Amazing, Amazing Urbanization
“By 2030, two out of three people will live in an urban world, with most of the explosive growth
occurring in developing countries.” – National Geographic
The Rise of Cities
Around 4500 B.C.E. in Sumer, an ancient country in what today is Iraq; the city of Ur was settled.
Eventually it grew to be home to as many as 34,000 people. Archaeologists believe that it was one of the first
cities in the world. Within the city walls, a broad avenue let up to an immense temple with a roof that
loomed 80 feet above the ground. Surrounding the temple were private homes and large open markets with
shops on streets resembling those in cities of Southwest Asia today. Some people lived in two-story houses
with balconies and even had clay-lined drains for waste disposal. A canal ran through the city from the river
to a harbor built on its northern edge. This was not an overgrown village, but a real city. (World Geography
– McDougal Littell).
Cities have existed for thousands of years and can be traced back to the river valley civilizations of
Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), Egypt, India, and China. At first, these settlements depended largely on
agriculture and domestic cattle, but as they grew in size they became centers for merchants and traders.
(http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/urban-profile/ ).
Cities are not just areas with large populations – they are also centers of business and culture. Cities are often
the birthplace of innovation and change in a society. Urban lifestyles are different from those of towns,
villages, or rural areas. (World Geography – McDougal Littell). A “city” refers to a place of relatively dense
settlement — dense enough so that city residents cannot grow their own food. A city population, therefore,
is always dependent upon its “hinterlands” to provide it with food. Not until agriculture developed could
hinterlands provide food for their own populations and enough of a surplus to feed a city population. And in
agricultural societies the surplus was so small that only a tiny proportion of an entire population could live in
cities. Up until very recently — about 200 years ago — that proportion was limited to about 5% of an entire
population. So cities existed, but there was no urbanization (http://www.whyarticles.com/urbanization-itscauseseffects-and-benefits/ ).
Urbanization
Urban growth, also known as urbanization, accelerated dramatically with the advent of industrialization
some 200 years ago. At that time, large numbers of people moved to cities in search of jobs, mostly in
factories. But the most rapid growth has taken place over the past 50 years. While less than one-third of the
world's population lived in cities in 1950, about two thirds of humanity is expected to live in urban areas by
2030. Most of that urbanization is taking place in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Urban is defined as "that which is characteristic of a city." But what exactly is a city? In the past, walls may
have defined a city. But today's city boundaries are often blurred. Are suburbs, which are often called
metropolitan areas, part of cities? Depending on the boundaries used, Tokyo can have a population of
anywhere between 8 and 40 million people.
(http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/urban-profile/ ).
An urban area develops around a main city called the central city. The built-up area around the central city
may include suburbs, which are political units touching the borders of the central city or touching other
suburbs that touch the city. These suburbs are within commuting distance of the city. Some suburbs are
mostly residential, while others have a whole range of urban activities.
Smaller cities or towns with open land between them and the central city are called exburbs. The city, its
suburbs, and exburbs link together economically to form a functional area called a metropolitan area. A
megalopolis is formed when several metropolitan areas grow together. An example of a megalopolis is the
corridor in the northeastern United States including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Washington, D.C. (World Geography – McDougal Littell). Megacities are cities with more than ten million
inhabitants. In 1995 there were 14; in 2015 there will be 21. And the ranking will have shifted: Today the
five largest cities are Tokyo, Mexico City, São Paulo, New York City, and Mumbai (Bombay), and in 2015
they will probably be Tokyo, Dhaka, Mumbai, São Paulo, and Delhi (National Geographic).
Causes of Urbanization:
People move into cities to seek economic opportunities. In rural areas, often on small family farms, it is
difficult to improve one’s standard of living beyond basic sustenance. Farm living is dependent on
unpredictable environmental conditions, and in times of drought, flood or pestilence, survival becomes
extremely problematic.
Cities, in contrast, are known to be places where money and wealth are centralized. Cities are where fortunes
are made and where social mobility is possible. Businesses, which generate jobs and capital, are usually
located in urban areas. Whether the source is trade or tourism, it is also through the cities that foreign money
flows into a country. It is easy to see why someone living on a farm might wish to take their chance moving
to the city and trying to make enough money to send back home to their struggling family.
Much of the developing world urbanization is the result of overpopulation in the countryside. In villages
babies have been living and not dying. A husband and wife who farm 15 acres might have three sons and
three daughters. All now live and grow up. But there is not land enough for them to have the farms they
need to marry and raise a family. This lack of land for burgeoning rural populations forced them to leave
the village and migrate to cities. They find a place to live in the shantytowns; but often times they don’t find
productive employment.
Effects of Urbanization:
Cities have always been at the center of economic growth and technological advances. The promise of jobs
and prosperity pulls people to cities. However, very few people make their fortunes, and the rest must still
find ways to eat and sleep while they wait for their chance. In addition, the rapid growth of cities has also
brought with it many negative things: violence, poverty, overcrowding, health problems, and pollution.
Many cities in developing countries in particular are growing too rapidly for their own good, with many
residents unable to find jobs and forced to live in slums.
Urban expansion is also encroaching on wildlife habitats everywhere. Increasingly people live and work in
close proximity to wild animals whose native habitats have been lost or broken up. Many animals—from
mice and cockroaches to pigeons and squirrels—have adapted to city life, taking advantage of abundant food
and warmer temperatures. (http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/urban-profile/ ).
Benefits of Urbanization:
From the above, the growth of cities sounds rather grim. Why should such a destructive process be allowed
to continue? One should not, however, be misled. There are many benefits to cities as well. Cities make a lot
of sense for humans. People are concentrated in a small space rather than being spread out over a large
territory. This allows the government and others to provide more service such as water, electricity, and
transportation to a larger number of people. Schools and shops are more easily accessible than in rural areas.
Efficiency – Cities can be tremendously efficient. For example, imagine 100 families living in 100 separate
houses spread out over many acres of land. Now imagine the same 100 families in a single block of flats.
Obviously, in the flats, far less effort is required to supply energy, water, heating, and waste disposal to these
families. Additionally, only in cities are such things as recycling programmers possible, because collection
can be made so efficient.
Convenience – In a city, everything is nearby. Access to education, health, social services and cultural events
is much more readily available in a city than in a rural setting. Because things are located so closely, cities
can make motor vehicle use unnecessary for many citizens. This is especially true when a city has efficient
mass transportation systems in place, systems which are not feasible for rural populations.
Concentration of Resources – Because of the density of people, wealth, and other resources in cities, many
institutions become possible that would not be in areas where such things are more spread out. Basically,
when enough people are put together in a small area, they start coming up with ideas to do things – cultural,
political, commercial and social activities that just don’t occur outside of cities. For example, without cities,
there never would have been universities.
Urbanization in the World Today:
Sometime in 2007, for the first time in human history, more people began to live within the cacophonous
swirl of cities than in rural hamlets or on countryside farms. It's a fundamental shift that may be altering the
very fabric of human life, from the intimate, intricate structures of individual families to the massive, farflung infrastructures of human civilizations. In 1950, fewer than 30 percent of the world's 2.5 billion
inhabitants lived in urban regions. By 2050, almost 70 percent of the world's estimated 10 billion inhabitants
– or more than the number of people living today – will be part of massive urban networks, according to the
Population Division of the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs. . (
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/0505/Megacities-of-the-world-a-glimpse-of-how-well-live-tomorrow ).
The Developed World:
In most developed countries, urbanization took place largely in the past. It coincided to a great extent with
the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century, and is well documented in the history books. The cities of the
United States and Europe grew as they were flooded with farm-workers, displaced by the mechanization of
agriculture. Eventually, the developed nations achieved their current level of urbanization, about 70% in
cities, and they have basically leveled off there. Urbanization in the developed world now mostly takes the
form of Urban Sprawl, as the cities mature, and get fat.
The Developing World:
In countries called ‘developing’, mostly in South America, Africa and Asia, urbanization is at the stage
where it was in the developed world around the time of the Industrial Revolution. Most city growth is
occurring in these nations, with examples of some of the largest and fastest growing cities being Mexico
City, Lagos, and Jakarta. It is in the developing world that the greatest challenges are, as far as city planning
and city management.
An Interesting Note from CNN:
January 2012: For the first time, urban dwellers in China now outnumber those living in the country. At the
end of 2011, China counted 690.79 million urban dwellers, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said
Tuesday. That marks an increase of 21 million over the previous year and accounts for 51.27% of the
country's 1.347 billion people. During the same period, the rural population shrunk by 14.56 million to
656.56 million.