What is the Link Between Urbanisation and Public Safety?
Urbanisation is a familiar word to us all from school. It means a simple and widespread phenomenon today – the increasing role of cities in the development of society. As a whole, it plays a progressive role since the concentration of various industries, businesses and scientific, cultural and educational institutions creates perfect conditions for the growth of general culture and employment, the improvement of standards of living of the urban population, medical care, and food supplies. However, all of the above signs of urbanisation growth also lead to unwelcome changes in the natural environment: air, water, and soil pollution.
Therefore, it is necessary to think about how urbanisation affects the safety and security of humankind.
Imagine a simple situation – an emergency in the underground. With the help of a public alert system, all the people who are present there will be notified of the danger, which means that the system performed its function but caused panic at the same time. A question arises, which rescue and evacuation procedure will be more efficient and safer – where there are 500 or 5,000 people engaged?
Another example is a fire in a building. The bigger the city, the taller the building – the taller the building, the more people in it – the more people in it, the more extensive the evacuation – and the more extensive the evacuation, the higher number of casualties.
And there are more and more examples like this. So it turns out that although there is a warning system in a large city (as opposed to a rural area), the risks of suffering in a crash or being swept over by general panic increase.
In 1900, just 13 per cent of the world´s people lived in cities. In 2008, the number passed 50 per cent for the first time in history. By 2050, as some recent research studies have it, the number will be about 70 per cent. The urban population in Asia and Africa will double, and there will be nearly 30 megacities – cities with more than 10 million people.
It is worth noting two main problems of modern warning systems:
- In cities, not only proper attention needs to be paid to sharing information with people but also managing the crowds of people in case of an emergency, thus providing them with comprehensive instructions on how to behave and what to do in such a situation.
- In villages, there is a different problem, which is the lack of funding and the frequent absence of a warning system as a result. Hence, looking for a cost-effective solution affordable to every village is a challenge to respond to as well.
Seeking solutions to these problems works as a stimulus for the development and innovation of Telegrafia’s warning and notification systems.
The article was written by
Oleh Slepenok
Oleh is the youngest member of the team of international business managers at the Telegrafia company and he can easily express himself in Russian, Ukrainian, Slovak and English language. Oleh is fueled by his passion for understanding cultural, political and operational challenges of the Middle East and Russian speaking countries. Oleh holds a Professional Engineer degree in Aviation. Sound engineering background contributed to his analytical and quality management skills. Oleh enjoys hiking, good sense of humor and open-minded conversations. A clear and positive approach to problem-solving resonates in his favourite quote „less talk more action“.