The Impact of Urbanization on Environment A Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

Rapid urbanization is an issue of the whole world in present age. Pakistan is no exception regarding rapid growth of urban population. Urbanization increases because cities have pulling effects for population in the form of better facilities, infrastructure, opportunities and better future. Urbanization affects the environment of the economy because urban areas are usually industrial oriented and, hence affects environment negatively. This study analyses the impact of urbanization on environment in case of Pakistan. The IPAT, Impact Population Affluence and Technology, model is utilized to see the impact of urbanization on environment. The environmental impact is captured through the level of carbon dioxide emissions. The environmental impact is classified into three effects, namely scale effect, structural effect and intensive effect. The scale effect is linked to environment through the increased level of production as a result of increased demand due to urbanization. The structure effect is captured as the percentage share of industrial and services sector in Gross Domestic Product. The intensive effect is due to the increased density of population in urban areas and the increased energy consumption level. The results showed that the impact of urbanization on environment is negative. The data of Pakistan is used for this research from year 1973 to 2015.