Every country in the world today is fighting tooth and nail to establish and sustain their economies. Governments around the world invest a substantial amount of their resources to urbanize their towns and cities. The process of urbanization is meticulous and of global significance. A country’s development and modernism are key elements that control its future. After all, trade and economics are no longer domestic concerns.
Avant-garde cities are not merely cities with beautiful landscapes. For a city to truly represent its country, it has to walk a tightrope of history and modernity. A city’s historical landmarks add to its culture while its infrastructure defines its place in today’s times.
The perils of unplanned cities
It may often seem that city planning is an overrated task because it demands so much hype and resources. But urban planning is crucial and cannot be stressed upon enough.
A city can be visualized like a house of cards – one crucial card stacked on top of the other. Unlike towns which do not require a lot of infrastructure and facilities, cities are modern strongholds of any country. Cities amalgamate the population with their government, their business, and their cultural ethos. Modern civilizations are formed around these urban units.
Cities like Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, and New Orleans are some of the worst planned cities and will show you how important it is to plan our cities.
The best cities in the world are those that have been planned to suit their own needs. When the planning is not undertaken in time, cities start mushrooming – i.e. they begin to grow haphazardly, occupying whatever land they can find without careful deliberation on the how it will affect its people.
Urban development focuses on the physical layout and has to include transportation, communication, and power distribution networks. Meaning, that planning a city does not simply entail dealing with human settlement. It also has to take into account how to plan public spaces, industrial units, marketplaces, drainage systems, different modes of transport and other relevant units of a city.
Putting your best foot forward
Cities like Singapore, Zurich, Denmark, Seoul, and Chandigarh indeed do it best! These cities are extensively planned. These cities have a proved that a vision and blueprint is imperative to go in the right direction. In spite of being some of the most populous centers, these cities still thrive. Such cities are not only innovative and ultramodern but are also sustainable and self-sufficient.
Some of these cities have significantly reduced their carbon emission by switching to renewable energy sources. Their public transport networks are intricate and reliable which allows for fewer cars on the roads and therefore less pollution, fewer accidents, etc. their drainage systems are effective which means efficient water management. Most of these cities also promote cycling and walking over cars, which makes them lifestyle friendly.
Solution to urbanization
Well, we all know that urbanization is a result of the boom in technology. Without the latest machines and computers, we would hardly require such modern cities. But if technology has demanded more equipped cities, it has also provided the means to build such cities.
The process of city planning dates back to civilizations like Mesopotamian, Indus Valley, Minoan, and Egyptian. These civilizations are our basis for modern cities. Until recently, planning a city was considered a herculean task. Not just because it calls for immense detail and data analysis, but because it essentially required the planner to foresee the necessities of the future and leave room for change and refurbishing if the need arose.
This process has now become almost easy. Technologies like FieldAP – Field Activity Planner that support the engineering process by digitizing the data. What such technologies do is allow the planner to make better-equipped decisions. Also, because all your data is stored offshore, there is no security hazard or loss of data. What FieldAP also does is bring your designs to life in 3D form – making it immensely easy to see the flaws and tweak them.
Technologies on the web also allow constructive collaboration and can be instrumental in creating the best planning team. It bridges linguistic and geographical boundaries.
Such technologies are the future of mankind and will help make our lives easier than ever before. We will not only enjoy a good lifestyle but will also truly become global citizens who have the inclination to participate in making the world more cohesive, more inclusive and more modern!