Greedy development and silent urban menace
Jan 29, 2024
The craze for making more money has no end, but life has an end. When more Skyscrapers in the city accommodate more people the load on the sewerage System and dwindling space for breathing poses new ecological challenges. The confined life in the apartments of skyscrapers and the lack of space for dumping the daily disposal of wastes are no small dangers that people unknowingly face. No one knows what lies ahead
Urban centres often serve as showcases for a country's progress, flaunting towering skyscrapers, artfully planned roads, and eye-catching designs on every corner but unlikely the troubles that urban dwellers face throughout the life is never shown. In the modern days, one ascertains a country’s achievement based on how the main cities of the country look like, No matter how hard a person’s life in the city is and how messy the downtown is.
Cities are not only centres of wealth concentration but also the concentration of dirt and filth .Cities are like magnets, attracting people from all walks of life—rich, poor, and everything in between. These cities promise better jobs and opportunities, drawing folks from rural areas like bees to honey. The choking influx of migrants further deteriorates the condition of the downtown.
As the population grows, demands for shelters also grow. Thus, Buildings pop up wherever there's even a tiny bit of space available, flouting all engineering and scientific rules. Scarcity of land and sky-rocketing land prices make the life of the lion’s Share of the population unaffordable, finally compelling most people to live in Miserable conditions.
Shanties are built on places where drainage passes are underway. People live with Filth around as most of the drainage outflows the line. The overwhelming density of the population cannot keep the surroundings better. When there's a gazillion apartments in one structure, the drainage system starts feeling the heat. Add to that the soaring amounts of waste from more people. These all may pose huge ecological challenges.
The choking urban life is still construed as a luxury life, thanks to the comfort an urban dweller gets. Rural folks do not have access to the so-called luxury, this is common perception. Let us think a moment about urban life in a miserably Choking space. A tall luxury structure has hundreds of families living in it. Whatever the spacious and comfortable apartment, a child cannot have a place for sports within it. All the families live in the air. It's like trying to fit a ton of stuff in a tiny suitcase.
We saw how people lived on the towers without touching the ground and how they suffered because of their Physical immobility during the lockdown period.
It’s crucial to have space to breathe and a way to manage our waste properly in cities. The dense urban centres need a permanently big drainage system without blockage. At the same time, cities have huge space constraints. Municipal Planners think tall buildings can make up for this by allowing more space in the sky. They use a special index called allowing a liberal floor space index (FSI) or floor area ratio according to the density of the population. Higher FSI fetches higher land value and they let developers build really tall structures in such pricy locations , it creates packed spaces on the ground and strains the underground sewage system, causing problems with rainwater and bad smells.
Ever wondered what happens to well-planned cities over time? it gets so crowded that there's no breathing room, safe waste disposal, or freedom to move around. Even though cities keep adding more skyscrapers by tearing down smaller buildings to make room for more, it's all about making money. Developers make staggering profits, and municipalities collect substantial revenues in this process. New home buyers with urban fascination spend their lifetime earnings, living in an unhealthy place with a superficial charm.
The city's future and the developers' money depend on more people moving in. So, they encourage folks from far away to come live in these fancy 'towns.' But there's plenty of empty land on the outskirts that nobody wants because the roads are bad, there's not enough water, and the sewage system isn't great. It's as if there's no real support for us to live in a healthy, nature-friendly way
SAJIKUMAR
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