Abstract
Inequality, in any form and dimension, is a major damaging factor for sustainable development. One of the essential drivers of inequality is the over-agglomeration and congestion in a certain region. The reasons for the agglomeration are well documented, such as knowledge-spillovers, access to supply and demand markets, availability of skilled labor, and good infrastructure. However, over-agglomeration in a region, mainly triggered by poor planning and mismanagement of resource allocation, may also become a barrier for sustainable development. The over-agglomeration generally results in undesired negative effects impeding the economic, social, and environmental development any further, even causing irreversible social and environmental issues. Following the big-push model, a theoretical model is proposed to consider the negative effects of increasing rent prices due to over-agglomeration first on the industrial development of a country. This is then followed by a case study of Istanbul as a megacity and its effects on Turkey’s sustainable development through industrial, social, and ecological aspects. Istanbul has been the main industrial and economic center of Turkey as the city further expanded rapidly in the last 50 years in terms of population and urbanization. This over-agglomeration has resulted in very high rent prices in the city compared to the rest of Turkey, which affected the country’s industrialization. The over-agglomeration in Istanbul has also created significant economic imbalances and income-inequalities within the city and across Turkey. The environmental degradation, the loss of forest area, and very high air and noise pollution were other results of the city’s rapid expansion and over-agglomeration. These industrial, social, and environmental dynamics pose serious challenges to Turkey’s sustainable development as long as over-agglomeration in Istanbul persists or even aggravates further.
Highlights
Sustainable development has been initially defined as “meeting the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” by the Brundtland report published in 1987 [1]
Initial benefits in agglomeration of resources into a certain region are generally outweighed by congestion, rising costs, and environmental degradation in the later stage [9]
When n > 0, there will be at least partial industrialization in the economy, and to find the total output: Y = total wage in fringe sectors ((k – n)/k * Y) + total wage in advanced sectors (L – (k – n)/k * Y) + profit of fringe firms + profit of advanced firms (n * πa) where we find the profit of advanced firms by using the equation from A4: n
Summary
Sustainable development has been initially defined as “meeting the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” by the Brundtland report published in 1987 [1]. Many cities in those countries have expanded well beyond their natural zones that resulted in over-agglomeration and congestion in terms of population, transportation, land use, economic activities, industrial production, and public services Such over-agglomeration in a city eventually becomes a barrier for the sustainable development in the host country due to waste of limited resources, and economic and social inequality across the regions [8]. Land prices and other services have become increasingly costly in these areas and factored in production costs of industries in the forms of rental payments, transportation, and utility costs [15] All these side effects of over-agglomeration and congestion in megacities pose significant challenges to sustainable development. The negative effects of over-agglomeration in a megacity have been analyzed from an industrial, economic, social, and environmental perspective through a case study on the city of Istanbul
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
