Response to Cities all over the world face the same challenges and have similar impacts.

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  “Cities all over the world face the same challenges and have similar impacts.”

        Problems not only arise in rural areas, but also occur in urban areas of both LEDCs and MEDCs. Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Their existence is very important because they can provide more economic opportunities for people who move in. Thus urban areas are usually defined as areas with high population density and vast cultural resources. From the case studies we looked at urban areas like Calcutta and Cairo in less economically developed countries (LEDCs) and New York City in a more economically developed country (MEDC). Cities in both LEDCs and MEDCs suffer from similar problems like pollution, housing and transportation for urban migration. However, the severity and the impact of these urban problems vary depending on economic situation. For example, New York City as a leading world city is much less affected by similar problems as compared to Calcutta, Rio and Cairo.

        

        First of all, as more migrants come into the city, a common problem that exists in many urban areas is pollution. Air pollution is usually caused by vehicles and industrialized use when they release large quantities of greenhouse gases. Moreover, noise pollution in cities like Cairo and New York is caused by the vast number of vehicles.  As a result of city pollution, there are serious health and governmental management problems in most cities, for both LEDC and MEDC. But in LEDCs, the impact is much more severe. Consider Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, where half a million residents develop serious health problems; such as lung problems, loss of intelligence, tooth decay in children and flulike-coughs. Some of these problems can affect people’s entire lives and can ultimately result in death since most people cannot afford medical treatment. On the other hand, the severity of the impact is much lighter in MEDCs. New York City also has problems associated with reducing, recycling and disposing its waste which is leading to environmental pollution. However, the impacts differ from a LEDC’s city like Cairo. Under the cloud of pollution, some New Yorkers may also have health problems, but the death rate caused by pollution is much lower. This is because most New Yorkers have a decent amount of wages and can therefore afford medical treatment. In addition as a more developed city, New York has more advanced medical treatments to assess and diagnose different diseases. Lastly, since the economy of New York is more developed from cities in LEDCs, it is able to spend money for technological innovations and make efforts towards reducing particle pollution. In New York City, the technology of waste incineration has advanced dramatically since the 1960s. Their invention, which helps to dispose wastes, includes an extensive network of mass transit, the electrical power grid, product packaging, solid waste removal and so on. Thus, though cities like Cairo and New York all face similar problems; New York’s economic and technological development limits the impact and allows the city to handle such problems more effectively.

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        Secondly, another serious problem that exists in urban areas in both LEDCs and MEDCs is the housing problem. In Calcutta, a developing city in India, most people suffer from poverty and live in squalor. “Many families have no home other than the pavement,” and others are forced to sleep in the open or in overcrowded bustees. They have to live in such places not because of lack of land but as a direct result of poverty. As a consequence of living in a crowded home or even on the street, there are significant risks of getting health problems. This ...

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