Reader Response draft 2

In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment”, Khanna (2015) believes that South-east Asian metropolises are the next reference model of “urban development” in the current era. She states that metropolises are going through an increase of population due to large amount of movement from the counties’ rural area to its cities; this influx is pushing metropolises to expand in magnitude and in turn, could lead to “urban sprawl”. The writer reports that when providing basic necessities such as water, housing and reliable transport; the magnitude of these metropolises are posing complicated problems for their local governments. Khanna argues that South-east Asian capitals are taking on the issues posed with "flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation." I agree with Khanna’s statement; the huge increase of population in the metropolises has indeed caused issues. However, in Khanna’s article these issues are briefly mentioned about, and I would like to elaborate more about the issues and what are the measures these cities are implementing.

First, I would like to talk about an issue in Bangkok, which is the air pollution the city is facing. Bangkok has long faced the issue of air pollution, dated as far back as 1970s.

Transportation contributes the most to the pollution issue in Bangkok. According to Dr. Bhichit Rattakul (2007), he reports that many of the buses used in Bangkok are outdated, but were still driven by private operators. Bhichit also states that about half of the 14,000 buses in Bangkok do not fulfill air quality control standard. According to worldbank (2015), the government of Thailand has implemented measures to combat the issue of air pollution; such as adopting emission standards, phasing out lead in gasoline and reducing polluting rickshaws in the streets. Bangkok also encouraged a conversion from the old two-stroke engines to the cleaner four-stroke engines for the city’s motorbikes. Thailand Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand states that “the air has improved a lot over the past 15 years.”

Next, I would like to talk about the transportation issue in Jakarta. Jakarta currently has one of the most congested traffic in the world. According to Hamer (2014), he reports that during peak hour, five-kilometer journeys by car can take up to an hour or more. This congestion is caused by the large amount of car ownership and the unreliable public transportation system. Businesses in Jakarta are heavily limited by the lack of mobility. To combat this issue, the public works office plans to build 10 elevated roadways, and some have already been completed. According to Prabandari, the new elevated roadway that she uses to travel between her house to work now takes only “matter of few minutes”, as compared to previously, would have taken her about an hour. However, during peak hour the traffic condition is still congested as the road converges with other streets. Jakarta is currently reviving plans to construct a monorail system.

In conclusion, it is no doubt that with a huge population, there will be issues that comes with it. The important thing for these metropolises is to plan ahead and improve their infrastructures such that it will be able withstand the growing demand of its population.

(534 words)

References

Can Jakarta Build Answers to Its Transportation Problems? (n.d), from http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/can-jakarta-build-answers-to-its-transportation-problems/

From Santiago to Bangkok, Cleaner Air Brings Healthier Lives. (2015). Retrieved April 13, 2015, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/04/13/from-santiago-to-bangkok-cleaner-air-brings-healthier-lives

Gluckman, R. (2007, May). Once blighted by belching buses and thick smog, Bangkok cleaned up its act and air over recent decades. Cutting motorcycle emissions and adding an overhead subway helped, but most measures were easy, efficient and paid quick results. As Bangkok has grown greener, much of Asia, suffocating in thick layers of smog, should pay attention. Bangkok breathes easier. Retrieved from http://www.gluckman.com/BangkokPollution.html

Hamer, A. (2014, January 30). Outdated infrastructure and constant gridlock are worsening with rapid growth in car ownership. Jakarta’s Troubled Infrastructure. Retrieved from http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/jakartas-troubled-infrastructure/

KHANNA, P. (2015, June 11). Population surges are causing cities to explode in size and density. Manila, for example, struggles to provide sufficient housing for the growing population. With long-term investments, South-east Asian cities are proving that their potential is greater than the challenges they face. Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment

Reader Response Draft 1.2

In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment”, Khanna (2015) believes that South-east Asian metropolises are the next reference model of “urban development” in the current era. She states that metropolises are going through an increase of population due to large amount of movement from the counties’ rural area to its cities; this influx is pushing metropolises to expand in magnitude and in turn, could leads to “urban sprawl”. The writer reports that when providing basic necessities such as water, housing and reliable transport; the magnitude of these metropolises are posing complicated problems for their local governments. Khanna argues that South-east Asian capitals are taking on the issues posed with "flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation." I agree with Khanna’s statement; the huge increase of population in the metropolises has indeed caused issues. However, in Khanna’s article these issues are briefly mentioned about, and I would like to elaborate more about the issues and what are the measures these cities are implementing.

First, I would like to talk about an issue in Bangkok, which is the air pollution the city is facing. Bangkok has long faced the issue of air pollution, dated as far back as 1970s.

Transportation contributes the most to the pollution issue in Bangkok. According to Dr. Bhichit Rattakul (2007), he reports that many of the buses used in Bangkok are outdated, but were still driven by private operators. Bhichit also states that about half of the 14,000 buses in Bangkok do not fulfill air quality control standard. According to worldbank (2015), the government of Thailand has implemented measures to combat the issue of air pollution; such as adopting emission standards, phasing out lead in gasoline and reducing polluting rickshaws in the streets. Bangkok also encouraged a conversion from the old two-stroke engines to the cleaner four-stroke engines for the city’s motorbikes. Thailand Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand states that “the air has improved a lot over the past 15 years.”

Next, I would like to talk about the transportation issue in Jakarta. Jakarta currently has one of the most congested traffic in the world. According to Hamer (2014), he reports that during peak hour, five-kilometer journeys by car can take up to an hour or more. This congestion is caused by the large amount of car ownership and the unreliable public transportation system. Businesses in Jakarta are heavily limited by the lack of mobility. To combat this issue, the public works office plans to build 10 elevated roadways, and some have already been completed. According to Prabandari, the new elevated roadway that she uses to travel between her house to work now takes only “matter of few minutes”, as compared to previously, would have taken her about an hour. However, during peak hour the traffic condition is still congested as the road converges with other streets. Jakarta is currently reviving plans to construct a monorail system.

In conclusion, it is no doubt that with a huge population, there will be issues that comes with it. The important thing for these metropolises is to plan ahead and improve their infrastructures such that it will be able withstand the growing demand of its population.

(534 words)

References

Hamer, A. (2014, January 30). Outdated infrastructure and constant gridlock are worsening with rapid growth in car ownership. Jakarta’s Troubled Infrastructure. Retrieved from http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/jakartas-troubled-infrastructure/

Gluckman, R. (2007, May). Once blighted by belching buses and thick smog, Bangkok cleaned up its act and air over recent decades. Cutting motorcycle emissions and adding an overhead subway helped, but most measures were easy, efficient and paid quick results. As Bangkok has grown greener, much of Asia, suffocating in thick layers of smog, should pay attention. Bangkok breathes easier. Retrieved from http://www.gluckman.com/BangkokPollution.html

From Santiago to Bangkok, Cleaner Air Brings Healthier Lives. (2015). Retrieved April 13, 2015, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/04/13/from-santiago-to-bangkok-cleaner-air-brings-healthier-lives

Can Jakarta Build Answers to Its Transportation Problems? (n.d), from http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/can-jakarta-build-answers-to-its-transportation-problems/

Reader response draft 1

In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment”, Khanna (2015) believes that South-east Asian metropolises are the next reference model of “urban development” in the current era. She states that metropolises are going through an increase of population due to large amount of movement from the counties’ rural area to its cities; this influx is pushing metropolises to expand in magnitude and in turn, will leads to “urban sprawl”. The writer reports that when providing basic necessities such as water, housing and reliable transport; the magnitude of these metropolises are posing complicated problems for their local governments. Khanna argues that South-east Asian capitals are taking on the issues posed with "flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation." However, the lack of analysis of the example given by the author makes the argument incomplete. 

Firstly, the author talks about the huge population in asian cities. She talks about issues caused by the effect of having a huge population; mainly the difficulty delivering basic necessities. However, she did not provide any solution to the issue.  Next, khanna lists a number of mobile apps which different countries implement which are supposed to foster a more proactive government - citizen relationship. However, the example used for singapore is not convicting as the app does not have any recognition in the locals with only a thousand downloads.

While Khanna has lists examples of few app. These app do not contribute to the solution south east asian metropolises are currently facing. All in all, the writer should have provide a much more comprehensive example of what these countries are doing currently to counter the effect of the huge increase in the population.

Summary draft 2: “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment”

In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment”, Khanna (2015) believes that South-east Asian metropolises are the next reference model of “urban development” in the current era. She states that metropolises are going through an increase of population due to large amount of movement from the counties’ rural area to its cities; this influx is pushing metropolises to expand in magnitude and in turn, will leads to “urban sprawl”. The writer reports that when providing basic necessities such as water, housing and reliable transport; the magnitude of these metropolises are posing complicated problems for their local governments. Khanna argues that South-east Asian capitals are taking on the issues posed with "flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation."

Summary:"Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment"

In the article "Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment", Khanna (2015) believes that Asian cities are becoming the global benchmark for citification. The writer posits that 36 capitals have over 10 million citizens. Out of those, 20 capitals belong in Asia. Khanna states that compared to Europe and America, Asia has more than twice the amount of people immigrating into the cities from its rural area. She argues that Southeast Asian metropolises are spearheading with "flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation."

“My English Language Learning Journey”

In Singapore, most Singaporeans are exposed to English at a young age. It was necessary because of all the different races that reside in this country; the country needed a common language for all of us to communicate and express our ideas and thoughts.

I was exposed to English at a young age too. Unfortunately, it was never my forte. I had struggled with it during my course of study in Primary, Secondary education and even till now; mainly in composition and report writing. I am bad at writing long story, perhaps due to my lack of interest in non-fiction books.

After the first week for school, I came to realise the amount of reports and proposals I would have to write, during my study in the university, is tremendous. I fear I would not able to write my reports well. Hence I am prepared to put in more time and seek helps and advice from professors and my friends.


*Edited 14/09/2015