Sustainable development in Asia: Air pollution

Different regions of Asia recently has experienced air pollution reaching a climax, especially in urban areas of developing countries like Hanoi, Vietnam, Mumbai, India, or Jakarta, Indonesia. The World Air Quality index has constantly showing the level of pollution in Hanoi, India, Malaysia, Beijing as unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy for all groups, and even hazardous in the recent months.

Studies have shown that the main causes of urban air pollution are primarily rapid urbanization rate leading to the inability of the urban facilities to sustain healthy living conditions, traffic emissions and open burning of agricultural pollution.

The rapid urbanization rate has been a consequence of various governmental branches’ failure, including the population control branch, the national immigration control department, the ministry of traffic and transportations, the city councils and so on. Because of the inability of these branches to catch up with the urbanization rate, public facilities in the rising metropolitan areas proved to be unable to facilitate their current and coming citizens.

        Hanoi transportation facilities suffer from the constantly rising population. Source: dtinews.vn

Inability to provide water resources and energy resources has resulted in individual use of household coal-firing systems, contributing significantly to the air pollution condition in cities. Furthermore, public infrastructure like streets and roads in the city center cannot provide enough capacity for the emerging population, leading to the minimization of green spaces.

                  Popular sights of coal carts in the street of Vietnam cities. Source: atimes.com

This density of population and the lack of green spaces, gradually, intensifies the air pollution problem. Hence, it is important to design the rural areas to an extent that enough opportunities for people are present there so that there will not be any overwhelming immigration from the rural area to cities seeking for opportunities. By doing this, the strain on cities’ facilities caused by immigration waves will be removed.

It is also important to remember that big cities, especially in Asia, are often surrounded by agricultural lands. This proximity means that the common practice of outdoor agricultural waste burning is also an active participant in the cause of urban air pollution.

                                           Agricultural Waste burning in India. Source: inoraindia.com

Hence, urban planners, while putting effort in catching up with the rapid urbanization rate, should also keep in mind the ideology of ecological urbanism that has been advocated by generations of planners, from Geddes to Mumford. The city, although is a product of human, is also a part of the natural world. In order to create a city that is sustainable and life-enhancing, the cities and the rural areas must be treated as an ecosystem, interconnected and having its very own dynamic. (Spirn 2014) The presence of the countryside and the urban areas should always be side by side. The cities should exist, develop and be planned with regards to aspects of the rural areas that surround it. In another word, the rural area should always and must always be an integral factor in designing a sustainable city.

Sources

Yuen, Belinda. Revisiting Urban Planning in East Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific. Global Repost on Human Settlements. 2009. http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2009
Haq, Gary and Schwela, Dieter. Urban Air Pollution in Asia. Stockholm Environment Institute. 2008. Print.
Spirn, Anne W. Ecological Urbanism: A Framework for the Design of Resilient Cities. Island Press. 2014. Print.

Gokarn, Anil. “The Answer to Delhi’s Air Pollution lies in Sustainable Farming and Agro Waste management”. Inora. 2016. http://www.inoraindia.com/index.php/2016/11/06/answer-delhis-air-pollution-lies-sustainable-farming-agro-waste-management/

“Hanoi suffers increasingly harmful air quality”. Dantri International. 2017. http://dtinews.vn/en/news/021/50726/hanoi-suffers-increasingly-harmful-air-quality.html

Southerland, Dan. “Energy dilemma weighs on Vietnam”. Asia Times. 2017. http://www.atimes.com/article/energy-dilemma-weighs-vietnam/