Social Justice in the Urban Economy

Urbanisation and increasing populations in urban areas have led to many problems. Issues stemming from urbanisation include social issues, economic and environmental problems through urban sprawl. These problems include pollution, urban poverty, overcrowding and traffic, depletion of resources, land conflicts, unemployment, high crime rates and lawlessness and development of slums. These areas generally consist of socially and economically disadvantaged people: the urban poor. Urban slums are most vulnerable to the short-term and long-term effects of urbanisation such as forced evictions by government and investors, substandard housing, inadequate water supply and poor sanitation, poor health and generally lack of access to social services. This is worsened by the lack of resources and the political will to adequately plan for the slum dwellers.

Sustainable urbanisation and urban development requires interactions between the local communities, developing companies, government officials and the actual location. These interactions need to promote a long-term balance of livelihood, and resource management. Sustainable urbanisation should follow principles like Promoting economic development and stability for the long-term while practicing social justice and equity.

Sustainable urban economic development requires interactions between people of all socio-economic status. A socially just process would result in gaining the perspectives of all people involved in urban development. From these perspectives, solutions for the issues surrounding urbanisation could be developed and implemented. Social justice requires that different cultures and economic classes are not exploited by any sector involved in sustainable urban development.