Primary and Secondary Articles

After hours of searching for articles I finally was able to find two articles, one primary and one secondary that related to the topic of overpopulation. The primary article is found here http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/GRHS_2009Brief.pdf and the secondary article is http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/06/content_12185224.htm. The primary article is from the United Nations website and is a global report titled Planning Sustainable Cities and the secondary article is titled UN: Cities not adequately equipped to tackle global challenges of rapid urbanization, consequences of climate change. The secondary article highly represents the research presented in the primary article however there are some differences in the secondary source such as some of the grammar and the organization of the article. The primary source has a much more organized structure with a table of contents while the secondary source is just an opinionated article.

The primary article brings upon the problems of urbanization and overpopulation that our large cities will have to encounter. Other aspects that are related to environmental sustainability such as the impact of climate change on our cities are also researched in the global report. Some of the key findings in the primary article that also relates to the topic of overpopulation are the consumption of fossil fuels in these urban areas leading to an increase of pollution. The expansion of these urban areas is leading to such environmental impacts such as carbon dioxide emissions. Some poorer areas with less income that are unable to support proper urban planning may be victim to natural disasters such as flooding while other areas that plan ahead for disasters like flooding avoid such tragedies. Some statistics given in the article include: Between 2007 and 2025, the annual urban population increase in developing regions is expected to be 53 million (or 2.27 per cent), compared to a mere 3 million (or 0.49 per cent) in developed regions and 32 percent of the world’s current urban population call insufficient areas that are prone to disaster home.

The secondary article used a lot of quotes taken from the primary article to prove their point about how cities might not be able to withstand the challenges of urbanization and such. An example of a quote used to justify the author’s opinion is "Urbanization modifies the environment and generates new hazards, including deforestation and slope instability thus resulting in landslides and flash flooding,” (UN: Cities not adequately equipped to tackle global challenges of rapid urbanization, consequences of climate change, 2009) The quotes in the article however were not properly cited therefore can be considered invalid. The article also states how urbanization is promoted through the dependence of oil as an energy source. It is then explained that the emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels will result in greater air pollution.

In conclusion, the points brought out in the secondary article are points directly found in the primary research article. The primary research is a valid source from the United Nations. Secondary research is usually easier to access but sometimes facts and elements of the article may be false if not properly referenced. Personally, It is hard to say whether primary or secondary resources are more beneficial. It all depends what you are studying. Primary resources may be more accurate because of the hands on work but using journal articles to answer questions needed to write a paper may be inefficient. Therefore, secondary resources are a little less accurate but can allow for more efficient work.

Secondary Source

Xinhua, UN: Cities not adequately equipped to tackle global challenges of rapid urbanization, consequences of climate change, Oct. 6/2009. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/06/content_12185224.htm, Accessed Oct. 6/09

Primary Source

Planning Sustainable Cities . http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/GRHS_2009Brief.pdf. Accessed Oct.6/09