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The city of Los Angeles is an example of urbanization
The city of Los Angeles is an example of urbanization

Urbanization means the removal of the rural characteristics of a town or area, a process associated with the development of civilization and technology. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Demographically, the term denotes redistribution of populations from rural to urban settlements.

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Urbanization today

The 2005 Revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects report described the 20th century as witnessing "the rapid urbanization of the world’s population", as the global proportion of urban population rose dramatically from 13% (220 million) in 1900, to 29% (732 million) in 1950, to 49% (3. 2 billion) in 2005. The same report projected that the figure is likely to rise to 60% (4. 9 billion) by 2030. [1]. The United States exemplifies this trend of urban migration, as urbanization increased at a steady pace over the twentieth century. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Urbanization rates vary across the world. The United States and United Kingdom have a far higher urbanization level than China, India, Swaziland or Niger, but a far slower annual urbanization rate, since much less of the population is living in a rural area. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Kingdom of Swaziland is a country located in Southern Africa centred at approximately 26o49'S 31o38'E Niger ( or /ˈnaɪdʒɚ/) officially the Republic of Niger, is a Landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. The immaculate urbanization of Mexico City has invoked environmental reforms to improve the status of its surrounding troposphere and ecology. Mexico City (in Spanish: Ciudad de México, México DF, México or simply Méjico) is the Capital city of Mexico

Urbanization projections

According to the UN-HABITAT 2008 Annual Report, sometime in the middle of 2007, the majority of people worldwide will be living in towns or cities, for the first time in history; this is referred to as the arrival of the "Urban Millennium". The United Nations Human Settlements Programme ( UN&ndashHABITAT) is the United Nations agency for human settlements 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. In regard to future trends, it is estimated 93% of urban growth will occur in Asia and Africa, and to a lesser extent in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting By 2050 over 6 billion people, two thirds of humanity, will be living in towns and cities. 2050 ( MML) will be a Common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.


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 centralised. 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.

These conditions are heightened during times of change from a pre-industrial society to an industrial one. It is at this time that many new commercial enterprises are made possible, thus creating new jobs in cities. It is also a result of industrialisation that farms become more mechanised, putting many labourers out of work.

Positive aspects

Urbanization is often viewed as a negative trend, but in fact, it occurs naturally from individual and corporate efforts to reduce expense in commuting and transportation while improving opportunities for jobs, education, housing, and transportation. Living in cities permits individuals and families to take advantage of the opportunities of proximity, diversity, and marketplace competition.

Economic effects

One of the last houses of the old Russian village of Lukeryino, most of which has been mostly demolished over the last 30 years to make way for 9-storey apartment buildings of the growing city of Kstovo, such as the one in the background
One of the last houses of the old Russian village of Lukeryino, most of which has been mostly demolished over the last 30 years to make way for 9-storey apartment buildings of the growing city of Kstovo, such as the one in the background

Over the last few years urbanization of rural areas has increased. Kstovo (Ксто́во is a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. As agriculture, more traditional local services, and small-scale industry give way to modern industry the urban and related commerce with the city drawing on the resources of an ever-widening area for its own sustenance and goods to be traded or processed into manufactures. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Manufacturing (from Latin manu factura, "making by hand" is the use of tools and labor to make things for use or sale

Research in urban ecology finds that larger cities provide more specialized goods and services to the local market and surrounding areas, function as a transportation and wholesale hub for smaller places, and accumulate more capital, financial service provision, and an educated labor force, as well as often concentrating administrative functions for the area in which they lie. Urban ecology is the subfield of Ecology which deals with the interaction of plants animals and humans with each other and with their environment in urban or urbanizing This relation among places of different sizes is called the urban hierarchy. Urban hierarchy a term that relates the structure of Towns within an area

As cities develop, effects can include a dramatic increase in costs, often pricing the local working class out of the market, including such functionaries as employees of the local municipalities. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types For example, Eric Hobsbawm's book The age of the revolution: 1789–1848 (published 1962 and 2005) chapter 11, stated "Urban development in our period [1789–1848] was a gigantic process of class segregation, which pushed the new labouring poor into great morasses of misery outside the centres of government and business and the newly specialised residential areas of the bourgeoisie. The almost universal European division into a 'good' west end and a 'poor' east end of large cities developed in this period. " This is likely due the prevailing south-west wind which carries coal smoke and other airborne pollutants downwind, making the western edges of towns preferable to the eastern ones. Urbanization is often viewed as a negative trend, but in fact, it occurs naturally from individual and corporate efforts to reduce expense in commuting and transportation while improving opportunities for jobs, education, housing, and transportation. Living in cities permits individuals and families to take advantage of the opportunities of proximity, diversity, and marketplace competition.

Changing form of urbanization

Traditional urbanization exhibits a concentration of human activities and settlements around the downtown area. When the residential area shifts outward, this is called suburbanization. Suburbanization (or suburbanisation) is a term used to describe the process of population movement from within towns and cities to the rural-urban fringe A number of researchers and writers suggest that suburbanization has gone so far to form new points of concentration outside the downtown. This networked, poly-centric form of concentration is considered by some an emerging pattern of urbanization. It is called variously exurbia, edge city (Garreau, 1991), network city (Batten, 1995), or postmodern city (Dear, 2000). Los Angeles is the best-known example of this type of urbanization.

Planning for urbanization

The construction of new towns by the Housing Development Board of Singapore, is an example of planned urbanization
The construction of new towns by the Housing Development Board of Singapore, is an example of planned urbanization

Urbanization can be planned urbanization or organic. A new town, planned community or planned city is a City, Town, or Community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically The Housing and Development Board ( Abbreviation: HDB; Simplified Chinese: 建屋发展局 Malay: Lembaga Pembangunan dan Perumahan Singapore Planned urbanization, ie: new town or the garden city movement, is based on an advance plan, which can be prepared for military, aesthetic, economic or urban design reasons. A new town, planned community or planned city is a City, Town, or Community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically The garden city movement is an approach to Urban planning that was founded in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom Urban design concerns the arrangement appearance and functionality of towns and cities and in particular the shaping and uses of urban Public space. Unplanned (organic) cities are the oldest form of . Examples can be seen in many ancient cities; although with exploration came the collision of nations, which meant that many invaded cities took on the desired planned characteristics of their occupiers. Many ancient organic cities experienced redevelopment for military and economic purposes, new roads carved through the cities, and new parcels of land were cordoned off serving various planned purposes giving cities distinctive geometric UN agencies prefer to see urban infrastructure installed before urbanization occurs. Infrastructure typically refers to the technical structures that support a society such as Roads Water supply, Wastewater, Power grids landscape planners are responsible for landscape infrastructure (public parks, sustainable urban drainage systems, greenways etc) which can be planned before urbanization takes place, or afterward to revitalized an area and create greater livability within a region. Landscape planning is a branch of Landscape architecture. Urban Park systems and Greenways of the type planned by Frederick Law Olmsted are key A park is a protected area of Land and Water, usually in its natural or semi-natural (landscaped state and set aside for some purpose often to do with human Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS sometimes known as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS are designed to reduce the potential impact of new and existing developments Greenways is a set of three short atmospheric piano works composed by John Ireland in 1937; entitled The Cherry Tree, Cypress Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people

New Urbanism

New Urbanism was a movement which started in the 1980s. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. New Urbanism believes in shifting design focus from the car-centric development of suburbia and the business park, to concentrated pedestrian and transit-centric, walk able, mixed-use communities. New Urbanism is an American Urban design movement that arose in the early 1980s South San Jose (cropjpg||thumb|A suburban development in San Jose California. A business park or business estate is an area of land in which many Office buildings are grouped together New Urbanism is an amalgamation of old-world design patterns, merged with present day demands. It is a backlash to the age of suburban sprawl, which splintered communities, and isolated people from each other, as well as had severe environmental impacts. Concepts for New Urbanism include people and destinations into dense, vibrant communities, and decreasing dependency on vehicular transportation as the primary mode of transit.

See also

References

  1. ^ World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision, Pop. Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading of a city and its Suburbs over rural land at the fringe of an urban area This article is supposed to cover urbanization in Africa but since it is based on a paper about the relationship between urbanization and politics in Sub-Saharan Africa At the end of 2006 China 's total population was 13 billion with 737 million (56% and 577 million (44% residing in the Rural and Urban areas respectively Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN

External links

Dictionary

urbanization

-noun

  1. the process of the formation and growth of cities
  2. the change in a country or region when its population migrates from rural to urban areas
  3. the proportion of a region's population that live in towns and cities; the rate at which this proportion is growing
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