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The world trend toward urbanization continues at a steady rate. Immigration to cities has created increased numbers of enormous cities with tens of millions of inhabitants. Many of the cities of this size are showing up in the less developed regions of the world. Overcrowding, pollution, crime, economic strain, and other urban problems persist as more and more move from the rural regions to the city. Bradsher discusses the environmental urban challenges faced by those living in Hong Kong. Industrialization and international demand for inexpensively produced goods have brought many factories to this region. What are the environmental consequences of these factories? How are they regulated? How has pollution influenced the economy? How have city leaders responded to the challenge? Describe the similarities and differences in Hong Kong's current environmental challenges and Europe's 17th and 18th century environmental challenges? How is Hong Kong's situation similar to the urban challenges faced by those living in many other large LDC cities? A Rosy, Pink Cloud, Packed With Pollution
HONG KONG, Sept. 9 -- A faintly pink haze, in the unexpectedly innocuous hue of a baby's coverall, clung to this city's famous harbor and curled among the skyscrapers today as Hong Kong recorded its worst air pollution yet. A silent wave of tiny dust particles and other pollutants has been sliding over the hills and down the Pearl River from mainland China, from Guangdong Province, once a quiet agricultural area and now one of the world's biggest manufacturing centers. One nearby city, Dongguan, now has 18,000 factories, and with scant enforcement of environmental regulations, they constantly pour smoke from innumerable chimneys. Fresh breezes from the South China Sea usually keep the filthy mixture at bay during the summer. But a huge storm that passed to the north over the weekend bottled up the usual air flows and left the mixture to cook in the tropical sunlight, which changed many of the pollutants into more harmful substances, said Thomas Chow, Hong Kong's deputy secretary for the environment, transport and works. The murky air has become the talk of Hong Kong. Yin Yuk-kwang, a 62-year-old retiree, clutched his 2-year-old grandson to his chest protectively this afternoon as he walked to the supermarket, passing one of the government's air-quality monitoring stations -- a pair of grime-coated, white boxes the size of curbside mailboxes, sitting next to a six-lane road in the Causeway Bay neighborhood. ''Hong Kong has become a horrible place for children, and sometimes I just don't want to walk in the city with my grandson,'' Mr. Yin said. ''He is so small, and I feel the bad air is eating him.'' The smog has been a concern for tourism, which accounts for 5 percent of the economy. When the Hong Kong Tourism Board asked visitors in 2000 for their biggest complaints, pollution led the list, cited by 11 percent of the survey's respondents. ''One of the great sights in Hong Kong is the view from the peak of the harbor, and if you can't see it very well, that will not help a lot of visitors' vacations,'' said Simon Clennell, a spokesman for the board, referring to Victoria Peak. Mr. Chow asserted, and academic experts here and in the United States agreed, that the air was not quite as bad as it looked. Hong Kong's topography -- 1,500-foot hills sloping down on both sides of a broad harbor -- makes it possible to see buildings many miles away on a clear day. Limited visibility on a dirty-air day is much more noticeable than it would be in a flatter city. ''In Hong Kong, if you have a very good view, you can see the smog reflecting the sunshine like a mirror,'' Mr. Chow said. ''If you look across the harbor, you can see the open space filled with smog.'' The pollution looked last week like an immense wad of semitransparent bubble gum; the haze thinned today, but invisible pollutants set a record near the Guangdong border. Typical days are comparable to those in big American cities and less serious than in many inland cities in China, said Wang Tao, an associate professor of civil and structural engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Hong Kong itself has taken many actions to reduce pollution. Most taxis have been converted from diesel to cleaner-burning liquefied petroleum gas, and the diesel fuel sold here is considerably cleaner than similar fuel in the United States. Guangdong Province and Hong Kong agreed on April 29 to a 10-year plan to reduce air pollution, but Guangdong's soaring manufacturing output will make this difficult. Bradsher, R. (2002, September 10). A Rosy, Pink Cloud, Packed With Pollution. New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2002, from http://www.nytimes.com.
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