Amer N. Raja
Emergence of Cities:
Since inception man's aim has always been to improve one's standard of life and to attain happiness. Further man is a need as well as desire driven being. However, life is a continuous activity surrounded with problems. If these problems left unsolved gradually it leads to chaos. Therefore, the purpose of knowledge as well as man's activities has always been to solve the problems.
As our knowledge about the beginning of human race is very limited, therefore it is impossible to precisely know the way of life of primitive humans. As human race emerges from a pair of a man and a woman, Adam and Eve, over a very long period of time humans multiplied exponentially. For varied reasons they split into sub groups and start moving away from the herd. There emerges the concept of migration. As they were forced to move they have to find a habitat that fulfills their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter and comparative security. Water is the very basic human need. Therefore, there is historical trend that human habitation has always been in proximity to resources of potable water, like rivers and wells. After fertile land and water resources are secured that provide the fundamental sources for basic needs, man strives for luxuries. Trading is the means of securing the rare, precious, value added and better goods. Traditionally, sea was the most advanced way of transferring goods and people with comparatively greater ease and speed to far away places. For this reason, we also find the emergence of large cities bordering coasts.
Problems and Growth of cities:
The desire for improving one's standard of life is innate. Trade and favorable geographical location of cities results in bringing prosperity to the cities. Mainly construction and trade activities increase because of prosperity that increases the demand for artisans and workers. Higher compensation attracts the artisans and workers from far off areas, with the passage of long time these migrants also settle in cities and grows exponentially. This kind of increase generally leads to haphazard growth of cities that creates multifarious problems like sanitation, housing, traffic, water, pollution, crime, disease etc. From the study of archaeological sites like Mohnjedaro we found a highly developed city with a web of roads and sanitation system.
Administration of cities:
Whenever some people start living together there emerges the need for some organization as well as laws for the running of the day-to-day affairs for business transactions, as well as resolving conflicts arising due to social interaction and for maintenance of law and order. Large cities with citizens from different races and religions require greater need for administration. This need results in analyzing and formulating plans and polices according to the prevalent technology, knowledge and social thought of the populace.
Mega cities, as we know today, are similarly established on these grounds. However, there is a significant difference in their organization, which is also result of technological factors, is that they is much more planning and similarity in their organization than their ancient simulacrum.
Urban Studies and Urban Economics:
The emergence of big as well as mega cities calls for specialized field of study. Therefore, academia has extensively worked on the problems faced by cities under the fields of Urban Studies and Urban Economics. Under Studies is a more comprehensive, holistic and objective oriented approach for catering the theoretical as well as practical requirements of the cities. It encompasses all the technical, social, political, economic and legal areas pertaining to cities. On the other hand, Urban Economics focuses on the monetary and financial aspects of all the areas studied under urban studies.
Urban economics is mainly focused on the study of urban domains focusing on the context of geographical location, transportation cost, and placement in production and consumption decisions. Besides it also tries to find the raison d'être of cities viz. the reasons for their emergence, how urban area is used with in cities, and the relative location of one city with other city and their suburbs, and density of its population. Furthermore it also studies the problems and their economic impact, costs and their solutions like: housing, pollution, crime, health issues, education, sewage and sanitation, urban sprawl, economic agglomeration, infrastructure development, public recreation facilities, economic planning, inflation, wage rate, mobilization & transit costs, and public finance.
The modern issues, as a result of unprecedented economic and technological growth, that urban economists faced and to find their solution along with other urban study specialists are:
1. Environmentalism/Eco-cities/Externalities: They are costs or benefits resulting from any economic activity that the unrelated parties incur. There are both negative and positive externalities. Pollution is an example of negative externality while planting trees around the boundary of any business establishment is an example of positive externality. Ecological sanitation is also a method used for attainting goal of healthy sustainable environment. It can be viewed as a three-step process dealing with human excreta: (1) Containment, (2) Sanitization, (3) Recycling and finding the best way of managing them. Establishment of an eco-industrial park is of special focus in it where businesses cooperate with each other and with the local community in an attempt to reduce waste, efficiently share resources (such as information, materials, water, energy, infrastructure, and natural resources), and produce sustainable development, with the intention of increasing economic gains and improving environmental quality.
2. Infra structure development & Transportation: Because of the impact of transportation, it is studies as an independent subject as Transportation economics associated with civil and mechanical engineering. Commuting and transportation are integral parts of any economic activity; therefore transportation is of main concern in urban economics. It has both positive and negative externalities. Further congestion, colloquially known as traffic jams, are a big problem as they result in slower speeds and longer lead times. The effects of congestion are:
Stress and frustration of commuters that may boost road rage and affect their health. It causes fuel waste and air pollution.
A special demand and supply study is undertaken in it. Where demand is measured as total distance traveled during all trips and supply is the available capacity of transportation options. Moreover financial implications to build and to support a transportation network are also special area of study.
Moreover transit-oriented development, traffic calming and sustainable urban infrastructure are also areas of special interest in this category.
3. Public Finance/ Municipal Finance/Government. Finance: Revenue and expenditures are the essential features of any organizational activity. There financing methods and budgeting are the area of study under the topic of public finance.
4. Population studies: In it the characteristics of the urban citizens are studied. Another phenomenon is that of Urban Migration is also of key importance.
5. Housing: Burgeoning population causes a problem among other things of housing. Affordable and environmentally sustainable housing are the tasks concerning Specialists of Urban studies and as well as economists. Landscape urbanism as well as public housing projects are some of the measures to resolve this issue.
6. Urban planning: Urban planning is a branch of land use planning and deals with the efficient placement of land use activities, infrastructure and settlement growth across an individual city or town The problems arising out of urban sprawl (unplanned, rapid and expansive urbanization) are a special area of interest for city planners. However, in it we also study various other issues. Another task of urban planning became urban renewal, and re-invigorating inner cities by adapting urban planning methods to existing cities, some with much long-term infrastructural decay. Some extreme measures like urban secession is a city's secession from its surrounding region; to form a new political unit are suggested for this purpose
7. Problem of Poverty, crime & Unemployment: Poverty is the main cause of crime and unemployment is another feature promoting crime. These features are important part of urban economics for the aim of economics is towards better standard of living and prosperity.
8. Urban Economic policy: It refers to the actions that local governments take in the economic field. It covers the systems for setting government deficit as well as the labor market, national ownership, and many other areas of government.
9. Economic geography: It is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the cities and its suburbs. It focuses on the Location theory, like industrial zones & economies of agglomeration and retail and wholesale businesses, on transportation and trade, and on the changing value of real estate. Urban economic geography is closely connected with topics as transportation, agriculture, industrial location, world trade the Geographic Information System, and the Spatial planning and function of business activity.
