Urbanisation has now become a universal phenomenon. Today more than fifty-five per cent of the world population is living in urban spaces which are going to climb up to 68 per cent by 2050. Urbanisation is the rise in the proportion of people in towns and cities. Urbanisation results from myraid forms of migration of people from rural to urban as well as urban to urban. Cities are the growth engine for the economy of a country. Benefitted by the massive influx of populations with attraction by the higher quantum of services and supported by the scale of economics, urban spaces are the has now become the pivotal point for human civilisation. Due to the high concentration of population, towns and cities are also vulnerable to different externalities. They are vulnerable to climate-induced phenomena, e.g. urban flood in Mumbai and Chennai, heatwave caused by urban heat island effect, health issues owing to poor air quality etc. Recently, spreading COVID-19 pandemic has put the urban population with a new experience. The pandemic results in a widespread lockdown across the globe. The economy of most countries has come to a halt as human movement is restricted to brack the chain of the virus. The urban densities are always higher than its rural counterpart. Higher density leads to a higher chance of contact among masses from their even higher spreading of diseases.
Global scenario of urban density and COVID 19
The global scenario shows that the outbreak of the pandemic is more in highly dense areas like towns and metropolitan and cosmopolitan cities. Human being carrier of the virus passes it to other humans in dense urban settings. Most of the major cities of the world have thus become the hub of the COVID 19. NewYork (USA), London (England), Paris (France), Milan (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Rio de Janerio (Brazil), Mumbai (India) etc. all the major urban agglomerations are the hotspot zones for coronavirus. High urban density is the primary cause for transmission of diseases. Unhindered intercountry transportation and communications are also enhancing the vulnerability of the progression of Corona diseases.
Urban Scenario in India and COVID 19
Indian scenario of the COVID 19 is in line with the global path regarding the disease spreading pattern in cities. Metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat etc. have become the spreading hub of the virus. As most of the cities of India are unplanned with many informal settlements like Dharavi in Mumbai, the coronavirus victims are increasing in leaves and bounds across the country through the cities. According to the estimation, based on the MOHFW that Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad accounts for more than 40 per cent cases corona positive cases in India. Cities of northern and western states are more affected by the spreading of the diseases. The cities are the economic hub and engine of the national economy. People in masses migrated in such cities to alter their future from rural belts of India. These pull factors have made cities of India more vulnerable to the pandemic as well. Cities and urban areas which are planned and appropriately regulated are less prone to the virus attack, for example, Chandigarh, Puducherry etc. The aftereffect of the disease results in lockdown, which trigged mass reverse migration of labourer from urban to rural areas which are rarely found in India.
The global picture of coronavirus shows that the higher count of the patients is mainly from urban areas. Hence it has become more of an urbanite disease even though the COVID 19 subsequently invaded into the rural areas as well. Even though its ubiquitous presence across space in the present time, the disease is going to be membered as one pandemic which hit the urban areas the most.
