What is urbanisation?

What is urbanisation?-Increase in the proportion of people living in cities or towns Physical factors causing it -Good climate means food can be produced -Good farming land -Raw materials -Not many natural hazards -Natural increase, population growth Economic factors -Good trade links -No dept -Supply of resources -Migration -Push and pull factors What is counter-urbanisation?-Movement of people out of cities into rural areas How has urban population changed since 1945?-1950 746 million to 8 billion 2021 -Most urbanised regions are Northern America, 82% living in urban regions 2014, Latin America 80%, Europe 73% -Africa and Asia remail mainly rural, 40% 48% living in urban areas. Likely to change over next 50 years – they’re the fasting growing urban areas -3 countries are expected to account for 37% of projected growth of the world’s urban population 2014-2050 -India, 4040m increase, China 292m, Nigeria 212m What is Urban Growth?-Increase in the number of urban dwellers. Classifications depend on census, normally on -population size/density, average distance between buildings within a settlement and legal and administrative boundaries How has distribution of population in rural and urban areas changed?-1950s – 30% people lived in urban areas. 2014 over 50% lived in towns or cities Push factors -Population growth, farming, soil erosion is poor -Agricultural issues e.g.desertification -High levels of local diseases and inadequate medical provision -Natural disasters -Wars and civil strife cause fleeing Pull factors of rural-urban migration -Better employment in factories and service industries, better paid work increasingly high demand for unskilled labour in cities -Informal sector e.g. selling on street -Better quality social provisions e.g.education, tourism, entertainment, healthcare -Perceived better quality of life Urbanisation consequences -Urban sprawl and suburbanisation -Shortage of housing in LICs -Lack of urban services and waste disposal -Unemployment and under employment -Transport issues Urban sprawl negative impacts -Requires more roads and pipes - less economically efficient to support low density rural areas compared to compact urban areas -Wildlife habitat loss -More commuting to suburbs and so more congestion and pollution in city -Increased pollution due to cars may cause urban heat island effect and increase temp -Loss of farmland and open spaces, loss of local food – greater food miles -Impacts water quality and quantity as rural areas covered in impermeable surfaces so rainwater doesn’t soak into ground and refill groundwater aquifers -Decentralisation – movement of industries and businesses outwards – causes retail decline in city centres and increase homogenisation of landscape How are cities developing in terms of building?-Technological advances mean that major cities are developing upwards for offices, residential and commercial space e.g. Burj Khalifa 828m What are the economic processes associated with urbanisation?-Cities attract migrants due to better paid job opportunities -Businesses grow and become more profitable, leading to more jobs, higher wages -Commercial farming is the primary method of food production 1 / 2

What are the social processes associated with urbanisation?-Cities have higher living standards, centres of cultural expression, migration increases diversity What are the technological processes associated with urbanisation?-Urban areas are hotspots for technological advances -Large numbers of tech industries that have emerge offering specialised, highly paying jobs e.g.Silicone valley, California e.g. Telsa What are the political processes associated with urbanisation?-urban growth may create bigger inequalities -new political movements are being made to represent the working class – manufacturing jobs What are the demographic processes associated with urbanisation?-Cities are larger and wealthier, attracting more migrants making areas more culturally an ethnically diverse.-New areas emerge e.g. China Town NYC What causes a shortage of housing in LICs?-Population density is high so causes accommodation shortage – large areas of informal and inadequate housing develops -Develops on edge of city which is prone to natural hazards e.g.flooding -Found adjacent to transport networks meaning high pollution -Limited access to basic infrastructure like electricity and water What causes a shortage of housing in HICs?-Higher demand for accommodation increases house prices -2010-2015 prices increased by 50% in London fuelled by migration, gentrification, purchasing of property by wealth foreign investors What causes lack of urban services and waste disposal in urban areas?-Financial restraints in LICs results in lack of basic services like water -Maintenance of infrastructure is limited e.g. roads and sewers – cause traffic congestion, polluted water courses, flooding, spread of disease -2015 5% of piped water reached slum areas in 42 Indian cities and towns e.g. New Delhi -Waste disposal – as the amount increases in cities, they’re less capable to deal with it e.g. Addis Ababa Ethiopia, authorities only deal with 2/3 rubbish, left rest to private contractors or left on street – health hazard What causes unemployment and underemployment?-Many people who move to cities are young – increases pressure to create sufficient jobs -When a migrant moves into a new city, they may work in a job that doesn’t make full use of their skills and abilities What transport issues does urbanisation cause?-Increased traffic, more congestion and pollution damaging human health and wasting money on lost productivity -Suburbanisation has increased morning and evening commuters, traffic flows for shopping and other commercial services -1960s car boom – more and wider roads built which attracts more cars What is suburbanisation?-Movement of people from city centre to rural-urban fringe What caused suburbanisation?-Growth in public transport and ownership of private cars -Railway lines and arterial roads making commuting easier Why were green belts created?-1940s. 1930s had few planning controls and urban growth occurred next to main roads How has suburban expansion increased?-Late 1950s-60 large scale construction of council housing took place on suburban fringe -1970s more ownership – private housing estates built on urban fringes -Car ownership increased, edges of town had land for parking so became preferred location for offices and factories Why do people move to the suburbs?

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