People Moving
Canadian & World Issues
People Moving
1. Migration
2. Refugees
3. Urbanization
Migration
• Migration is any movement by humans from one
locality to another.
– Emigration
– Immigration
– Settling
– Evolution
– Involuntary
A memorial statue in Hanko, Finland,
commemorating the thousands of emigrants who left
the country to start a new life in the United States
Human Migrations (millennia before present)
Migration
Human Migrations (millennia before present)
Migration
Net Migration Rates, 2006
Migration
• Push Factors of Migration
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War or other armed conflict
Famine or drought
Disease
Poverty
Political corruption
Disagreement with politics
Religious intolerance
Natural disasters
Discontent with the natives, such as frequent
harassment, bullying, and abuse
– Lack of employment opportunities
Migration
• Pull Factors of Migration
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Higher incomes
Lower taxes
Better weather
Better availability of employment
Better medical facilities
Better education facilities
Better behaviour among people
Family reasons
Political stability
Religious tolerance
National prestige
Migration
• Barriers to Migration
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Legal
Natural
Cultural (family, friends, religion)
Financial
Adaptation Fears
Fears of Not Being Accepted
Migration
• Effects of Migration
– Changes in distribution of population
– Mixing of different cultures and races
– Demographic consequences (young on the move,
leaving an aging population behind)
– Economic results
Refugees
• Refugees are those seeking asylum in a foreign
country in order to escape persecution, war,
terrorism, extreme poverty, famines, and natural
disaster.
• United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) protects and supports refugees at the
request of a government or the United Nations
and assists in their return or resettlement.
Refugees
Refugees
• According to the UN Declaration of Human
Rights, refugees are people who cross the
border of their country and enter another
country.
• Some people have to leave their homes, but
are not able to cross a border – these
people are identified as Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs).
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
Some refugees are lucky and find a Refugee
Camp after they cross a border
Refugees
Refugees
• Why people become refugees:
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War (Inter-country or Intra-country)
Natural Disasters
Famine
Economic reasons
Political reasons
• These people actually have a specific name within refugee
law and are called “asylees”
– Environmental reasons
• Global warming altering the landscape
Refugees
• Where are refugees from?
– Refugees have come from all around the globe
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Africa
Asia
Latin America
Europe
North America
– Today, the majority of refugees are from Africa,
Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
Refugees
• Where do refugees go?
Refugees
Refugees
Asia 45.3%
Africa
22.2%
Europe
21.9%
Americas
10.2%
Oceania
0.4%
Statistics from UNHCR 2002 Statistical Yearbook, published July 2004.
Refugees
• UNHCR estimates over 17,000,000
refugees worldwide.
• However, the true number is probably
greater than this because many are not
identified by international agencies.
• US Committee for Refugees estimates that
over 7 million refugees are in camps – so
millions have no shelter or protection at all!
Refugees
• Rwandan Refugees
Refugees
• Design your own refugee camp
Refugees
• Let us assume that this section of the camp will
initially contain 120 refugees. Several factors
should be taken into account in deciding how the
facilities and shelters will be located:
– Space required per person
– Accessibility of services
– Minimum distance required between facilities and
shelters
– Cultural habits and social organization of the refugee
population (clans and extended families)
– Ethnic and security factors, relationships among
different sections/members of the community, etc.
Refugees
• Since there is a lot of details to cover, individual
students may want to take on the role of various
experts to make sure that all functions are
covered:
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Sanitation
Water
Housing
Food supply
and other issues!
• Begin by listing all of the facilities required.
Refugees
• Established Guidelines for Site Planning
Refugees
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Refugees
• Sample refugee camp sketch
Refugees
• Famous Refugees
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Georg & Maria von Trapp
Madeleine Albright
Henry Kissinger
H.E. The Rt. Hon. Michaëlle Jean
Vladimir Lenin
Karl Marx
Sigmund Freud
H.H. The Dalai Lama
Anne Frank
Victor Hugo
Albert Einstein
Refugees in Canada
• From 1995 to 2004 Canada welcomed more than
2.1 million immigrants.
• This included 265,685 (12% of the whole)
refugees granted permanent residence.
How much do you know about Canada’s
record towards refugees?
Refugees in Canada
• Refugee protection was not part of Canadian
law until 1978.
• Early immigration policy discriminated by race:
British and northern Europeans were
encouraged to immigrate whereas...
Refugees in Canada
•Chinese immigrants had to pay a Head Tax
•Asians and others deemed undesirable were
excluded by the "continuous passage" policy
•Immigration Department used its discretion to
discourage Black immigrants.
Refugees in Canada
South Asians came
to Vancouver on the
ship the Komagatu
Maru in 1914 to test
the "continuous
journey” policy.
They were refused
entry.
Refugees in Canada
• In the 1930s and 1940s, thousands of
European Jews tried to flee Nazi Germany.
• Motivated by anti-semitism, the Canadian
government used its discretion to exclude
Jews.
Refugees in Canada
• 1951: The Geneva Convention relating to the
status of refugees defined who was a refugee
and their right to legal protection and assistance
from those states who signed.
– A refugee is any person who "owing to well-founded fear of
being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is
outside the country of his nationality and is unable to, or
owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the
protection of that country…"
Refugees in Canada
• The 1951 convention
was limited to
protecting the
approximately 50
million European
refugees after World
War II
Refugees in Canada
• 1978 was first time an Immigration Act included a
humanitarian category for refugees needing
protection and resettlement.
• 1986: UN awarded the Nansen Medal to the
Canadian people in "recognition of their major and
sustained contribution to the cause of refugees".
Refugees in Canada
• April 4, 1985:
Supreme Court rules
the Canadian Charter
of Rights and
Freedoms protects the
basic rights and
freedoms of refugee
claimants in Canada.
Refugees in Canada
• Known as the Singh decision, this Supreme Court
decision declared that refugee claimants are
entitled to basic standards of rights protection.
• April 4, date of Singh decision, is annually
commemorated by Canadian refugee supporters
as “Refugee Rights Day”.
• 1988 Immigration and Refugee Board created to
hear refugee claims.
Refugees in Canada
• Relative to other countries, Canada has earned a
reputation as a leader with some POSITIVE
ELEMENTS:
– an independent expert tribunal, with excellent
documentation
– gender guidelines
– minimal detention of refugee claimants
– an active resettlement program
Refugees in Canada
• Still, as of 2005, more than 12,000 refugees
overseas are waiting for a decision:
– Refugees sponsored in 2005 may not even be
interviewed until 2008
– Private sponsors in Canada lose hope
• Other developed countries have much more strict
policies (how many, from where, what happens
once they’re there)
– US “feet dry” policy (Haiti, Cuba)
– US Muslim appearance and treatment (Maher Arar)
Urbanization
• Urbanization is the movement of people up the
urban hierarchy.
hamlet
village
town
suburb
city
metropolis
• Can you identify the following cities from their
skylines?
Urbanization
• Level v. rate of urbanization
– US and UK (for example) have a higher urbanization
level than China, India, or Nigeria.
• There are more people living in urban areas in the
developed world than in the developing world
– China, India, and Nigeria (for example) have a higher
urbanization rate than the US or the UK
• People are moving from rural to urban areas at a faster
pace in the developing world.
Urbanization
• Level of Urbanization
Urbanization
• Definitions of “urban centres” vary around
the world
– Canada: places of 1000 or more inhabitants having a
population density of 400 or more per square km
– Portugal: Agglomerations of 10,000 or more inhabitants
– Norway: localities of 200 or more inhabitants
– Botswana: agglomerations of 5000 or more inhabitants
where 75% of the economic activity is of the nonagricultural type
– Israel: All settlements of more than 2000 inhabitants,
except those where at least one-third of the heads of
household, participating in the civilian labour force, earn
their living from agriculture
Urbanization
• Timeline
– <1800s: 2% of the population lived in cities
• 4000 BC in Mesopotamia and along the Nile and Yellow
• Settlements were centres for merchants along trade routes
– 1800s: Industrial Revolution
• In Europe and North America, technological advancement
(steam engine) led to large-scale manufacturing, requiring
large labour force
– 1950s: 30% lived in cities worldwide
• Cities doubling in size in just 20 years
Urbanization
• Timeline (continued)
– Today: 50% live in cities worldwide
• Highest growth rates are now in the developing world
– By 2025: 86% of the population will live in cities
1.
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1950
New York 12.3 mn
London 9 mn
Tokyo 7 mn
Paris 5 mn
1.
2.
3.
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2015
Tokyo 29 mn
Mumbai 27 mn
Shanghai 23 mn
Beijing 19 mn
By 2015, Tokyo will be the only developed
world country in the top ten largest cities of
the world
Urbanization
Growth of
urban
population
relative to
growth
of world
population,
1800 - 2000
Urbanization
• 180,000 people move into cities each day.
• 60 million people move into cities each year in
developing countries.
• Over the next 15 to 20 years, many cities in Africa
and Asia will double in size.
Urbanization
Largest Urban Agglomerations, 1950, 2000, 2015
Urbanization
• Why urbanization?
– reduced need for farm labour due to farm
modernization
– due to increased education levels, increased capital
investment, and a switch from small-scale subsistence
to large-scale commercial farming
– improvements in mobility
– due to increased vehicle ownership
– expansion of highway network
– increase in distance people willing to travel
Urbanization
– reduced willingness to purchase local goods &
services
– more people going to higher order centres to make
purchases
– consolidation of goods & services
– relocation of establishments to higher order central
places
– necessity of travelling to higher order places
– more people permanently moving to higher order
places
Model of Settlement Decline
Farm Modernization
Mobility & Consolidation
Permanent Rural
Depopulation
Temporary Rural
Depopulation
Change in agesex structure
Reduced rate of
natural increase
Reduced Demand for Products in Lower Order Centres
Reduced Employment Opportunities in
Lower Order Centres
Urbanization
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POSITIVE ASPECTS
Economic Activity
Proximity to goods and
services
Health care
Entertainment
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NEGATIVE ASPECTS
Crime
Land use problems
Congestion
Pollution: air, water, noise
Urbanization
• Positive Consequences
– Economic
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More specialized goods and services readily available
Educated labour force
Financial services
Accumulation of capital
– Emergency Services
• Available more quickly
– Infrastructure
• Easier (and cheaper!) to provide water, sewer, waste
services
– Education
Urbanization
• Negative Consequences
– Housing
• 100 million people worldwide are homeless and up to a
billion may be living in inadequate housing
– Health
• the urban poor are at greater risk than anyone else in the
world – infections and diseases spread rapidly in cities
– Pollution
• air pollution from cars, cooking, heating, and industry can
be deadly; solid waste piling up; noise pollution; ….
– Safety and Crime
• urban violence is not the monopoly of any single region: it
has increased all over the world over the past two decades
Urbanization
• UNDP Urban Strategy
– Increasing SHELTER from the urban poor.
– Provision of basic urban services such as
EDUCATION, primary HEALTH CARE, CLEAN
WATER and SANITATION.
– Improving women’s access to BASIC SERVICES and
government facilities.
– Upgrading ENERGY use and alternative
TRANSPORT systems.
– Reducing air POLLUTION.
Urbanization
• Counter-Urbanization
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Government decentralization
Desire to live in the country
Security, health, “community”
“Back to Nature” (and away from technology)
Telecommuting
Mobility of goods (higher order goods are more readily
accessible)
– Cheaper land, houses
Urbanization
• Types of people living in rural areas
– Newcomers - retain ties to urban core, younger, well
educated, well off, managers/professionals
– Homecomers - young families returning to provide
rural upbringing to children
– Ruralites - never lived in urban core
Urbanization
• Urbanization
Net
Migration
Rate
City Size
Urbanization
• Counter-Urbanization
Net
Migration
Rate
City Size
Urbanization
• Polarization Reversal
Net
Migration
Rate
City Size
Urbanization
Dates
Innovation
Result
Spatial
Implication
1770 - 1830
Wind & Water
Power
Industrialization
Concentration
1830 - 1880
Steam Power
Transportation
Corridors
Concentration
1880 - 1940
Mechanization
Fordist
Assembly Line
Concentration
1940 - 1990
Electronics
Just-in-Time
Manufacturing
Decentralized
Concentration
1990 - Present
Information
Technology
Growth in
Service Sector
Deconcentration
Urbanization
• Canada’s Urban-Rural Divisions
Year
% Rural
% Urban
1853
15
85
1881
30
70
1908
50
50
1950
70
30
2001
85
15
Urbanization
• City Profiles
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Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Mumbai (Bombay), India
Jakarta, Indonesia
Paris, France
Toronto, Canada
Tokyo, Japan
Tehran, Iran