Question

5. What are the costs of “Big Cities”? What is the Urban Giantism Problem?

Answer 1

The Cost of living of major big countries and cities like America, Paris,etc being few of them is already high and only getting worse over a period of time. Th cost of living comfortably now a days has increased a lot. A majority part of the income that is earned by people is usually spent on necessities first and then on the luxury good and services so as to maintain the high standard of living that people are used to now. A very less portion of the income earned is actually saved by many.

One major factor that affects the cost of living in Big Cities is the cost of housing. Prime destinations and greater demand for them has contributed to the increase in prices. It is very important that the cost of living is checked and worked upon or else it will have really bad effect on the people with lower income creating a lot of inequality and disparity. Increasing cost of living reduces people’s ability to put more money towards opportunities.

Urban Giantism-  Urban Giantism is the phenomenon of urban settlements growing disproportionately large in size due to rapid migration of people from other areas to these urban settlements. People generally migrate to urban areas because of the perceived better income, infrastructure, etc

The problems due to Urban Giantism are as follows:

1. Concentration is in a single city largely to avoid transportation costs.

2. Overcrowding in particular areas that eventually make the cost of living very expensive.

3. Huge informal sectors in shantytowns. Many workers outside formal sector.

4. There may be general urban bias favouring large cities.