Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

Division II

3B Writing Assignment Cover Sheet

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Essay genre: .........................................................................

Essay title: .........................................................................

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I declare that all material in this assignment is my own work except where there is clear
acknowledgement or reference to the work of others.

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Conditions
There will be automatic deductions of 10% for work, which is 10% over or under word
limit.

There will be automatic deductions of 50% for work with fewer than TWO cited references

Errors in referencing will result in up to 10% deduction of marks.

Resubmission is required if plagiarism exceeds 10% of the word count (excluding

reference list). A maximum of 80% will be awarded for the resubmitted version.

Work not submitted on time without prior approval will be penalized by 5% per day.
Late work will not be accepted once the marked assignments have been returned or after
2 weeks after the due date, unless an extension has been granted.

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Name: Bang Thi Phuong Dung Version 1

Class: 17E6 – Group 7

Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems.

Identify one or two serious problems and suggest ways that governments and
individuals can tackle these problems.

OVERPOPULATION IN URBAN AREAS: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

The last several decades have witnessed the increasing number of people from rural

areas or smaller towns are migrating to urban areas. It appears to be increasingly clear

that this adverse trend is causing tremendous issues. However, with the co-operation

between the government and individuals, this problem would be addressed

constructively.

The most alarming issue engendered by overcrowding in urban areas is housing

shortage. Every year flows of migrants from other areas come to cities in search of

better quality of life; however, cities seem to be unable to build sufficient housing to

accommodate the huge numbers of immigrants (Florida & Schneider, 2018).

Additionally, general interest in living in cities remains high, making cities highly

desirable real-estate markets and thus accelerate housing prices. Consequently, a lot

of low-income people would more or less have difficulty in affording accommodation

(Nallathiga, 2010).

Another matter of concern in overpopulated cities is job crisis. The total number of

job seekers in metropolitan areas is higher than that of available jobs and thus, demand

exceeds supply. As a result, this gives rise to unemployment rates in densely populated
cities (Okorie, 2015). Moreover, according to Rinkesh (n.d.), there are causal links

between joblessness and crimes. He points out that the unemployed would probably

commit crimes such as theft, robbery or drug trafficking for attaining basic

commodities and better living standards.

To address these problems, the most obvious solution is for authorities to invest more

in projects to construct houses for citizens as this can, for all intents and purposes,

contribute to the better well-being of cities’ communities (Jerving, 2017). For

instance, governments could lease communal lands for house building. Furthermore,

encouraging job creation could be another good and long-term solution. For example,

tourism promotion and construction industry can create more job opportunities for

urban inhabitants (Rinkesh, n.d.). In addition, individuals also have to take part of the

responsibility to solve these issues. First of all, each and every person should follow

governmental policies against overpopulation. A possibly more successful way is to

put pressure on the government to ensure that they make tackling overpopulation of

highest priority.

In conclusion, it is noticeable that overpopulation of urban areas has resulted in

serious problems, of which housing shortage and job crisis are the most serious ones.

In order to tackle these problems, the commitment of both the government and

individuals is essential.
 REFERENCES

Florida, R. & Schneider, B. (2018). The Global Housing Crisis. Retrieved from

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/04/the,-global-housing-crisis/557639/

Jerving, S. (2017). A guide to fixing the urban housing crisis. Retrieved from

https://www.devex.com/news/a-guide-to-fixing-the-urban-housing-crisis-

90629

Nallathiga, R. (2010). Affordable Housing in Urban Areas: The Need, Measures and

Interventions. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313846059_Affordable_Housing_i

n_Urban_Areas_The_Need_Measures_and_Interventions

Okorie, G. (2015). Urbanization Problems in Developing Countries. Retrieved from

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/urbanization-problems-developing-

countries-golfer-okorie

Rinkesh. (n.d.). Overpopulation: Causes, Effects and Solutions. Retrieved from

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-

overpopulation.php?fbclid=IwAR172CUgVfbaHXBCF6_ZgiFbYmjLtzmRi

mqm5Chn6SknzV6AisIUGLWlqIM
Rinkesh. (n.d.). Causes, Effects and Solutions to Urbanization. Retrieved from

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-

urbanization.php