Urban Water Dynamics: Case Studies from Indonesia, Singapore, and Canada (Research Paper Sample)

Introduction
Rapid population expansion, urbanization, and economic development all provide significant issues for water management on a global basis, but particularly in metropolitan areas. Between 1950 and 2011, the global population expanded substantially, from 2.5 billion to 7.0 billion in 2011, and is predicted to reach 9.3 billion by 2050. Almost all of the expected population growth over the next four decades is likely to occur in urban areas, which are projected to grow from 3.9 billion in 2014 to 6.3 billion in 2050. Asia and Africa will have the fastest urban population increase between 2014 and 2050, with China and India accounting for more than a third of global urban population growth (UN-DESA 2014).
Megacities account for a significant portion of worldwide water consumption, posing huge difficulties for water sustainability. The number of megacities worldwide has grown from two in 1950, Tokyo and New York, to 28 in 2014 and 41 by 2030. Meanwhile, the population of megacities has increased from 23.6 million in 1950 to 453 million in 2014 and is expected to reach 730 million by 2030. The fast rise of megacities over the last several decades has produced a considerable gap in management capabilities, in contrast to prior times of slower urban growth, during which megacities could gradually establish infrastructure and implement creative governance(Varis et al., 2006).
Through the exchange of water, food, energy, people, information, and money, urban areas are increasingly engaging with surrounding regions. According to findings, 22 of the 28 megacities depend on distant water transfers to satisfy their water demands (United Nations, 2014). Additionally, a large part of food eaten in cities is imported, making food importation comparable to water importation. As a consequence, megacities have a significant influence on water dynamics.
Historically, water sustainability research and management in urban contexts, particularly megacities, have been fragmented and often focused on a subset of the primary components. For example, some have placed a premium on internal relationships while others have placed a premium on external contacts, financial ties, and environmental interactions. This is partly owing to a dearth of complete conceptual frameworks capable of conducting systematic examinations of several components concurrently. In this paper, We analyze and explain urban water dynamics using case studies from Indonesia, Singapore, and Canada.
Historical Background
The world saw an incredible resource commodity boom just after the turn of the twenty-first century, with investment and terms of trade in extractive industries reaching record highs. After that, the resource commodity boom erodes resource security (Singh, 2013). Additionally, we often hear the term "security" at the time. Security is vital to the human condition. Security may be described as the absence of risk or threat; in other words, security refers to the degree to which an individual is protected against danger, injury, loss, and crime. After the cold war ended, a new notion of security emerged that considered not just the military realities of the contemporary world, but also the political, economic, and social realities (Snyder, 2008).
Despite substantial advancements in a variety of sectors, human progress has been inequitable: over a seventh of the world's population lacks reliable food supply and has very limited access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and modern energy sources. Simultaneously, human activity depletes natural resources in a variety of locales. This is already evident in several regions of the world. A third of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries. Numerous terrestrial and marine ecosystems have been significantly altered or completely replaced, impairing numerous ecological processes. Water, more specifically fresh water, will become one of humanity's most valuable resources. Water is an integral part of human existence (Edelenbos & Teisman, 2010).
Water is used in a range of sectors and applications of human resources, including residential, industrial, transportation, energy generation, and health. The word "sustainability" was coined in 1987 by Brundtland. The United Nations prepared this declaration, sometimes known as 'Our shared future,' to warn of the negative environmental consequences of economic development and globalization, as well as to provide solutions to the problems created by industrialization and population growth.
Water security, according to the United Nations Environment Program, or UNEP, is a unifying factor because