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Push factors are aspects of a town/city that are problematic or "push" prospective citizens away.
The first push factor I would like to discuss is traffic. Traffic is a serious issue in Shanghai, with traffic jams in this city recently being rated as the worst in China. This can cause problems with getting to places on time and travelling around the city by car, which leads to many people opting to use the vast metro system instead of the roads. Additionally, the demand for new roads cannot keep up with the steady supply of new cars arriving onto Shanghai's streets, meaning that the infrastructure is not able to maintain the number of motor veichles on the roads.
The first push factor I would like to discuss is traffic. Traffic is a serious issue in Shanghai, with traffic jams in this city recently being rated as the worst in China. This can cause problems with getting to places on time and travelling around the city by car, which leads to many people opting to use the vast metro system instead of the roads. Additionally, the demand for new roads cannot keep up with the steady supply of new cars arriving onto Shanghai's streets, meaning that the infrastructure is not able to maintain the number of motor veichles on the roads.
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Another push factor in Shanghai is overpopulation. Shanghai, has a population of 24.1 people and a population density of 3,630.5 people per square kilometre in the city. This problem is the source 0f many other issues, including traffic and pollution (which damages the population's quality of life). On the other hand, Shanghai has one of the lowest birth rates in the world at 0.7 per woman. This is probably a combination of local values and China's one child policy. Shanghai also is known as the most popular destination in China for migrants. At 9,000,000 (almost 40%of the population), immigrants make up a giant chunk of the Shanghai population, which otherwise would be in a steady decline due to the lack of local births. Many students chose to move to the city, with a survey showing that Shanghai was the top preference for employment after college.
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The final push factor I would like to discuss with you today is air pollution. Air pollution in Shanghai became a serious issue in 2013 after the air pollution levels there reached a hazardous level. For all of 2013, the number of good air quality days in Shanghai was 241; meaning there were 124 days of poor air quality over a 12-month period. There are a few reasons why Shanghai was reaching such dangerous levels. Firsty, many of the northern areas rely on coal burners to provide their heating. The dust and residue from these burners are carried down to Shanghai. Aditionally, many of the trees in Shanghai are deciduous, meaning they shed their leaves in autumn. This means that trees and plants that usually help to purify the air are no longer flowering, and thus not collecting more dust and soot. Another source of the pollution is the burning of the leftover straw from the harvest. The provinces that surround Shanghai are often seen burning huge amounts of leftover crops from October to December. No laws have been put in place to prevent this, even though the Shanghai environmental bureau admitted that this causes over 10% of Shanghai's air pollution. The extreme amount of traffic in Shanghai also plays a major role in the levels of smog and air pollution.