Urbanization Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Urbanization is the process of transition from a rural to a more urban society in which a large proportion of the total population lives in cities. This means that urbanization is a process associated with the expansion of the built-up area and also related to the development of a new way of life characterized by social habits different from the rural world. It also goes along with the growth of the secondary and tertiary sectors in the economy.

Whatever the sense—physical or sociological—the definition of what constitutes an urban area differs from country to country, and there is no agreement about a quantitative measure to distinguish an urban area from a rural one. According to the United Nations (UN), the criteria used by its member states to define what is urban can include the population size and population density; the extension and density of the built-up area; the percentage of nonagricultural economic activities; the administrative status; the existence of certain urban infrastructures, public services, or certain social amenities; or a combination of some of these criteria, which makes comparison between countries a difficult task.

The first human settlements that were densely populated and structured were established several thousand years ago. However, the turning point in the population growth and the respective concentration in urban areas worldwide occurred during the nineteenth century as a result of the profound changes introduced by the Industrial Revolution. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, estimates suggest that only 5 percent of the population lived in cities; this percentage jumped to 50 percent by the middle of the twentieth century in the more developed countries on both sides of the Atlantic. In the less developed countries, a similar trend toward urbanization of the population also took place, although at a slower pace.

The UN world urbanization prospects point to a huge increase in the urbanization of the world population in the near future. From a past in which the urban population grew from 13 percent in 1900 (220 million urban dwellers) to 29 percent in 1950 (732 million) and to 49 percent in 2005 (3.2 billion), the UN forecasts the world can soon expect an increase in the urban population up to 60 percent (4.9 billion) in 2030 and 66 percent (6 billion)—or two-thirds of the total population—in 2050. In 2008, for the first time, urban population represented more than half of the world’s population, and this will probably mean the beginning of a new period, which the UN refers to as the urban millennium. However, the urbanization level, or the percentage of the total population that live in cities, and the urbanization growth rate vary across the world, reflecting the different development levels of each country. Until recently, the most urbanized countries were in Europe and in North and South America, but, according to the UN, in 2005 it was China and India, followed by the United States, that had the largest numbers of urban dwellers. In the next decades this trend will continue and, according to the UN forecasts, the urbanization of the population will take place mainly in Asia and Africa. Higher natural demographic growth and migration from rural to urban areas will account for 93 percent of this urban growth.

Another trend is the increase in the number of megacities, which are metropolitan areas with ten million or more inhabitants, of which Tokyo, Japan; New York City, United States; Seoul, South Korea; Mexico City, Mexico; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Mumbai, India, are the six largest metropolises. However, while most of these are located in industrialized countries, according to the UN, the pattern is now changing and the new megacities are located in emerging and less developed countries.

This high concentration of the urban population creates huge social and environmental problems, well identified by national governments and international organizations. The United Nations Millennium Declaration recognized the present tragic situation of around one billion urban poor that live in slums, a problem that, if not properly addressed, is expected to affect three billion persons by 2050.This situation can be further worsened by the impact of climate change on water supplies, air pollution, and natural disasters.

Bibliography:

Bridge, Gary and Sophie Watson, eds. The Blackwell City Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
A Companion to the City. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
Mumford, Lewis. The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations and Its Prospects. London: Secker and Warburg, 1961.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Rural and Urban Area Classification. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2004.
Scott, Allen J., ed. Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
United Nations. Demographic Yearbook. New York: United Nations Publications, 2001.
United Nations Population Fund. State of the World Population 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth. New York: United Nations Population Fund, 2007.

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