 2016. Of course, increasing land prices cre- trial activities. Urban areas are considered to be the source
ated expectations of continuously soaring housing prices of 80 percent of CO2 emissions from global final energy
among developers and consumers. The average housing use [8,9]. One outcome of rapid urbanization in China, where
price in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai, was only about RMB the urbanization level rose from 30.9 percent to 47.0 percent
500 per square meter in 2001, but by 2016 it had increased between 1999 and 2008, is that China became the largest
to more than RMB 15,300. Similarly, the rental price of hous- CO2 emitter in the world during the same period [10].
ing also increased. In the first quarter of 2016, the average Land-use changes due to urbanization create UHI effects.
rental price of a housing unit rose to RMB 6,000 per month, In southeast China, the average surface temperature rose
more than 100 percent higher than that in 2008 [2]. 0.05 °C per decade [11]. The increase was much larger than
(5) Social and cultural effects as well as urban disease and prob- those recorded in other periods and locations [12].
lems. Urbanization is also a cultural transformation process, (8) Urban geological disasters and ecological damage. Rapid
whereby village predominant culture has been replaced by urban development causes long-term over-extraction of
urban predominant culture. Village culture refers to com- groundwater and a continuous decrease of groundwater
mon bloodlines, intimate relationships, and communal levels. A direct consequence of ground subsidence is an
behavior, but urban culture is characterized by distant increasing difficulty in flood preventions. Ground subsidence
bloodlines, unfamiliar relationships, and competitive behav- may also cause other problems, such as sea water intrusion,
ior. Today, the world is facing the prospect of cities mush- building damage, fracturing of underground pipes, lower
rooming to unthinkable sizes. Numerous problems are bridge clearances, and cracking of roads. Shanghai has spent
observed as a result of rapidly growing cities. These prob- an extra 290 billion yuan over 40 years on tides, floods and
lems include depressed rural areas, urban traffic congestion, city safety [13]. In addition, over-extraction of groundwater
housing shortages, inadequate water supply, energy short- also causes land degradation, loss of biodiversity, and seri-
ages, environmental pollution, social disorder, imbalance ous ecological damage, which may threaten human survival
between input and output in material and energy flows, and sustainable development [14].
and growing mismatches between supply and demand for
production and living in urban areas. These kinds of unbal- It is very clear that urbanization has changed natural and geo-
anced urban developments result in huge wastes of graphical as well as human social states, and exerts positive and
resources, a declining life quality, and rising living costs, negative effects. The positive effects are mainly derived from eco-
and eventually hinder sustainable urban development. In nomic benefits such as urban agglomeration effects and the urban
addition, some other social problems, such as income land appreciation effect. The negative effects are basically environ-
inequality, unemployment, homelessness and insufficient mental and ecological ones such as environment and public health
police expenditure, may result in increased urban crime. issues, climate change and urban heat island (UHI), and urban geo-
Urbanization has also changed the adaptability of the biolog- logical disasters and ecological damage. Regarding social benefits
ical environment, including that of bacteria, animals and there are both positive and negative effects, such as a constantly
other forms of life [3]. evolving urban spatial structure that can result in urban disease
(6) Environment and public health issues. Although rapid and urban problems. For these reasons, when governments launch
urbanization significantly improves living standards, life- urbanization policies, they need to balance the economic, social
styles, and social behavior, which can enhance public health and environmental benefits arising from urbanization and formu-
by improving public hygiene and sanitation, urbanization late health-oriented and sustainable plans for urbanization.
can also negatively affect public health. Increased dietary
consumption of fat, sugar, and salt by urbanites results in Conflict of interest
a greater risk of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.
Residents in cities may also be prone to unhealthy lifestyles, The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.
particularly due to the mental stress resulting from urban
life and the lack of physical activities. These public health Acknowledgments
issues may combine to increase mortality rates. As a result,
urbanization does not necessarily translate into a significant This work was supported by the Key Project of National Natural
increase in life expectancy. Gong et al. [4] found that indus- Science Foundation of China (41590844) and the Tsinghua Univer-
trialization, particularly in economies dominated by heavy sity Initiative Scientific Research Program (2015THZ01).
industry, can result in environmental pollution and worse
public health outcomes (e.g., rising cancer risks). Haynes’ References
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