During the first half of the semester, there has been an incredible amount of material covered. One topic, however, is relevant to all the material covered and stands out the most. That topic is rapid urbanization. Defined by Wikipedia Rapid urbanization “refers to the population shift from rural areas to urban areas”. To put that definition into the context of this course, rapid urbanization is a population trend that reveals more people are now living in urban centers than rural areas across the world. This is not only a trend but also a core change in beliefs.

 

Researches have proved time and time again that people now are considering the city to be the ideal place to live. This did not use to be the case. The population of urban centers outweighing rural lands may not seem that groundbreaking, but that data tells a different story. Urban center populations have only been higher than rural sense 2009, and this trend shows no sign of slowing down. Figure 1.1 from the Urban World shows population trends in urban centers and predicts that from 1950 to 2030 there will be a 23 percent increase in populations in urban centers. Not only is that prediction significant to cities across the world, but it also holds a lot of weight for urban planners.

 

With the population in cities increasing at an unprecedented rate it is difficult to imagine what sort of wicked problems are waiting in the future. Urban planning will play an important role in how cities react to this incredible influx of people. We are now experiencing problems that are unforeseen and have never been dealt with before. For example, housing density challenges are becoming more and more of an issue. Housing in large cities has for decades been incredibly overpriced and in high demand. With these changing core beliefs and people wanting to move or visit the city, there are new housing problems. The service Airbnb alone has created price fluctuations and taken houses off the market for legitimate renters to occupy. By taking homes off the market, the demand becomes higher and heightened prices follow shortly after.

 

To show how much of an effect this seemingly minuscule issue has had on the urban housing market I researched a little deeper in the course material. I found that a 9.2 percent increase in rental rates can be directly tied to Airbnb’s footprint on the urban housing market. It also shows what a delicate stage of urban growth we are in. In order to develop effective and livable mega cities, it is an urban planners’ job to make that happen. Rapid urbanization will continue to create an array of wicked problems, including housing complications, environmental issues, and economic systems. It is the urban planner’s duty to weather this storm and form cities that can effectively support rapid urbanization.

 

I have encountered these topics in my day to day life constantly growing up, that’s why rapid urbanization seemed to resonate with me. Where I grew up, I see these changing core beliefs and movements to the larger cities all the time. I come from the rural town of Fairbanks Alaska. Fairbanks has a population of 31,516 and comes second to Anchorage in population density. In Fairbanks, it is common practice to go to college out of state. A good percentage of my classmates who left the state to continue their education never returned home permanently. Most of these classmates ventured into the pacific northwest in the Seattle or Portland areas and began living in the large city. It appears every year that I go back home for the summers I find less and fewer people coming back. Not only do I see this in other people, I now find city living ideal for myself. Previously, I thought that I loved Fairbanks and that I was never going to leave. Not only that but I’ve never found interest in living in or even visiting a large city in the past.

 

This is now my fourth year going to school in Albuquerque, and I can’t see myself ever moving back to Fairbanks. Although Albuquerque isn’t an incredibly large city, it is close enough to help change the way I’ve viewed cities growing up. In the future, I do see myself moving to an even larger city once I graduate college. This is a complete 180-degree shift in how I felt about cities before living in one. I’m not sure why my ideals changed about cities, but they did. I’m curious as to why this large population shift towards urban centers is happening and hope that we can adequately plan cities so that people like me can call the city their new home.