How Immigrants Change Town and Cities.

Immigrants are folks who move to a country to take up permanent residence. In latest years, the issue of immigrants has raised great concern amongst more than a few levels of government and alarmed citizens. The number of immigrants has unexpectedly increased over the years especially those migrating to the cities and the city towns. People have become more mobile and can freely go from one place to another. According to Shojaei (2017), some of the factors that have contributed to this rapid make bigger of the immigrants can be classified as economic, social, environmental and political. Economic migration is where people go to find work or concentrate on a specific profession pathway, social migration is where persons move to be closer to relatives and friends, political migration helps persons to escape political wars while environmental causes involve persons escaping natural disasters such as flooding and famine.Major cities and major towns tend to be places of liberty, diversity, liberalism, economic strength, and innovation. The immigrants enjoy economic and social strength in the cities. As cited by Davenport (2017), most of the immigrants from Europe and Asia struggled economically, which forced them to migrate to the United States in search of jobs which paid better than those in their homeland. In addition, major cities tend to have most of the services that cannot be accessed at the rural places. The town has infrastructure, water, electricity and health services, easily accessed. This mobility attracts the immigrants making cities will continue being instruments of economic development.Through the immigrant’s movement and interactions, they tend to change different aspects of towns and cities, thereby impacting on urban and regional planning. 11. Research Strategy and Resource List. Immigrants are as old as some of our republics. Immigration has become an ambiguous factor in the mid-western landscape while some immigrant-rich states like Arizona, California, Florida conduct immigration policy discussions. It is evident that immigration has benefited the Rust Belt demographically and economically. Majority of the immigrants originated from Mexico, Central America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In present times, a majority of the immigrants in the Midwest, are a significant source of population and new business growth. According to Pottie-Sherman, (2017), from 2000 to 2015, the immigrants in the Midwest had a 34 percent growth (more than 1 million people) which accounted for 37 percent of all Midwest population growth. Therefore, growth in immigrant populations has surpassed modest growth of native-born populations. The immigrants in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston account for approximately one-fifth of the country’s GDP. In New York, the immigrants made up 44 percent of the city's workforce in 2011; in and about Los Angeles, the immigrant accounted for a third of the economic productivity in 2007. As cited by Davenport (2017), once the immigrants have learned English and become citizens they tend to contribute immensely to the economy. Therefore, immigration reinforces the workforce which eventually adds to the overall economic activity.Due to the size and the growth of the immigrant populations, some four metro areas stand out as reputable immigrant gateways: former, major-continuous, minor-continuous, and post-WWII. The former gateways which boomed in manufacturing in the earlier half of the 20th century have vanished. Major- continuous gateway housed immigrants through 1960. Minor-continuous have upheld a stable 8 percent of the total immigrants. The post-WW11 gateways have seen remarkable numeric growth, presently housing 37 percent of immigrants.All these towns and cities have experienced, increased population, the creation of new businesses, affordable housing, and economic growth. The increased population is due to the demographic increase in the number of the immigrants. The new businesses are created as the immigrants open small businesses in the region, to earn a living as well as utilize the labor offered by the immigrants. The immigrants have to seek for affordable housing as those living at the inner-city raise the rent forcing them to live at the outskirt of the city. The economic growth is as a result of the increased labor which increases the economic activity in the area. Some of the emerging trends in the immigration that are changing the urban centers include; metropolitan-gateways to house the rapidly increasing population, affordable housing which makes the poor to live on the outskirts of the city. Real estates make the house ownership to be expensive. According to the research done by Foote & Walter (2017), international trade has emerged as a result of the immigrants in the cities. In present decades, immigrants’ effect on trade has become much more important, as numerous third-world countries have developed considerable industrialized sectors and international markets have emerged. The gateways have enabled the immigrants to disperse as some can even settle in the rural places, this affects urban and regional planning as it extends the area it is supposed to manage, thus stretching its resources to rural places. According to Levy (2016), this leads to social problems and unstable population in different regions, and hence presents a difficult time to regional planners.A. Economic Impacts of ImmigrantsImmigrants are likely to change the economic aspects of towns and urban centers in various ways. According to Immigrants hold different education levels and can, therefore, provide different types of labor (Gould & Moav 2016). Concerning urban planning and development, highly educated immigrants can be absorbed into the industry to make significant decisions and conduct research that is useful in urban development. On the other hand, immigrants with low education levels can provide cheap labor enabling urban and regional planners to accomplish their work efficiently. Also, immigrants are likely to boost the economy of towns they move to, through increasing demand for housing and consumption commodities. As a result, urban and regional planners are actively involved in controlling the development of towns and cities.Immigrants add value to housing markets. “It’s a basic story of supply and demand,” Vigdor explained. When an immigrant travel to another country, they require a house to stay. And as housing demand rises, the prices rise as well, other factors being constant. Of course, all else is not constant. Vigdor’s model adopts, for example, without new construction, which is not the case far and wide in real life. It also doesn’t work as well for less dense areas, where immigrants are increasingly settling. Immigrants come with new and innovative ideas from their countries, especially those who are refugees, as they settle in a new place they might end up carrying out one of the economic activities at their home places. The outcome of this arrangement is an increase of the gross domestic product of that country. If they engage in agriculture, they end up generating food for the natives. As a result, urban planning is key as it will guide them to the places to do farming or any economic activity. B. Social Impacts of ImmigrantsImmigration is most likely to lead problems in housing, mainly because the majority of the immigrants has a high appetite for homeownership. According to Gillian White analysis at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, immigrant families consists of 27.5 percent of the national household growth since 1994.And their demand for housing in the coming decades is only expected to upsurge. “They view homeownership as a piece of the rock. It's a benchmark of being settled,” Dowell Myers, a professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at USC told White. “They view homeownership as the American Dream, and they buy into that.”. Also, with rental prices steadily on the rise at the central-city, the low-income earners are finding themselves being pushed to the outskirts more violently than before. They might end up living in the suburb of the towns. Failure of the relevant authorities to oversee immigration, therefore, leads to social problems and unbalanced population in different regions, and hence presents a hard time to regional planners.Some of the social problems facing the immigrants in the US include poverty, social adjustment, and family difficulties. According to Lueck & Wilson (2010), Most of the immigrants leave their extended family behind who can offer them support. This leads to stress and difficulties in financial matters especially if their job search is unfruitful. There is also different perceptions of the concept of basic human rights and the roles and responsibilities of various members of the family. To curb these social problems, policies are issued addressing the immigrant and migrant families which must be profoundly weighted in support of local control and administration. One approach may be to improve the literacy levels through education. Challenge being a constantly mobile population.Due to the increased population of the immigrants, the government may be required to build more primary schools to accommodate the large population. The funds could have been used for economic development. Thus urban planning is essential to curb some of the social problems we may face due to immigration.C. Political Impacts of ImmigrantsAs the increased number of immigrants can cause a difference in lifestyle and neighborhood types, where some live at the metropolitan and some at the slums, causing a divergent in an urban neighborhood. Areas subjected to a mass of ethnic groups are always -without justification, ever present in the political and media debate. According to a research done by Harmon (2017), in the absence of statute by the government, neighbors associate themselves with their social background or tribal group. It can, therefore, be expected that inner-city neighborhoods will continue to diversify regarding social class membership. This is not healthy as it can cause divisions which can be a source of war. These tendencies are already occasionally obvious. The poor in the slum neighborhood may gang up to steal from the inner-city community as a way of earning a living; this will cause insecurity as the crime rates are high. Urban planning is in contradiction, as it seeks solutions and occasionally in incompatible diversity, ensuring there is an active and diverse city without discrimination.The increased number of immigrants into a country may lead the host city or town to ask the superior levels of government funds to cater for the needs of immigrants. An increase in population will cause a need for increased security, increased social services such as healthcare, water, and sewage system. Such funds may be used to inaugurate new development to advance the living conditions of the immigrants. Moreover, immigrant activities may lead to a change of legislation concerning immigration. D. Demographic Effects of ImmigrantsDemographics denote the composition of people in a specific locality or country. Immigrants change the demographics of towns and urban areas in terms of population size and structure. According to Furtado (2016), demographics are important in design and coming up with strategies to develop a particular town or urban center. The highly educated immigrants need a high-end quality in urban life because of demographic developments. In the international struggle for high-skilled labor, the circumstances of employment are progressively not the only factors to be considered. The feature of the housing location, racial, leisure, and shopping conveniences play a role. For example, the much-wooed software professionals today, well qualified and younger immigrants from Eastern Europe and third world will in future be able to decide on the country to which they desire to emigrate. Excellent conditions and a genuine welcome will encourage them to settle there. Cities and their resources are of vital importance in this antagonism. Because of market forces of demand and supply, it makes sense that investors are looking for flexible, multi-use ventures which can be adjusted to serve multiple tenants and shifting neighborhood thus capitalize on the rent and enjoy high-quality use. The low educated immigrant settles at the affordable slums, where there is congestion. Urban planning is responsible for ensuring there is affordable housing in the region. Policies are made to avoid over pricing. The steady population growth helps a nation grow its economy due to large markets, an expansive workforce, and innovations. In most countries, as cited in Otten, Buszkiewicz, Tang, Aggarwal, Long, Vigdor & Drewnowski (2017), immigrants tend to be the principal source for fresh ideas, patents, and invention. The readily available labor encourages the growth of industries. The large markets encourage the industries to continue in the market. Additionally, industrial production, which has formed urban development over the ancient ten decades, is being progressively replaced by small-scale, high-end production measures and services. This changes the demands made of the contemporary city. Large-scale manufacturing factories, the efficient separation of workplace and home, standardized consumption, standardized living arrangements are less and less in demand in the city, leaving room for precise developments. Urban planning is essential as we face these changes.1V.ConclusionIt is evident that the immigrants cause significant changes in towns and cities regarding social, economic, political and demographic aspects. They change the way towns and cities are run, how they are governed, how people interact and influence development both positively and negatively. Urban planning can result in the effective integration of the immigrants, as it integrates infrastructure policies to support societal integration or plans that incorporate diversity as a core value of great ideas contributing to lively and prosperous cities. This embraces planning in transport and public places (parks, malls, and streets), neighborhood rejuvenation projects, budgeting and prearranged planning, and native environmental initiative. These impacts are necessary for making decisions on urban and economic planning hence the need for their in-depth understanding.References.Davenport, D. P. (2017). Population persistence and migration in rural New York, 1855 1860 (Vol. 4). Taylor & Francis. Foote, N., & Walter, R. (2017). Neighborhood and socioeconomic change in emerging megapolitan nodes: Tracking shifting social geographies in three rapidly growing United States metropolitan areas, 1980–2010. Urban Geography, 38(8), 1203-1230.Furtado, D. (2016). Fertility Responses of High-Skilled Native Women to Immigrant Inflows. Demography, 53(1), 27-53.Gould, E. D., & Moav, O. (2016). Does high inequality attract high skilled immigrants?. The Economic Journal, 126(593), 1055-1091.Harmon, N. A. (2017). Immigration, Ethnic Diversity, and Political Outcomes: Evidence from Denmark. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics.Levy, J. M. (2016). Contemporary urban planning. Taylor & Francis.Lueck, K., & Wilson, M. (2010). Acculturative stress in Asian immigrants: The impact of social and linguistic factors. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34(1), 47-57.Otten, J. J., Buszkiewicz, J., Tang, W., Aggarwal, A., Long, M., Vigdor, J., & Drewnowski, A. (2017). The Impact of a City-Level Minimum-Wage Policy on Supermarket Food Prices in Seattle-King County. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(9), 1039.Pottie-Sherman, Y. (2017). Austerity urbanism and the promise of immigrant-and refugee-centered urban revitalization in the US Rust Belt. Urban Geography, 1-20.Shojaei, A. (2017). Investigating the Demographic, Social and Economic Factors Affecting the Immigration. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, 12(2), 237-241.