Urbanisation affects the physical environment through the impacts of the number of people, their activities and the increased demands on resources. Urbanisation has negative consequences on health due mainly to pollution and overcrowded living conditions. It can also put added pressure on food supply systems.
Various Causes of Urban Growth
- The natural increase in population.
- Migration.
- Industrialization.
- Commercialization.
- Advancement of transport and communication.
- Availability of educational and recreational facilities.
- Urban planning policies.
- Topographical factors.
A range of economic, political,social, cultural and environmental factors affect urbanization. Urbanization is encouraged socially and culturally through the media. Cities have a strong socio-cultural impacts on their surrounding rural areas.
Some of the main factors that have led to grow of cities are: (i) Surplus Resources (ii) Industrialization and Commercialization (iii) Development of Transport and Communication (iv) Economic Pull of the City (v) Educational and Recreational Facilities.
Today, 55% of the world's population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050.
Better paid jobs in the cities, an expected higher standard of living, and more reliable food are all pull factors - why people are attracted to the city. People who migrate to towns and cities tend to be young and so have higher birth rates in that age range.
how urban growth has created challenges:
- managing urban growth – slums, squatter settlements.
- providing clean water, sanitation systems and energy.
- providing access to services – health and education.
- reducing unemployment and crime.
As more cities formed, an increasing proportion of the population moved into the cities. This is called urbanization. As cities and their infrastructure become more mature in developing countries, more people move into the cities from rural areas.
While moving to a city offers individuals more opportunities to improve their living conditions, the high cost of living and competition for livelihoods can also trap people in poverty. Rapid and unplanned urbanization can also quickly lead to urban violence and social unrest.
Urbanization describes both the increase in the percentage of a population that lives in cities as well as the increase in the size of those cities. Every city since the dawn of mankind is an example of increasing urbanization, but two examples are 19th-century London and modern-day Zhangzhou.
This global phenomenon is called urbanization — essentially increasing the population of rural areas (an area with 2500 residents or fewer), and turning them into urban areas (a central city, and surrounding areas, with a population exceeding 50,000 people).
One important result of industrialization and immigration was the growth of cities, a process known as urbanization. Commonly, factories were located near urban areas. These businesses attracted immigrants and people moving from rural areas who were looking for employment.
Due to uncontrolled urbanization in India, environmental degradation has been occurring very rapidly and causing many problems like land insecurity, worsening water quality, excessive air pollution, noise and the problems of waste disposal.
Urbanization is a word for becoming more like a city. When populations of people grow, the population of a place may spill over from city to nearby areas. For example, if they stop driving their cars and instead rely on public transportation, as most people in cities do, that's urbanization.
