今日は早起きをして、英文ライティングの練習をしました。↑のネタで、否定的な立場をとって書いてみました。時間や分量のことはあまり考えず、気ままにやりました。
In Japan, most major cities are undergoing urbanization. The development of a city, usually aimed at enhancing its convenience and functionality, serves its purposes to some extent. However, its negative effects are not negligible: local residents who have been living and working in the community for years are quite often removed from their homes or workplaces in the process of gentrification; urbanization, typically backed up financially by big companies that invest tremendous amounts of money in developmental projects, widens the gap between the haves and the have-nots; and the development of a city degrades the environment as well as its beautiful, traditional cityscape and streetscape.
Urbanization involves forcing people to leave their homes or workplaces and demolishing expanses of buildings, residences and businesses alike. I do sympathize with them, of course, given the sorrow and humiliation they suffer from being displaced from the places they love to be in. At the same time, I worry about the loss of tradition and the collapse of the community. I cannot help picturing a once-lively shopping street in my neighborhood, with a variety of shops engaging in their business on either side, that has been abandoned, only reminding me of the “good, old days.” I cannot help but wonder where those old folks playing shogi (Japanese chess) in the corner of a small local park have gone.
Another impact of urbanization on Japanese society is that it has brought the problem of economic unfairness to the fore. Whereas urbanization could improve a city’s convenience and functionality to a certain degree (as seen in better infrastructure or transport), most benefits it brings with it seem only to be enjoyed by the rich exclusively, while leaving the poor behind. Money starts to talk more. Only rich people can grab and take advantage of lucrative business opportunities that big companies (which might well have been played a part in the development of the city) offer, because that is the logic of capitalism, which enables further urbanization and reinforces their social status, when the poor are denied the chance of social mobility. No expensive restaurants, fashionable boutiques, or fancy hotels are affordable for the deprived. The unwealthy are highly likely to suffer from the high cost of living, find it difficult to make ends meet, and might decide to leave the gentrified city.
Last but not least, urbanization (or better phrased, “gentrification”) damages the community’s environment and its otherwise beautiful cityscape and streetscape. In the City of Osaka, close to my hometown Kobe, trees planted neatly on either side of its main avenues have felled down to hold temporary social events. Overheating economic activities are leading to a proliferation of skyscrapers, heavy traffic and overcrowdedness of the city, all of which seem to be contributing factors for the abnormal climate. Furthermore, gentrification makes the city look monotonous and dull. Whether you are in Tokyo or in Osaka, you are sure to see franchised restaurants and convenience stores, making it all the more difficult to get to grips with a city’s uniqueness. When night falls, ugly, glaring illuminations glitter, robbing the city of any nuanced peace and beauty that the darkness could otherwise have brought.
In conclusion, I am of the opinion that problems caused by urbanization outweigh its positive effects. In the process of urbanization and gentrification, people are displaced, the gulf between the rich and the poor widens, and the environment, the cityscape and the streetscape deteriorates.
(571 words)
