Notes-Class 9-Geography-Chapter-10-Urbanisation-Maharashtra Board

(a) Advantages of Urbanisation :

Social harmony :

• Due to increase in secondary, tertiary and quaternary occupations, economic activities increase.
• People from different parts of the country live together in cities.
• This leads to exchange of cultural and social customs and traditions. It creates social harmony.

Modernisation:

• Exchange of wisdom, skills and knowledge between people from different areas takes place in cities.
• The cities are the first to get advantage of updated knowledge and literature.
• Urban areas get advantage of new ideas, updated technologies and technical facilities.
• The standard of living of people improves.

Amenities and Facilities :

• Amenities and facilities like transportation, communication, educational and medical develop in the urban areas.
• Travelling becomes comfortable due to good transport facilities.
• Market, trade and freight transport develop due to transport facilities.
• Many students come to urban areas due to availability of higher education.
• Many patients and their families come to urban areas to avail of well developed medical facilities.

(b) Problems of Urbanisation :

Slums ;

• The migration of people from villages and less-developed regions is the cause of increasing slums.

• The housing facilities do not increase in the same proportion as the population.
• Most of the migrated people are economically weak. They build temporary and semi-structured houses, which are mostly illegal, in open spaces.
• They do not get basic facilities from the local government.
• The density of houses is very high. These slums keep on increasing uncontrollably and give rise to social and many health-related issues.

By making available employment opportunities at the local level is the ideal solution to stop migration Thus, the people will not migrate in search of employment.

Traffic Jams :

• As cities grow, people start living in the outskirts and suburbs of the city.
• People commute to the centre of the city for businesses and industries, trade, jobs, education, etc.
• As public transport system is insufficient, the number of private vehicles increases.
• This leads to an increase in traffic jams and increase in the travelling time.

Pollution :

• The adverse effects of air pollution, water pollution and noise pollution are visible in cities.
• Increase in infrastructure development, paucity of facilities and breaking of laws add to the pollution.
• Many industries let off smoke in the air and cause air pollution.
• The chemicals, Sugar and paints industries use a lot of water in their production work. These industries discharge polluted water in the sources of water without processing by means of affluent water treatment plant. These cause water pollution.
• Increase in private vehicles and celebration of festivals is responsible for noise pollution

Crime ;

• Not all migrants find employment in cities. Some of them look for means to earn money by illegal ways, leading to increase in crime rate.
• Thefts, burglaries, scuffles and murder are the crimes in the cities.
• This creates serious law and order problems, bringing pressure on the police and judicial system.

Other problems  :

• Enormous increase in land price, conflicts and tensions between various groups that threaten, social harmony in the cities.
• Air pollution, water pollution and noise pollution are the realities/problems of the urban areas. The polluted environment is the cause of many health problems.