CUE - Urbanisation Flashcards
When was the first year where more people lived in urban areas than rural areas across the whole as a whole?
2008
What is urbanisation?
The growth in the proportion of a country’s population that live in urban areas as opposed to rural areas.
What’s urban growth?
The increase in total population of a town or city
What is urban expansion?
The increase in size or geographical footprint of a city
How many millionaire cities were there worldwide (cities with at least 1 million people) in 1950?
83 millionaire cities
How many millionaire cities worldwide was there in 1997?
285 millionaire cities
How may millionaire cities worldwide was there in 2005?
336 millionaire cities
What’s some of the global patterns of urbanisation since 1945?
- the amount of people living in urban areas has increased massively —> 55% of people live in urban areas, which is a 25% increase from 1950 (expected to increase to 68% in 2050)
- the urban population has grown massively since 1950s—> from 746 million to 3.9 billon in 2014.
- Asia (despite its low level of urbanisation) is home to 53% of the worlds urban population, followed by EU (14%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (13%)
- today the most urbanised regions include N America (82% in 2014), Latin America & Caribbean (80%0 and EU (73%)
- close to half the worlds urban dwellers reside in relatively small settlements of less that 500,000 inhabitants, while only around 1 in 8 live in the 28 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants.
- Tokyo is one of the largest cities with an agglomeration of 38 million inhabitants, followed by Delhi (25m), Shanghai (23m), etc. by 2030, the world is projected to have 41 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants.
- Africa and Asia are urbanising faster than the other regions and are projected to become 56% and 64% urban, respectively by 2050.
- in 1950s, 30% of the world’s population was urban, and by 2050, 66% of the worlds pop is projected to be urban
- by 2030, over 2 billion people in world will be living in slums
What is the cycle of urbanisation?
- Very slow growth, most employed in agriculture
- Increase in rate of urbanisation associated with economic development
- Rapid rise in urbanisation - suburbanisation and urban sprawl may occur
- Urbanisation slows considerably - majority of people live in towns and cities employed in industry and services
- Counter- urbanisation occurs and the urban proportions stabilises or decreases as some prefer to commute
- Urban resurgence associated with urban renewal
What is suburbanisation?
The movement of people from the city centre to the outskirts or suburbs - where they are close enough to commute. (E.g villages become absorbed into the urban areas and engulfed by a city)
—> usually occurs when wealthier people decide to move away from the central city to the suburbs for a better quality of life. The higher demand for houses causes the suburban areas to grow and meet demand.
How is the effects of past suburbanisation demonstrated in towns and cities in the UK?
- in the 1930s, was few planning controls and urban growth was alongside main roads (ribbon development)
- by the 1940s, this growth (and growth between the ribbons) became a cause for concern. This led to the creation of green belt areas of open space and low-density land use around towns.
- since 1950s, suburban expansion has increased and has been better planned. In the 1950-60s, large-scale construction of council housing took place on the only land available, which was the suburban fringe
- in the 1970s, there was a move towards house ownership, led to private housing estates being built, also on the urban fringe. Building in these areas allowed people to have more land for gardens and more public open space.
- as car ownership grew, the edge of town (where these more land available for car parking, etc) became the favoured location for new offices, factories and shopping outlets.
- in recent years, new detached and semi-detached houses and bungalows have been built in suburban areas, along with local shopping centres and schools.
What’s a disadvantage of suburbanisation?
Can lead to inner-city areas becoming deprived and house prices within the suburbs increasing
- in order to increase urban sprawl, strategies to limit suburbanisation can be put in place (e.g. the green belt - which is an area around the city which is restricted in order to preserve rural areas.
What is counter-urbanisation?
The movement of people to rural areas from cities.
- this process occurs as people seek better quality of life due to the urban quality of life being unsatisfactory (e.g. pollution, overcrowding, etc)
- modern advances means there is less drawbacks to living rurally - e.g. better transport links
What happened between 2001 and 2011 to the pop of large cities in England and Wales?
The pop doubled, with the number of residents aged 22-29 tripling
What’s some push factors for urbanisation (rural - urban migration)
- Isolation
- lack of public transport
- poor healthcare
- agricultural problems
What’s some pull factors for urbanisation (rural —> urban migration)?
- opportunities
- jobs
- good education
- better healthcare
What’s some push factors of Counter-urbanisation (urban —> rural migration)?
- pollution
- overcrowding
- large industrial areas
- expensive housing
What’s some pull factors for Counter-urbanisation (urban - rural migration)?
- clean air
- more space
- better value housing
- countryside
What is urban resurgence?
The regeneration (economic and structural) of an urban area. Schemes by councils or governments to improve the quality of life in cities, encouraging more people to move in and the city centre to economically grown and regenerate.
- this leads to re-urbanisation (the movement of people back into a city)
—> however it can cause some issues, such as socioeconomic inequalities, as the previous population may not be able to afford the new, higher prices (so forced out their area)
What is one of the causes of urban growth?
- natural increase —> natural pop growth, as urban areas tend to gave young age profiles, and it is young adults who are most likely to migrate from rural areas. Young adults are in their fertile years and therefore there are higher rates of natural increase in urban areas.
What are some of the factors leading to expansion of urban areas during the Industrial Revolution for urbanisation in HICS?
- Agricultural revolution: loss of work and surplus of food for the towns (mechanisation/technological change)
- industrial processes: labour fawn in from countryside to work in factories (m/t change)
- new power: coal took over from water power - mining areas expanded rather than growth along rivers
- improved transport: canals, then railways and later motorised road (infrastructure)
- Gradual improvements in medicine, hygiene and public health: more people can live in close proximity without inevitable spread of disease (social improvements)
What are some of the negative impacts of urbanisation?
- transport issues: London only compromises 12% of the UK’s total pop, yet is still responsible of the countries congestion. In Bangladesh (LIC), more than 250,000 vehicles, traffic congestion wastes fuel and makes travel difficult and time consuming.
- underemployment - in Italy, the average is 7.87%, but northern cities like Bologna, only 3.9% and in Polermoin in the far south is 20.9% (more than African countries). In the ULC, 6.7% of the economically active pop were unemployed in 2021.
- shortage of housing - in London, house to price earnings ration went from 3:1 (1995) to 10:9 (2021). In Rio De Janerio, millions of people have been forced to construct their own homes from scrap materials.
- urban sprawl - Barcelona (HIC) hard to distinguish between urban and rural land due to urban sprawl. Highest rates of pop growth are occurring in LICs, such as Zimbabwe (from 1960 to 2021), the pop increased from 3.78m to 15.09m
- waste disposal - in Rio De Janeiro, the waste disposal trucks couldn’t/cant get up the hills to the favelas, so therefore rubbish is piled up around homes. New York has the most waste (approx 30 landfills) and produces more than 14 million tonnes of trash every year.
