By Ranjan K Baruah
People move from rural areas to urban areas for better opportunities like livelihoods and other facilities. Until 2009, more people lived in rural areas than in urban areas. Today, around 55 per cent of the world’s population lives in towns and cities, with the level of urbanisation projected to reach almost 70 per cent by 2050. Much of the growth in urban populations will take place in Asia and Africa, especially in China, India and Nigeria where the fertility rates remain high.
There is no doubt that cities should be encouraged to innovate and experiment, and also to learn from one another in order to achieve sustainable development. Cities worldwide are increasingly suffering the effects of climate-related disasters, such as floods, droughts, sea level rise, heatwaves, landslides and storms. At least 130 port cities with over one million inhabitants around the world are expected to be affected by coastal flooding and the one billion people in urban informal settlements are particularly at risk.
We are talking about the challenges but at the same time it brings career opportunities for young people who are interested to work for the positive development and change in cities. Creating more sustainable, climate-resilient societies involves addressing a range of issues including poverty reduction, ensuring basic services livelihoods, the provision of accessible, affordable and adequate housing, investing in infrastructure, upgrading informal settlements and managing ecosystems. Successful, well-governed cities greatly reduce climate-related risks for their populations.
We should be aware that the United Nations General Assembly designated 31st October as World Cities Day, by its resolution 68/239. The Day is expected to greatly promote the international community’s interest in global urbanization, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities addressing challenges of urbanization and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world.
Sustainable Development Goal 11, which formulates the ambition to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable – underlying the relevance of UN-Habitat’s mission. Inequalities in cities have grown since 1980. The world’s largest cities are also often the most unequal, and this year’s theme is embraced by the action and implementation of the New Urban Agenda, which is putting the topic of inclusive cities as one of the main pillars for the urban shift.
When it comes to careers and job opportunities for sustainability then the options are urban planners, architects, city designers, social workers, communicators, urban managers, sociologists, etc. There are different options which need experts like engineers or planners like architects. When we look at the perspectives from people then we need more social workers like experts on reducing urban poverty, ensuring accessibility for physically challenged, enhancing economic activities for city dwellers who are mostly financially marginalized.
Urban planning graduates play a key role in managing and developing the places we live in to make them safer, more sustainable and healthier. Environmental scientists and experts help in design and planning cities that do not affect the urban ecosystems. Aspirants with a Master in Social Work or Development Studies or Sociology may work to eradicate urban poverty to make cities more inclusive by engaging themselves as social experts or social workers or development workers.
Let us make our cities as hubs of innovation and human ingenuity — and potential centres for transformative action to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Cities must be climate friendly with less carbon emission which brings opportunists for climate experts. The theme of this year’s World Cities Day, ‘Adapting Cities for Climate Resilience’, comes at a time when cities must be more resilient than ever before. Cities have been epicentres of the COVID-19 pandemic and are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and this brings opportunities for aspirants with qualifications and skills.
(The author is a career mentor and skill trainer and can be reached at [email protected] or 8473943734 for further details)