1. URBAN ECONOMIC I (ESM 415)
ALPHA 2013/2014 ACADEMIC SESSION
Urban Land Use and
Problems:
Overpopulation and
Urban Sprawl

2. LECTURE FIVE
What is Overpopulation?
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A country is overpopulated when that country
does not have enough available living space to
accommodate all of it's population.
Overpopulation refers to a condition by which
the population density enlarges to a limit that
provokes the environmental deterioration, a
remarkable decline in the quality of life, or a
population collapse.

3. LECTURE FIVE
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Overpopulation is a condition where the number of
organisms exceeds the carrying capacity of their
habitat. It is an increase in the population density of a
place so much that the amount of food, water and
land is insufficient in providing resources.
What causes overpopulation?
There are some schools of torts on the causes of
overpopulation. It is believed that:
1. Religion is the main cause of overpopulation.
Religion causes people to be pro-life, anti-abortion,
anti-family planning e.t.c.

4. LECTURE FIVE
2. Overpopulation of humans is caused by lack of
birth control, lack of education, and poverty.
3. The last school of tort believe that high birth rate
and low death rate are the major causes of
overpopulation.
Which school(s) of tort do you subscribe to?

5. LECTURE FIVE
Overpopulation is caused by:
1. People have a continuous fertility cycle, we can
produce children all year unlike animals with a fixed
breeding period.
2. People eliminate natural causes of death from
disease and hunger by medicine and agriculture.
Hence, we have longer life span.
3. Infants' death at childbirth has reduced due to
advance technology.

6. LECTURE FIVE
4. The social pressure to have children is strong in
almost every culture.
5. Birth control is not available in many/some cultures.
6. High birth rate.
7. Children are a sign of virility (being capable of
copulation and procreation).
8. Religion.
9. Migration.
10. Lack of education.

7. LECTURE FIVE
11. In some cultures male children are preferred. This
indirectly forces couples to produce children till a
child of the preferred gender is conceived.
Effects of Overpopulation
1. Food & water shortage
2. Limited space
3. Environmental Degradation
4. Health Problems: Poor environmental sanitation is a
major cause of diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid and
cholera. e.t.c.

8. LECTURE FIVE
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl means the spread of urban areas into
rural areas such as farmland, forests and coastal
lands that lie on the outer edges of cities.
Urban sprawl is the unchecked spreading of a city or its
suburbs. It often involves the construction of
residential and commercial buildings in rural areas
or otherwise undeveloped land at the outskirts of a
city.

9. LECTURE FIVE
Characteristics of Urban Sprawl
1. Increased traffic congestion.
2. A decrease in social interaction among neighbours
because of changes in the physical structure of
neighbourhoods.
3. Water quality degradation due to increases in
impervious surface area associated with new roads
and parking lots.
4. Air pollution resulting from the increased volume of
traffic as people must drive longer distances, often
on congested roads.

10. LECTURE FIVE
Consequences of Urban Sprawl
1. Overcrowding of limited services.
2. Increased travelling distances and times to work,
school and recreation areas.
3. Increased traffic congestion.
4. Increased urban pollution,
5. Lack of hygiene and sanitation.
6. Development of slums and shanty towns

11. NEXT WEEK
Lecture Six
• What is Pollution?
• Types of Pollution – Water, Land, Air,
Noise & Chemical Pollution
• Sources of Water, Land, Air, Noise &
Chemical Pollution
• Preventive Measures