Effect of Urbanization and Industrialisation on Environment

Effect of Urbanization and Industrialisation on Environment:

For fair livelihood in a comfortable environment we need many things like houses, roads, schools and colleges, shops and markets, hospitals and post offices etc. A town or city develops with all these facilities. The system by which a town or city develops is called urbanization. To develop an ideal town some important aspects should be taken into consideration. Towns and cities of our country have not been developed in well-planned way as those of the developed countries of the world. Except the new part of Dhaka and some areas of Chittagong, our towns are developed absolutely without any planning. While establishing an ideal town some important aspects should be taken into consideration with great importance.

1.        To establish a town primarily it is necessary to select a suitable site.

2.        To live in comfort it is necessary to construct neat, clean and comfortable houses. In these houses there should have clean and pure water supply, electricity, gas supply and proper sanitary system.

3.        For proper supply of daily necessities and fresh vegetables, fish and meat, there should have shops and markets.

4.        For maintaining cleanness and healthy condition in these shops and markets, Public health department should supervise them regularly.

5.        For treatment of diseases there should have dispensaries and hospitals, population control and family planning centers, maternities etc.

6.        Along with schools and colleges for children's education there should have arrangement to establish libraries, recreation and health-care centers, including playgrounds, clubs, parks etc.

7.        There should have suitable recreation center for aged people so that they can pass a life of ease.

8.        There should have arrangements for prevention and treatments of various contagious diseases so that these may not turn into epidemics.

9.        There should have necessary job provision for the town dwellers.

Due to gradual increase of population there develops undesired formation of slums in vacant places inside and around the towns. In these slums uproote people live in extremely miserable condition. This situation is gradually turning to be more acute. As a result various social and hygienic problems are being created. Unplanned urbanization results extreme deterioration of the environment.

The environment of the slums, developed for the new comers from the villages, is dirty and unhealthy. Because in these slums there is no water supply or drainage and sewerage system. There is no facility of collecting water from rivers, canals, ponds or pools like villages. As a result the slum dwellers often suffer from various water borne diseases. From these slums diseases spread to other areas of the town also. But in towns purified and chlorinated water is stored in big tanks at a high level. Water is then supplied to different areas of the town through pipelines. But for excess population the stored water is not sufficient. Consequently the inhabitants of the town suffer from water shortage.

The supply of fuel is a significant problem of unplanned urbanization Previously in town also, wood and dry cowdung were used for cooking. But at present natural gas is being used. Now a day, in many countries, Bio-gas is being used for cooking. Smoke originates from both wood and dried cow dung and pollutes the air. For unplanned urbanization supply of natural gas cannot be ensured to every corner and for all the time.

Because of rapid increase of population people from villages are rushing to towns in search of livelihood. The urbanization process must be planned for them. Otherwise there will be no comfort in life of the town dwellers and the environment will be polluted day by day.

Commercial establishment of mills, factories and machineries for the production of various necessary materials for the people is known as industrialisation. With the objective of industrialisation various types of industries have been established in the world.

Previously men were dependent more on articles available in the nature. But with the advancement of human civilization; industrialisation is also improving rapidly. In the recent past there was a balance between birth rate and death rate in the world, particularly in Bangladesh. At present number of death caused by natural calamities like cyclone, famine, different fatal diseases, aggression and bite of harmful animals, is much less than as prevaile in the past. Now a day there are preventive measures for protections against the disastrous effect of every natural calamity. For example the forecast of cyclone is available before hand and taking shelter in safe places people can save their lives. With the improvement of communications system famine do not occur as frequently as before, even if it occurs food can be supplied easily. Prevention of hunting wild animal and adopting defensive measures against their attack has made human life safer than before. Taking effective and preventive measures against severe diseases man has become able to recover from his illness and avoid inevitable death. Thus the average longevity of human being has increased. As a result with increased longevity people can give birth to children in greater number. Above all the general people of Bangladesh are reluctant to adopt family planning for which the population of this country is increasing rapidly. For this increase in population the cultivable land and forest areas are gradually decreasing. Thus the demands of agriculture as the main livelihood of our country can no longer be met from agriculture alone. For this reason it is necessary to establish industries in a well planned way. But our conventional industries are dependent on our natural resources. As the raw materials produced in our country are not sufficient for the need, thus necessary raw materials are to be imported from foreign countries.