Noise pollution
The urban environment is n area of increased noise pollution caused by traffic and other mechanisms located in cities. Pollutants may harm the senses of sight, taste, and smell and may also cause health hazards. Noise factors are widely used as a term for several areas of research which consist of human performance, technology design, and human-computer interaction. In general, noise pollution is related to human factors which mean physical or cognitive property of a certain person. It can also mean some kind of social behavior of people which is peculiar to human beings and which may have any influence on functioning of any technological system and also balance between the human beings and environment (McKee, 2003).
The social aspect of noise indicates certain and peculiar properties of the humans. There is no reason to doubt that all people make mistakes that can lead to serious accidents and it often refers to human factor. Nowadays there is a great variety of different technologies, the aim of which is to prevent even the slightest probability of accidents or to minimize any possible risks of faults made by the humans. Even experienced professionals are only ordinary people and for that reason the human factors should always be remembered. It is generally known that any future is impossible without the past; that is why people have to remember all shocking accidents and great faults in order to take all necessary actions for preventing them in the future (McKee, 2003).
Regeneration of the urban environment is a major component of strategic vision of the future. Plan should identify three areas of the city for efficient urban planning. The “consolidated town” comprises the urban areas that are already well developed with extensive road networks. The “out-of-town” area, comprising the network of large parks will be preserved. And the “town-to-be-completed” area, basically alternating full and empty urban space, will be improved with new residential units. These last two areas, comprising about 70% of the total municipal land, are now territorially defined and new normative instruments apply. Policies for the consolidated area will be the focus of subsequent town planning (Kinder, 2007).
In addition to the “urban protection strategy for local authorities”, the local authorities themselves should take their own initiative for collective redemption. They must develop city strategies for commensurate action to improve their sustainability. It should focus on four areas: sustainable development, democratization, decentralization, and local empowerment. It is based on the premise that governmental decisions should be taken at the level closest to the citizens, with other levels of government undertaking only those matters which local governments cannot carry out alone. It is difficult to give them a precise ranking. But an interrelated package of problems has to be addressed: transportation with its associated noise and air pollution, waste management, energy supply, water management, urban regeneration, land conservation and protection. This involves improvements to public transport, especially rail, trams, and the underground; a new priority extended to cyclists and pedestrians; and better traffic management. Stronger and more strictly implemented traffic and parking regulations, and new controls over traffic circulation are also aimed at mitigating the adverse impact which the city’s transportation activity has on human health, especially of course on its residents (Kinder, 2007).
Territoriality, privacy, and personal space
In modern urban settings, the concepts of territoriality, privacy and personal space are changed. For a modern man, territoriality means a socio-geographic area of living. It may involve city, state, province, or even a climate zone. Landscapes and different geographical places have a great impact on cultural values and identity of populations. They respond to the immediate demands of the most powerful voices in the community and have one eye on the more popular policy direction. There is little doubt that in modern society it is difficult for the government to advocate policy from an international perspective.
The concept of privacy and personal space lacks its original meaning and can be interpreted as an individual areole of living. The slogan “think globally, act locally” may well be adopted by those who are well informed and committed to their role as global citizens, but the majority of Australians are more restricted in their focus. Recent opinion polls cite immigration and unemployment as the major causes of national insecurity. The agenda of the new millennium must set down the principles of global citizenship and the social obligations we have for each other. This will not be an easy task in affluent nations such as mine where we so readily rely on our current level of resource consumption and privileged lifestyle. Nor will it be easy to communicate to the people in the South where basic human survival preoccupies the lives of so many. But a strategy must be formulated in the planetary interest. If a country such as the USA cannot grasp the urgency of this imperative then it may be necessary to develop both moral and actual international sanctions to persuade and directly enforce governmental implementation of its obligations to all of humanity (McKee, 2003).
Population density influences the concepts of territoriality, privacy, and personal space. For modern citizens, there is little space for personal living and freedoms. Once that base of global values is secured, nation-states will fundamentally alter their perception of international affairs, and their own national conduct will change. It is made and maintained by its members. National behavior is a product of national perception of the world, of international cooperation, and its relevance to the national interest (McKee, 2003). That perception informs national decision-making and shapes national policy. It is here, on the threshold of values, that enhancing global security through strengthening the United Nations must begin. The concept underpinning such a qualitative change in human outlook is a rather stark one-survival. The fact of demonstrable threats to our collective survival, and a species responsibility for securing it, is new. Perhaps that is why the notion of survival, with its eschatological connotations, tends to invite dismissal by some as hyperbole. In the commission, we saw it differently. Unprecedented increases in human activity and human numbers, we observed, have reached the point where their impacts are impinging on the basic conditions on which life depends. With the proviso that such legitimacy is based on a proper consent of all peoples of the world, speaking transparently through a global civil society and thereby directing their governments. The dictate of collective survival will distinguish, in the future, what is in the vital planetary interest, and what legitimate global powers need to be recognized. In urban areas, overpopulation causes water and air pollution People who resided at the edge of cities observed cherished farmlands and wildlands vanishing before their eyes. Many of the earlier urban émigrés observed that the open spaces they had come to enjoy had disappeared (Lomborg, 2001).
References
Lomborg, B. (2001). The Skeptical Environmentalist, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kinder, C. (2007). The Population Explosion: Causes and Consequences. Web.
McKee, J. K. (2003). Sparing Nature: The Conflict Between Human Population Growth and Earth’s Biodiverstiy. Rutgers University Press.