Cities: Competing needs in an Urban environment

CITIES SHARE MANY SIMILARITIES WITH NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS. They are dynamic, generating and recycling energy and waste, and responding to the interrelated cycles of needs, uses and demands of the institutions and people who live their lives within an urban environment. Cities are the future. The great migrations of people from rural to urban areas all over the world are proof of their power to attract and dazzle with their promise of a better life. Yet in this chapter we learn that half the urban population in Africa, Asia and Latin America suffers one or more diseases associated with inadequate water and sanitation. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized that when infrastructure and services are lacking, cities are among the planet’s most threatening environments. Among the urban population of low-income countries, one child in six dies before the age of five. Gathering reliable data about water and sanitation in cities is extremely tricky, but indications are that targets are far from being met and enormous work remains to be done. Better management of resources in and around cities is therefore a major challenge the world over.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Clean Water and Sanitation