Made by Enzo Hartono, Janice Liman & Sheraveen Huang 8D
1. Why might poor people be better off in urban rather than rural areas?
- Urban areas have more opportunities rather than rural areas. The opportunities that the urban area provided would give the less fortunate a better chance to achieve a higher living standard, to at least earn a decent amount of income. Job opportunities is also more variant in urban rather than in rural areas. Even though the competition is tough, people with less education could still earn some income by working as a rough worker. Rough workers, such as builders, at least earns more than farmers struggling with failed crops. Part-time jobs is also available. Education in urban areas is also more enhanced than education in rural areas. Educators and materials is more complete and is easier to access. Students with excelling learning capacity could apply on a scholarship, which is an advantage for less fortunate families. Goods could also be easily purchased and is more available. Facilities such as roads, hospitals and local parks could be accessed easily. Poor people could enjoy the facilities without spending too much expense because most the facilities are free. Going from home to the workplace is also easier in urban areas. Transport links gave us the access to reach far places without spending too much time, therefore it’s much easier and saves more energy.
2. List factors that attract the rural poor to cities
- Job opportunities: Jobs are more variant and more slots are available
- Higher wages: The wage per hour/per shift is higher than common works in rural areas (farming, etc)
- Education: Scholarships are provided, more variety of faculties, more choices for school
- Facilities: Medical centers (hospitals, clinics, pharmacies), department stores, local parks, etc
- Infrastructure: offices, apartments, hotels, etc
- Transport links: Roads, bridges, MRT, highways
- Entertainment: theatres, cinemas, recreational parks, etc
3. Why might people build illegal settlements in cities?
People might build illegal settlements in cities because maybe the settlements are in a good location or there are a lot of useful natural resources nearby such as trees, fuels, water, or power supply. They can also probably have nowhere to live or that they cannot afford any housing land because of their poor economy so they build a house illegally anywhere they feel comfortable to take shelter at the day and night. They might also have a good skills on constructing a building and they do not want to spend a lot of money on housing so they build their own settlement. A lot of people does this quite often. On some occasions, they can also need to build a settlement urgently because of shelter, weather/ seasons or even natural disaster. The city is also a good place to build a settlement and we can gain easy access to other things we need in our daily life such as food, clothing, good and fast transportations, and most importantly, economy. The city has lots of jobs to offer you with a good and high salary to support ourselves or sometimes, our family on our daily lives. A high education is also supported and provided there and some schools are cheap so it is easy to afford for poor people. Education there is also good and they can teach us a lot of things and it is also very important for our future to be a successful person and to gain more knowledge. A city is very big and you can almost find everything there so a lot of people would want to live there and build a settlement at the city.
4. Study the photograph of Hong kong. Describe the impact this pollution might have on people’s health. Imagine you are visiting Hong Kong. Send an email to a friend back home, describing what you see and smell.
This pollution might have a harmful effect to people’s health because the air is not fresh and it is dangerous for us to breathe in those gasses. A lot of people also die in certain areas because of pollution-related diseases. The air will smell bad and the sky will also be darker and it will not be clear for us to see during the day and night. Old people, New born babies and young children will also have difficulties in breathing because of the smoke and the smell of the smoke is not nice. It affects the tourists who are having a holiday to Hong kong and they might not enjoy it. Hong Kong’s citizens will also have a higher chance to die faster than normal people because of pollution and this can cause lung cancer or asthma. It can also cause global warming or acid rain. This is because factories are built in the city. Smoking can also cause air pollution and there are a lot of people who smoke there. Using too much cars, bus, motorcycle and other transportations can also cause air pollution and global warming because when we use them, gas is being released from the car. Water pollution is also dangerous for the living creatures that are living under water. Most of the time, people working in the factories throw waste materials or oil or trash they don't need to the river, ocean, or sea. This causes water pollution and it affects and harms the fishes and underwater animals.
5. Describe the infant mortality rates shown in the graphs. Are people better off living in urban or rural areas? Why do you think this is the case?
As we can see from the bargraph about the infant mortality rates in 11 countries and 3 regions, we can see that the country in Africa which has the highest rate of infant mortality rate is the rural areas of Nigeria. Nigeria’s infant mortality rate is 140. With this data it shows that Nigeria’s rural area has a very bad hygiene and sanitation level. The health quality is also very poor. As an evidence Nigeria has been contaminated with the EBOLA disease and many scientists found it hard to cure the following disease in Nigeria. Because Nigeria is located in Africa it is quite remote for researchers as well as scientists to create health improvements and development in the country. Permissions and safety issues are also considered important and severe.
From the graph we can see that Nigeria also has the highest infant mortality rate for urban areas which has no piped water. Nigeria has an infant mortality rate of 100 for the urban areas without piped water. This shows us that Nigeria has a bad sanitation and hygiene level as well as poor health facilities even in urban areas. The infrastructure of the country for waterways are also not ready yet.
As we can see from the graph, the highest level of infant mortality rate for uban with piped water is Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso has an infant mortality rate of 80 for urban areas with piped water. Even Though, the urban area in Burkina Faso is equipped with piped water, who knows that the piped water is dirty and contaminated with EBOLA disease contaminants as well as Malaria disease. However, piped water does not really affect the public health. Burkina Faso is located at the western part of Africa and the western part of Africa has been contaminated with the EBOLA disease.
As we can see from the graph that the country which has the lowest infant mortality rate for rural areas is Columbia. Columbia has a mortality rate of 22 for rural areas. This reason is because Columbia is a developing country in which their systems are managed by the government officials regularly and correctly. The health facilities are also managed there are also low rates of crime occurrence in the city yet the country itself.
From the infant mortality rate bar graph, the lowest rate of infant mortality rate with urban (no piped water) is the Philippines. Philippines has an infant mortality rate of 40. In the Philippines the waterway facilities are well managed from its structure and distribution. The pipelines are distributed to many urban and rural areas in the Philippines, as water are one of the main and essential health facility for human beings.
As we can see from the infant mortality rate bar graph, the country which has the lowest infant mortality rate for urban with piped water is Colombia. Colombia’s infant mortality rate is 20 for urban with piped water areas. Again, Columbia have good safety conditions for infants as well as guaranteed water facilities in urban areas. The country has already made use of developing its pipelines to rural areas too. The pipelines hygiene and sanitation will be improved and it’s quality maintained after some improvements.
6. Are there homeless people in your town or city? Research this group. How are they helped? Brainstorm with another person and develop a policy that might reduce homelessness in city/town.
Surabaya is the second biggest city in Indonesia after Jakarta. Even though Surabaya seems developed yet well maintained, the population of homeless people is still available. Many of the homeless people work as beggars in the streets of Surabaya. Besides regular beggars they also work as street cleaners, rubbish collector (plastics or cardboards) and many others. They are mostly called “Orang Jalanan” by the Surabaya community. However, these groups of beggars will be terminated and will be transformed into regular citizens with official occupations which guarantee their life. Facilities will also be financed by the government of Surabaya as well as other government officials. The city mayor of Surabaya will provide rehabilitation and shelters for the beggars. They will also provide job opportunities as well as other essential facilities.
As a group we would like to make a policy that could reduce the homelessness in Surabaya:
- Stop giving money to the beggars, so that they can find jobs in the city and can start to develop their standard of lives.
- Give punishments/strict rules to street beggars which make illegal jobs there.
- Make a social program which can collect the homeless beggars to start develop their lives.
- Educating the homeless beggars.
- Give public petitions to the public community about terminating the homeless beggars roaming in the streets of Surabaya.
- Give special and financed facilities for the beggars.