Urbanisation 2007 milestone
Cities around the world are becoming more populated than ever before.
• For the first time in human history, more
Urbanisation is the process by which an increasing percentage of people
people now live in urban areas than in rural
live in towns and cities.
areas.
• The United Nations predicted that by 2020,
It is largely caused by rural to urban migration- when people move from
53% of the world's population will reside in
rural areas such as the countryside to urbans areas like cities or towns.
urban towns/cities.
More and more people are leaving rural areas where their families have
• The causes of this growth:
lived for generations due to the limited opportunities provided in rural
migration – movement of people into cities
areas.
natural increase – more births happening than
Urbanisation in developing and developed nations deaths
Nearly all growth will take place in developing and emerging countries (estimated
that 2.9 billion in 2014 to 4.1 billion in 2030), by contrast the urban population of
developed countries will grow far less.
The growth of towns and cities in emerging and developing countries has been
rapid in the past 50 years, people are moving into cities quicker.
Also, urbanisation is much slower in developed countries because most people
already live-in urban areas. Urbanisation usually took place slowly over a long
period of time after industrial revolutions when people started moving into towns
for work.
Future projections of global urbanisation
Push and Pull factors The biggest increase is in Asia and Africa.
Push= something that makes you In Asia the urban population is expected
want to leave an area to grow to about 64% by 2050.
Pull= something that encourages In Africa the urban population will grow to
you to go to an area 58% by 2050, though this will still be the
world’s lowest urban percentage.
Megacities Primate cities
Megacities are continuous urban areas with populations of 10 ->A primate city is the largest city in the country which
million plus people. dominates its economy, politics and often infrastructure.
The first megacities were in developed countries such as ->Large numbers of people want to live and work in primate
London, Paris and New York. Where the population has only cities because of the opportunities they offer. They usually
changed slightly since 1980. have at least twice the population of the next largest city in
Today the fastest growing megacities are in emerging countries- the country.
they are often poor cities with a young population attracted ->The growth of a primate city is fuelled by rural-urban
from surrounding rural areas migration and industrial development
In 2015, most megacities were found in Asia and Africa, only -> Primate cities often suffer from:
25% of the world’s megacities were high income countries Traffic congestion
Pollution
Housing shortages
Unemployment
Crime
World cities
->A few megacities play a disproportionate role in world
affairs – these are called world cities
->World city= a city with global influence
->They have urban primacy meaning an importance and
bigger influence than their size suggests.
->London is a world city because of investment, airline
traffic, decision-makers and political decisions.
, How migration and economic change contribute to the growth and decline of cities
Urbanisation results from a number of social-economic processes, in particular national and
international migration. Large numbers of people migrating from an urban area can lead to its decline.
National migration
International migration
(migration of people to a city in the same country)
(migration of people to a city in different country)
There has been a large-scale internal movement of people from rural
There are many pull factors that attract people to city,
parts of China into cities such as Chongqing.
for example in London a large percentage of the
What causes this migration?
- The rapid growth of new manufacturing industries. In Chongqing population is made of Indians, Nigerians and Irish.
this created demand for labour and income became to rise so people-Employment, wide range of job opportunities at
were attracted from rural areas. relatively high rates of pay.
-Urbanisation led to the loss of farmland, which was needed for -Services such as transport, better access to
industrial, commercial and residential use. This meant less work for healthcare and education
local people in rural areas and lead to further migration from the -Entertainment/culture in the form of attractions such
countryside as shopping, restaurants, parks
-Migrants were attracted to cities, which offered better health -higher standard of living and more reliable food
services, education and entertainment There are also push factors that make people want to
leave rural areas, opposite of what listed above.
Economic change and growth of cities
Economic change and decline of cities
Economical change can also lead to urbanisation
When a city is dependent on one major industry for its economic
-The modernisation of agriculture led to a
prosperity, it becomes vulnerable to changes in the markets for that
decrease in the rural work force. Agricultural
industry
workers forced to migrate to cities
Example: Detroit, USA
-Closure of local industries lead to redundancies in
-Was home to successful car industry (in 1050 1.8mil pop)
the work force who have to migrate to find work.
-Competition from car companies abroad such as Japan or Germany
-cities experience a rapid population growth
affected the Detroit car industry
resulting from a high birth rate and low death rate
-As industry failed to compete, car factories closed, employees lost their
-Migrates attracted as better services offered
jobs and population moved away because there were no other industries
for workers.
Differing Urban economies
Formal and Informal employment
Workers in formal employment usually receive a regular
wage and may have holidays or sick days. In contrast,
worker in informal employment are not officially
recognised by the government and people usually work
for themselves and have no employment protection.
Differing urban economies
The developed, emerging and developing countries are
at different stages in their economic development,
reflected in their urban economies
Developed Emerging Developing Employment sectors
E.g London, Paris E.g Mexico City, Mumbai E.g Lagos There are four types of job:
->Little, if any, primary ->Little primary industry ->Little primary industry Primary jobs involve extracting
industry ->Manufacturing that ->Secondary industries that raw materials from the natural
->Secondary industries such processes primary product, often process primary environment e.g mining,
as engineering and printing e.g sugar refining and flour products farming.
->Many tertiary industries milling. ->Very large tertiary Secondary jobs involve making
such as tourism education, ->Very large tertiary industries, including things (manufacturing) from
finance and health industries, including government administration natural resources e.g making
->Quaternary services such government administration and services such as tourism cars and steel.
as IT, media, consultation and services such as tourism and entertainment. Tertiary jobs involve providing
and culture as well as top- and entertainment. ->A small initial quaternary a service e.g teaching, doctor
level decision-making ->Smaller quaternary sector, sector, which is growing and salesperson.
which is rapidly growing Quaternary jobs involve
research or development e.g
IT or scientistc
