London’s infrastructure and commercialization
Discuss about the Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan.
Urbanization is the concept that involves the living of individuals in a city or town that has enhanced lifestyles and where the standard of living is high. It is the process in which the residents of a particular country move to the cities and start affording a better standard of living and means of livelihood. Urbanization is also the concept which involves an increase in the proportion of people residing in the main cities instead of countryside or outskirts. Most of the cities in Europe have been under the influence of a lot of political and adverse financial conditions and still have managed to remain destinations of attraction of business expansion and huge residential hubs. London is one such city that is listed as one of the best by Mercer in the list of cities both in terms of infrastructure and quality of living. On the other hand, Lagos, one of the largest economies of Africa has not been listed in the top cities by Mercer, unlike five other cities of Africa that have made it to the same list. In this paper we try and examine the factors that have made the two cities different and if the rankings are valid and consistent with the living conditions and also explore the possibilities in terms of plans and programs that are being taken up to improve the situation in the two cities.
According to Mercer (2017), London is the fortieth best city in terms of standard of living and also ranks sixth in terms of infrastructure as it is highly developed and houses some of the best multinational firms that contribute highly to the gross Domestic Product of the city and the country as a whole. It is considered to be a very good host location because of the easy availability and abundance of pure drinking water, electricity and also the easy access of transportation. In terms of infrastructure and commercialization London is the sixth ranking city because the city has extremely meticulous and well connected air routes to different parts of the world and also within Europe (Mercer.com. 2018). Within the city also the levels of reliability, sustainability, technology, commercialization and networking are all well aligned with each other and this in turn contributes to the increase of productivity of the population residing and working in the city and thus helps in bettering the standards of living. However, in terms of standards of living, the city does not rank as high as in terms of infrastructure because of the volatile financial conditions and adverse political unrest rampant in the city. Further, there is unequal division of income among the citizens of the city which causes the lower ranking of the city in terms of livelihood. The cost of food, accommodation, clothes, transport, entertainment and personal care goods are also extremely high making it difficult for a large part of the population to afford a high quality of livelihood (Mercer.com. 2018). However, the prices of all the above stated goods vary to a wide extent making it easy for the residents to afford a quality standard of life if not a highly expensive one. Thus, the ranking of the city by Mercer is quite consistent to the current scenario of livelihood and infrastructure existing in the city.
London’s economic growth and progress
Some researchers also assert that London is highly known for the features of labor mobility and increasing opportunities of growth especially for the youngsters which helps them to grow and hence help in improving the conditions of stability and living standards in the city (Dickmann 2012). Further, the high levels of economic progress and growth persisting in the city has also made it easy for the citizens to propel their productivity which has in turn caused the economic growth to spill over into the neighboring cities around London especially within UK (Martin, Tyler and Gardiner 2014). The high performance of the city is also attributable to the large size of the city in comparison to the population it houses and holds. Thus, the remaining scenario of political unrest and other volatilities have not been to adversely affect the position of London in terms of urbanization and commercialization. Further other reports also assert the validation of London being one of the top cities in terms of wealth and a city that is involved with a lot of recreational activities that again imply the high standards of living in this city, despite suffering from situations of congestion and crime (Intelligence Unit 2017). It is also asserted in these very reports that the levels of consumerism, healthcare and public policy all equally contribute to the high living standards in this city and country as a whole. Further according to many other researches and reports, London is considered to be the first ranking for six times in a row in terms of economic indicators like growth rate pertaining to the level of Gross Domestic Product, the attractiveness of dining options, the business, political and economic risks and also the amount of intercultural activities and associations (The Global Liveability Report 2017 A free overview., 2017).
Thus, all of the above data focuses on and portrays the capability and efficiency integral and implicit within the city that leads to the high quality of life and standards of living and make London an attractive hub of intercultural associations and business ventures. All of this data provide a consistent picture showing that the rankings of London are not only valid but also justified given its positioning in the European arena.
The Nigerian city of Lagos which is one of the largest economy in Africa was ranked as low as 212 in terms of the standards and quality of living that persist in this city. The major reason that forms the central pillar for Lagos lagging behind unlike London is the lack f viability of this city in terms of business development and the lack of talent and productivity of the people residing in the city. According to the article published by Oliver Smith (2018), Lagos is one of the least livable cities in the world with a rank of about 139, it is one of the least five livable cities in the world. In spite of being one the fastest growing cities in the world the huge population of the city causes it to lag behind and put in more effort for an amount of productivity that is easily reached in a city like London due to high levels of automation and commercialization and higher income per head due to low levels of population. The level of commercialization and education being low in the country accounts for low levels of productivity and hence lower standards of living. Reports claim that only one third of the total number of children in Africa are enrolled in schools and involved with proper educational and schooling systems (usnews.com, 2018). Further, there are other additional reasons that contribute to the low standard of living and infrastructural capabilities and opportunities persisting in the country including adverse environmental conditions like riptides and high levels of crime including kidnaps and murders.
Validation of London’s ranking
Again according to the report published by, in the complete list of emerging cities in terms of strengths and vulnerabilities Lagos ranks 4.4 in terms of its strengths and 6.9 in terms of the vulnerability ranking score on a scale of 1 to 10 which itself portrays the current scenario of living standard that is persistent within this city (Atkearney.com 2018). It has been reported to be one of the most vulnerable emerging cities in the world along with Nairobi. In terms of Global Cities Index as of 2012, London ranked the second with a score of 5.79 on a scale of 1 to 10 where Lagos ranked 59 with a score of 0.84 on the same scale as it lacked most features and components of urbanization and development (Atkearney.com 2018). This is both because of the lack of commercialization and networking that is present in London currently.
The most recent plan formulated for bettering lives of Londoners is the London Plan that aims at spatial development of the city in a strategic way that was published in December in 2017 (London.gov.uk 2017). The plan tries to reinforce development in the city so that growth happens in a equal way in order to propel redistribution of income and achieve sustainability and greater cohesion. The major areas addressed by the plan include social infrastructure, housing, design, heritage and culture, the economy, environment and green infrastructure, sustainable infrastructure and transport. The plan also focuses on the increase in connectivity in between London and Wider South East (London.gov.uk 2017). The plan will primarily be implemented in order to replace the already existing plans in place. The plan tends to build inclusive communities so that the spatial distribution of income is even better than before and provide the different sections of people residing in the city will equal opportunities and bringing the lower levels of population to a higher level in order for them to afford the standard of living that they were earlier not exposed to or could not achieve (London.gov.uk 2017).
The Lagos State Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan has been introduced for a period of two years (2016 to 2018) which aims at bettering the situation of Family Planning and increasing the national contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR). This plan was introduced to form a framework and roadmap for higher levels of growth and development by controlling the level of population explosion in the city (Lagos State Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan, 2016–2018, 2016).
Weakness of Lagos
The Lagos State Development Policy Program is another program that was implemented to better the climate persisting in the city in terms of investment and also to improve the financial conditions in the city. This program specifically aims at reducing poverty through the implementation of fiscal policies and regulations. There were primarily four pillars of this plan which were fiscal sustainability, investment climate, budget planning and budget execution (Projects.worldbank.org. 2018). The plan also focused on better management of the macroeconomic factors which would propel growth and development. The aim is to convert this growth into viable socio-economic indicators and factors that should effectively imply higher levels of development for the country as a whole.
From the plans and programs discussed in the above section and also the features that make London a highly ranked city, it can be inferred that Lagos as a city needs to work on the huge population and also develop efficient means of improving the situation of education and health in the city so that the productivity of the individuals is increased.
Further the city should also focus on the spatial distribution of income so that the wealth is distributed equally and the standard of living is increased for every level of income persisting in the city. Lagos should also attract higher investments in terms of business as it lies in Nigeria which is one of the OPEC countries and then used the profits and revenue generated to form better networking capabilities within the city so that the city has higher levels of transport feasibility.
The government of the city should also take up active steps for improving the fiscal policies and other regulations so that the financial scenario of the city is improved which in turn will propel growth and development and help in improving both the infrastructure and commercialization of the city and add to higher amounts of Gross Domestic Product for the country as a whole. Further, the amount of safety and security should be increased in the country by reinforcing better rules and regulations so that the rate of crimes is reduced and the amount of political unrest and financial volatility does not affect the productivity and efficiency of the individuals residing in the city.
Further, the authorities of the city should also be concerned with improving the situations persisting in terms of environment and should in fact use the natural resources found in abundance in the city to increase the amounts of investments and build the city as a destination of business hub. This in turn will lead to increased employment which will automatically lead to increase in investment sustainability and improve the livelihood and standard of living for the people.
Lagos’s lack of viability
The New Urban Agenda is an agenda that was adopted in the Habitat III portion of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in the year 2016 from 17th to 20th October (Habitat III 2018). This was established in an attempt to address urbanization in a new way with respect to the growing population of the world. This agenda has in effect prescribed methods of economic and social exclusion and also methods of segregation which are aimed at increasing the standard of living for the residents of the various countries and cities along with the respective governments that participated in the conference.
The portions of the agenda that prescribe the methods and measures of eradicating and removing poverty and unequal distribution of income in all forms can and should also be referred to by both the cities and the government authorities especially involved in the field of policy and planning, especially the urban planning committees(Habitat III 2018). The cities should also take up the efforts as mentioned in the agenda of equally distributing the privileges of urbanization to the entire population of the city equally whether they reside in formal or informal settlements.
Further, the two cities should also most definitely work on the aspects of providing greater safety and security by improving the modes of safeguarding of the human settlements and checking violence rates and bringing their levels down or completely eradicating them from both the cities (Habitat III 2018). The concepts of cohesion, intercultural understanding, entrepreneurship and mutual respect for one another should also be given importance and developed with the help of government policies and programs implemented and planned by the local authorities.
References
Atkearney.com. (2018). 2012 Global Cities Index and Emerging Cities Outlook. [online] Available at: https://www.atkearney.com/documents/20152/436064/Global+Cities+2012.pdf/56dd6e26-688a-5e38-5636-828e83f89e1a [Accessed 29 May 2018].
Dickmann, M., 2012. Why do they come to London? Exploring the motivations of expatriates to work in the British capital. Journal of Management Development, 31(8), pp.783-800.
Habitat III. (2018). The New Urban Agenda – Habitat III. [online] Available at: https://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/ [Accessed 29 May 2018].
Intelligence Unit, T. (2017). The Global Liveability Report 2017 A free overview.
Lagos State Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan, 2016–2018. (2016). [ebook] Lagos State Ministry of Health. Available at: https://ec2-54-210-230-186.compute-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Lagos-State-CIP_Printer-ready-002.pdf [Accessed 29 May 2018].
London.gov.uk. (2017). THE LONDON PLAN. [online] Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/new_london_plan_december_2017.pdf [Accessed 29 May 2018].
Martin, R.L., Tyler, P. and Gardiner, B., 2014. The Evolving Economic Performance of UK Cities (No. 5). Working Paper.
Mercer.com. (2018). Vienna tops Mercer’s 19th Quality of Living ranking. [online] Available at: https://www.mercer.com/newsroom/2017-quality-of-living-survey.html [Accessed 29 May 2018].
Oliver Smith (2018). Revealed: The world’s best (and worst) cities to live in. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/liveable-cities-2017-economist-intelligence/ [Accessed 29 May 2018].
Projects.worldbank.org. (2018). Projects : Third Lagos State Development Policy Operation | The World Bank. [online] Available at: https://projects.worldbank.org/P151947?lang=en [Accessed 29 May 2018].
The Mori Memorial Foundation. (2017). Global Power City Index 2017. [online] Available at: https://mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/ius2/gpci2/index.shtml [Accessed 29 May 2018].
usnews.com, (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/nigeria [Accessed 29 May 2018].
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