Ghettos (urban geography/urban planning )

Ghettos (Urban Geography/Urban Planning )

Kazim Rizvi 26 January Ghettos: Urban Planning “ The cry of the ghetto is being heard by a nation with its fingers in its ears.” Barbara Sizemore said this in reference to the poor condition that ghettos are in, and the help that they require in terms of better urban geographic planning. The term itself refers to a minority that lives in poor and overcrowded conditions due to economic, social or legal problems. The main motive of this paper is to thus provide a solution for the improvement of these areas and to inculcate them into proper urban planning. Ghettos need to undergo planning structures so that people living there are not pressurized into living in the worst of conditions like they are stereotyped to. Ghettos are very crowded areas; they can be found in almost any country. They come into existence in the first place when a group of people find that they are not able to afford suitable shelter for themselves. These areas slowly become to be inhibited by a large number of people and lead to bad sanitation due to overcrowding and that is why many governments try and make policies to fix the situation and provide better housing facilities to people so that they can get rid of these ghettos. However, over the last many years, governments have been neglecting this issue and not really paying much heed to it; and this goes without saying for almost all the governments over the world. This is because not much has been done to improve the situation of these ghettos and to provide a proper arrangement for urban planning so as to accommodate these into the city and make them look presentable, and also provide a good housing plan for people that live in it. A lot of research has been put into the matter as to how to turn ghettos into proper crowd free zones where people can actually live in a decent manner. The goal is to improve the quality of life of people that live there and also to reduce the rate of crimes that occur in these areas and this can be done by re planning all these areas on which ghettos have been formed over the years. Every state’s specific corporation must look into the matter to see how the housing society and structural composition can be bettered. The main problem is that there are too many small houses for people to live in and the problem can be rectified if some amounts of funds are put to use to build proper housing structures for the people that live there so that their homes are bigger, have more space and the area is also cleaned. Therefore, what must be done is to pin point exact locations where these ghettos exist and take corrective measures and steps to improve the living conditions. This can be done in a series of steps starting with provision of proper health care and facilities, and then moving on to building more homes and relocating the people. Works Cited 1. Dudley, Michael. 2 December 2010.” Can Planning rebuild “ Ghettos of the mind?” Planetizen. 26 Jan, 2011 (http://www. planetizen. com/node/47115) 2. Hannan, Hayley. 3 December 2010. “ Urban Ghetto on the Horizon?” The Aucklander. 26 Jan 2011 (http://www. theaucklander. co. nz/local/news/urban-ghetto-on-the-horizon/3932101/) 3. Hurst, Charles. Social Inequalities: Forms, Causes, and Consequences. 6th Edition. Pp. 263, 274, glossary