Land Supply (Kimberly Kiong)

Why is there land constraint?

RISING DEMAND FOR LAND

• Population Growth

            With more people in an area, more land is needed for human activities. Thus, when the population increases,

            available resources will have to be shared among more people, adding pressure to the land.

            

• Increasing demand for housing

            A growing population will lead to more demand for housing. Thus, more land have to be used to build houses for 
           more people

• Growth of industries

            More jobs will need to be provided as the population is growing. Thus, one way to solve this problem is to develop
            more manufacturing industries and businesses. Thus, more land will be needed to expand and create more
            industries. Thus, the demand for land increases.

• Development of transport systems

            

• Increasing demand for arable land

             To produce more food for the increasing population, countries will need more arable land (land that is suitable for 
             growing crops.)However, arable land is in short supply. Over four-fifth of the Earth's land surface is unsuitable for
             growing crops as it is either too hot, too cold, too dry or infertile.

• Increasing demand for recreational spaces

LIMITED SUPPLY OF LAND

 Only 30% of the Earth's surface is made up of land, much less compared to water which makes up 70%. Furthermore, out of this 30%, not all are readily available for use. Areas like swamps and low-lying areas are constantly flooded with water and deserts are too dry to be of much use to us. Land can also be damaged due to mining or poor farming practices. These types of land are of little use to us if left in their original state.





(desert.)


(swamps)

Even not all suitable land can be available for us as they may be reserved for certain uses, such as water catchment areas. Land is also set aside for military purposes, such as training areas for soldiers. For example, in Singapore, military training areas and water catchment areas take up more than half of the total land. Thus, there is a limited area of land for other purposes (e.g. industry and housing).

Responses to rising demand of land

• Increasing the price of land

             When the demand for land increases and the available land area (or supply) cannot meet with the increase in
             demand, the price of land may be increase. This is because some users may be willing to pay a higher price for the
             available land and this would push up the price of the land.

            Thus, increasing the price of land discourages some people from using the land, hence reducing demand.

• Increasing the supply of land

            Land clearance (deforestation, demolishing old buildings), land reclamation (landfill method, empoldering, reclaming
            derelict land), maximising existing landuse (mixed landuse, high density buildings, irrigation, terracing, soil-less
           farming).

• Conserving land

Reflection:

I feel that the methods used to reduce the demand for land are effective. Singapore has HDBs to maximise the use of land available for us. Thus, the problem of housing due to land constraint is greatly reduced. These also reduce unneccessary land wastage. However, if the population keeps increasing, these solutions may not be so effective anymore and new solutions will need to reduce the impact of land constraint in Singapore.