Nowaday, more and more people are migrating to urban areas. What are the pros and cons of living in urban areas. Discuss with your opinion.

A considerable but interesting controversy at present is increasing urban sprawl. There are equal number of advantages and disadvantages of this issue. Since the matter is debatable, I shall enlighten both sides before deriving any conclusion over this fact.

It is no doubt that moving to urban areas benefits people's lives. Firstly, people receive much more convenience by living in a city than in a countryside. Certainly, city areas have centralized different facilities such as offices, residences, business and educational institutions. So that residents in these areas can easily access to any services they need. Secondly, security is always a concern when it comes to choosing living environment. In urban areas, apartments are replacing houses as the main residential style because of lack of space, and security system in the apartment buildings is better than detached houses in outskirt of the city because surveillance devices are installed in them. From these points of view, it is understandable that accessibility and safety attract people to move to urban areas.

There are, however, a number of drawbacks of urbanism. One is unhealthy living environment. As increased manufacturers and plants move to urban areas, the air quality has drastically been declined by discharging of toxic waste and chemical fumes. This is severely affecting people's health. In addition, faster life pace causes chronic stress and threatens people's well-being. Another flaw is lack of space, this especially influences children's happiness and developments. For instance, there is no playground for children to play with their peers simply because all lands have been occupied in city areas. As a result, it can be seen that individual's physical and psychological soundness are at risk in urban areas.

To sum up, urban sprawl is a complex issue as there are real merits on both sides of the argument, but my belief is that health and well-being outweigh convenience, and we are still safe living outside of the city.