The development of world cities and megabits has only been possible because of developments in transport, but now transport problems threaten to limit further growth of the biggest cities. To what extent do you agree with this? A world city is a city generally considered to play an important role in the global economic system. A megabits is a very large city, typically one with a population of over ten million people. Cities are shaped by their transport systems.
The development of transport has made it easier for urban dwellers to travel long distances, enabling cities to expand across vast areas. However, there are a number of problems caused by transport. Three of the biggest problems are loss of public space, high maintenance costs and energy consumption. The question is, what are the social, economic and environmental impacts caused by these transport problems in big cities, and how do the impacts threaten growth? Loss of public space is a problem caused by transport which has negative social impacts.
The majority of roads are publicly owned and free of access. Increased traffic has had a detrimental effect on public activities such as arrest and community events. These have gradually disappeared, and been replaced by automobiles. In many cases, these activities have shifted to shopping malls while in other cases, they have been abandoned altogether. Levels of traffic influence the life and interactions of residents and their usage of street space. More traffic gets in the way of social interactions and street activities.
People tend to walk and cycle less when traffic is high. Jamie Learner attempted to combat this problem as mayor of Curtail in the asses. His vision was to create a pedestrians street mall n downtown Curtail. Despite being quoted a construction time of at least 6 months, Learner demanded it was done in 72 hours. With Brazil under dictatorship at the time, Learner’s demand was met. This is an example of how social interactions can be reintroduced in cities, despite the overwhelming impact of transport infrastructure.
Congestion is one of the biggest transport problems in cities which have over 1 million inhabitants. The demand for personal vehicles has increased the demand for transport infrastructures. However, the supply of infrastructures has often not been bled to keep up with the growth in the use of cars. Since vehicles spend most of the time parked, ‘motivation’ has expanded the demand for parking space, which has created space consumption problems particularly in central areas of cities. The land taken up by parked vehicles is significant.
Congestion and parking are interrelated because the search for a parking space creates additional delays and affects local circulation. In central areas of large cities drivers looking for a parking space can account for more than 10% of the local circulation as drivers can spend up to 20 minutes looking for a parking spot. This is oaten consonance to De more economically detective than playing Tort an TOT-street parking facility as the time spent looking for a free parking space is compensated by the cash savings.
To add to the problem, many delivery vehicles will simply double- park at the closest possible spot to unload their cargo. Dacha is fast becoming one of the largest cities in the world. With 13 million people it is also one of the most traffic congested. By 2020, the megabit’s population is expected to rise to between 22 and 25 million inhabitants. Dacha shows how transport can begin to slow development, with commuters spending up to 6 hours on the road. Such heavy congestion is likely to cause people to be late for work, meaning a number of businesses may not be able to operate to their full potential.
Cities with an aging transport infrastructure are facing growing maintenance costs as well as pressures to upgrade to more modern infrastructure. In addition to the involved costs, maintenance and repair can create circulation disruptions. Delayed maintenance is common with the benefit of keeping rent costs low, but at the expense of higher future costs and on some occasion the risk of infrastructure failure. The more extensive the road and highway network, the higher the maintenance cost and the financial burden.
This could mean less funding for other areas of a city, which will slow development. In New York City the city’s aging infrastructure is responsible for countless disruptions and malfunctions. After hurricane Sandy in 2012, it became clear that many deteriorating roads are in need of investment, a project which could cost the city billions of dollars. Pollution, including noise pollution, generated by circulation has become a serious problem affecting both the quality of life and the health of urban populations.
Energy consumption has dramatically increased with the dependency on petroleum. However, high fuel prices have created a shift towards more efficient and sustainable forms of urban transport, prompting the development of electric cars. London suffers greatly from problems with air pollution, and have recorded higher levels of nitrogen oxide than any other recorded location. The extreme impact of this would be a deduction in the working population of London, as a result of a major increase in lung problems, for example.
There is a clear trend with regards to transport which suggests that modern transportation causes a number of different problems for large cities. The general impact of these problems is that a huge financial outlay is required in order to combat them. Effectively, with more funding being pumped into the management of transport infrastructure, councils will see a reduction in their budgets for other projects, meaning that urban development cannot take place on the same scale or time frame as originally planned.
