Urbanisation and the
growth of Mega Cities
Shanghai – pop 18 million 2010
Urbanisation
Growth in the percentage of the
population living in urban areas
Urban Growth
Growth in the size of cities
IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GNP
& URBANIZATION?
PLOT A
SCATTERGRAPH TO
SHOW THE
RELATIONSHIP.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
• What is the relationship between wealth and
urbanisation?
• Where are the anomalies? (Give examples of
countries and data)
• Seek to explain the anomalies.
• Classify the countries into 3 or 4 categories and
explain the logic for your classification.
• Explain the overall pattern for the relationship
between urbanization and wealth.
There has been examples of
more recent rapid urban
growth in MEDCs.
Japan has been rich enough
to invest in the provision of
urban services and the
development of
infrastructure to cope with
this growth. Also the
population of Tokyo have in
general had enough private
disposable income to
address their needs.
Key Questions
Describe and explain the variation in
global growth rates and patterns in
urbanisation.
Explain the global increase in the
number and location of megacities.
(pop over 10 million)
Mumbai - India
Latin America city growth 1950 1990
City
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
647,429
1,682,667
2,892,668
4,122,978
4,851,000
4,622,959
6,739,045
8,314,341
9,723,966
10,886,163
Caracas
683,659
1,346,708
2,174,759
2,641,844
2,989,601
Lima
645,172
1,845,910
3,302,523
4,608,010
6,422,875
Mexico City
3,145,351
5,173,549
8,900,513
13,811,946
15,047,685
Rio de Janeiro
2,885,165
4,392,067
6,685,703
8,619,559
9,600,528a
Santiago
1,509,169
2,133,252
2,871,060
3,937,277
4,676,174a
São Paulo
2,333,346
4,005,631
7,866,659
12,183,634
15,183,612a
Bogotá
Buenos Aires
Lagos - Nigeria
• 1950 - 290,000
• 2010 – over 20 million
China’s urban population
Over the past 50 years, the country’s urban population has
increased more than seven-fold, from 72 million in 1952 to
540 million in 2004. If urbanization continues at the rate of 1
percent annually, an estimated 900 million Chinese will live in
cities by 2020.
TO BE MEGA-CITIES IN 2015
Country Urban agglomeration 1950 1975 2000 2015
Japan............................ Tokyo 6 920 19 771 26 444 27 190
Bangladesh .................. Dhaka 417 2 173 12 519 22 766
India ............................ Mumbai (Bombay) 2 981 7 347 16 086 22 577
Brazil........................... São Paulo 2 528 10 333 17 962 21 229
India ............................ Delhi 1 391 4 426 12 441 20 884
Mexico......................... Mexico City 2 883 10 691 18 066 20 434
United States ............... New York 12 339 15 880 16 732 17 944
Indonesia ..................... Jakarta 1 452 4 814 11 018 17 268
India ............................ Calcutta 4 446 7 888 13 058 16 747
Pakistan ....................... Karachi 1 028 3 990 10 032 16 197
Nigeria......................... Lagos 288 1 890 8 665 15 966
United States ............... Los Angeles 4 046 8 926 13 213 14 494
China ........................... Shanghai 5 333 11 443 12 887 13 598
Argentina..................... Buenos Aires 5 042 9 144 12 024 13 185
Philippines................... Metro Manila 1 544 5 000 9 950 12 579
China ........................... Beijing 3 913 8 545 10 839 11 671
Brazil........................... Rio de Janeiro 2 965 7 963 10 652 11 543
Egypt ........................... Cairo 2 410 6 079 9 462 11 531
Turkey ......................... Istanbul 1 077 3 601 8 953 11 362
Japan............................ Osaka 4 147 9 844 11 013 11 013
China ........................... Tianjin 2 374 6 160 9 156 10 319
Megacities are often primate cities
Primate cities (at least double the pop of the
second largest city in the country) are typical of
many LEDCs and NICs.
The city dominates the country’s urban system
and economy.
Advantages and disadvantages of primate
cities?
Nagle 291
World Urbanisation
and Mega City - References
BBC Special Report – Urban Planet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2006/urbanisation/default.stm
Landmark 188/189
Hart 212/213
Nagle 289 – 293 (Primate cities)
Pop, Res, Dev 62 (Zelinsky’s Model of Mobility Transition)
Atlas data
Implications of urbanisation in
LEDC’s and NICs
Urbanisation is most rapid in LEDC’s and NIC’s because
of high natural increase and rural to urban migration.
Don’t forget there are many large cities in the world of
over 2 or 3 million inhabitants. Don’t just think, mega
cities.
These cities face the same problems that cities in the UK
faced in the nineteenth century. BUT they are not in the
same position that the UK was to face the challenge.
Urbanisation and urban growth has to be seen within the
contemporary geopolitical and economic context.
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Scale of the challenge
Resources available
Terms of trade
Levels of economic growth
External debts
IMF/World Bank restrictions on public spending
Competition
Corruption and political indifference
Polarisation of society
Levels of pollution and resource use
More background reading
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Access to Geography – page 78-87
Nagle – 289-297 (Cairo)
Hart – page 212-246 (Mexico and Beijing)
Landmark – 219-225 (Shanghai)
Planet Geog – 252 (Shanghai)
Changing Environments – 245-252 / 267277 (Mumbai)