Shanghai - Megacities Case Study

Megacity case study: Shanghai

Consequences of population growth

Population/ spatial growth

Geographical context

Causes of population growth

Solutions

CAUSES OF POPULATION GROWTH IN SHANGHAI

• "The 5 characteristics relating to Shanghai's population growth are: 1) population density is high and population distribution is uneven; 2) fertility declined drastically in the 1970s; 3) the proportion of young is declining and the proportion of aged is increasing; 4) the mortality has been declining steadily, resulting in a longer life expectancy; and 5) the sex ratio has evened out since the liberation when males greatly outnumbered females." -National Library of Medicine

• Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation (in 1980 the government opened itself more to foreign trade and investment)
• Chinese people living in rural areas are drawn to the major cities for job opportunities
• City is well placed for international trade, this attracts businesses and therefore people
• Poor city management and poor urban structures

CONSEQUENCES OF POPULATION GROWTH IN SHANGHAI

• Chinese government is evicting poorer citizens to force them out of the city and make room for wealthier people. Destruction of migrant and low-class "urban villages" including schools and housing
• Housing becomes more expensive and less easy to find (gentrification)
• Higher chance of diseases being spread (air pollution is a big problem in China's megacities / diseases spread more easily in urban environments)
• Increase in dependency ratio because the fertility rate has gone down and the life expectancy has gone up
• Strain on public services such as education and healthcare
• Families are split up - children are sent to rural areas where they have a better chance at entering schools and parents stay in the city to continue working

GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS TO POPULATION GROWTH IN SHANGHAI

• Implementing population caps (limit is 25 million by 2035)
• Government intervention to manage fertility rates
• Pushing lower-class citizens and migrants out of the city, basically making life harder for them
• Governmental system called Hukou, which prevents people from migrant areas from accessing certain public services like pensions and education