If urban centers have better health care and job opportunities than outlying areas, why are some city residents exposed to worse, not better, living conditions?

Urban centers are generally assumed to have better healthcare, job opportunities, and overall living conditions. This is due to various factors such as concentration of wealth, infrastructure, and resources. However, not all city residents enjoy these advantages, causing a discrepancy in living conditions.

Socioeconomic disparities are one of the main reasons for unequal living conditions in urban centers. People with higher incomes and social status have better access to healthcare, education, and job opportunities. Lower-income individuals and families may face hardships in affording and accessing these resources, resulting in subpar living conditions.

In many cities, there is a significant difference in the quality of basic infrastructure facilities, such as housing, water, and sanitation, between different neighborhoods. Poorer neighborhoods may lack proper facilities, exposing residents to unsanitary and unhealthy living conditions.

Urban centers have a high concentration of resources and services, but they may not be equally distributed across the city. Some areas will have better access to quality healthcare, education, and job opportunities than others. This results in a spatial mismatch, where people living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have limited access to essential services.

Government policies and urban planning play a significant role in determining living conditions in a city. Poor policy implementation and inadequate urban planning can exacerbate existing disparities, leading to the creation of "urban ghettos" with inferior living conditions. Conversely, well-planned policies could help alleviate such circumstances.

Gentrification is a process in which higher-income individuals move into and invest in lower-income neighborhoods, causing property values and rents to increase. While gentrification can lead to improvements in infrastructure and services, it often displaces long-time residents who can no longer afford the increased cost of living, forcing them into areas with worse living conditions. By considering these factors, we can understand why some city residents are exposed to worse living conditions despite the theoretical advantages of urban centers. Socioeconomic disparities, unequal resource distribution, poor infrastructure, and inadequate government policies contribute to this discrepancy, resulting in a range of living conditions within a city.