Revision:Global Variations in Urbanisation

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Global Variations in the Rate & Characteristics of Present day Urbanisation

Variations in rate:

• Faster in LEDCs
• Slower in MEDCs

There has also been the recent development of megacities.

There are 5 types of modern day urban change.

• Old industrial cities have lost their population due to industrial decline e.g. Sheffield.
• Old industrial cities find new employment so maintain the population e.g. Boston.
• Post-industrial cities are rapidly growing around new technologies e.g. Houston.
• Rapidly growing cities in NICs e.g. Seoul.
• Rapidly growing cities in LEDCs due to rural-urban migration e.g. Mexico City.

UK

Generally urbanisation is only increasing very slowly or is decreasing in the UK.

Counter-urbanisation

People are abandoning the cities as they like the rural areas. However, people still continue to live the urban lifestyle. Better transport & communication means that people move from inner cities to small towns & villages causing them to grow.

Population is dispersed over a large area – Dispersal cities

Re-urbanisation

In some areas cities have started growing again due to city centre redevelopment e.g. Birmingham, Newcastle. People are attracted back to the cities.

Urbanisation in LEDCs

Urbanisation is very rapid in LEDCs.

Reasons:

• Rapid population growth – Lower death rates.

  Greater pressure in rural areas due to number of people so they move to cities.

• Modernisation of Agriculture – Fewer jobs

  People move to the cities but there is no industrial revolution to support them.

• Industrial Competition – MEDCs seek new markets in LEDCs. This means traditional businesses are forced out of business.
• Improved communication – People are more aware of urban areas.

Effects of rapid urbanisation

• Cities lack the economic growth to support the growing population.
• There may be over-urbanisation e.g. Calcutta.
• Problems of primacy – Largest City dominates the country e.g. Mexico City.
• Growth of squatter/spontaneous settlements – Authorities can’t provide enough services for everyone.
• Unemployment – Not enough jobs for the influx of people.
• People forced to work in the informal sector – People are underemployed as they only have

temporary jobs at particular times of the year.

• 50% of city dwellers live in sub-standard housing with very few professionally built housing for the working class.

Mexico

People are pulled to Mexico City, a primate city.

Puebla is a poor, rural region of Mexico where jobs are mainly in agriculture & farming – maize & beans. There are many push factors, which force people out of Puebla:

• The only place to find work is Mexico City.
• Poor literacy rate – 50%
• Lack of proper housing.
• Lack of clean water & medical care.
• The rural population is growing rapidly.

People therefore move to Mexico City but are forced to live in spontaneous settlements on the edge of the city. Rapid urbanisation means that there are not enough houses and there are big problems with waste disposal. The infrastructure of the city is falling apart.

There is a poor location of industry a long way from most people and so there are transport problems.

There is also a large inequality between rich and poor with separations between them.

Therefore, urbanisation is very rapid in Mexico due to problems in rural areas and the fact that Mexico City is a primate city.

Calcutta

Calcutta is situated on flat, swampy ground on the Ganges delta and is India’s largest city with a population of 13-16 million. The land is only 10m above sea level & so there is the constant threat of flooding.

Housing:

Many families live on the pavement. These are bustees (a collection of houses made from non-permanent materials). These can have a population density of 150,000 per km squared. These houses usually contain 1 small room but are usually kept fairly clean. However there is no clean water supply in the bustees. Sewage tends to contaminate the water causing cholera & typhoid. Rubbish is dumped in the streets.

Transport is overcrowded & there are very few services. Employment is in the informal sector with many jobs just a few hours a week on a very small income.

The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority has been set-up to make bustees more inhabitable with taps, drains, paving, sanitation etc. However, progress has been slow due to a lack of money, high birth rates & migration.

Rio

There are half a million homeless street dwellers in Rio with 2 mlln in favelas in poor quality housing. Often attempts are made to remove the houses but they are just rebuilt. The favelas also attract crime, violence & drugs. Rio has huge problems with traffic congestion with severe pollution problems. Most of the time an industrial haze hangs over the city & the water is polluted with sewage.

Urbanisation in Communist Countries, Russia

Urbanisation in communist countries is different to MEDCs, as there are strict controls by the government. Towns are planned and rural-urban migration is strictly controlled. A propiska (visa) is needed to migrate.

The government wants to control the size & layout of cities. The physical extent of the cities was controlled by greenbelt and forest belt to prevent urban sprawl. New cities are built near to industry to develop new resources e.g. E Russia.

In the USSR TPCs (Territorial Production Complexes.) were created. Workers were housed in flats with all the services they needed.

Since the fall of communism there has been a rapid increase in urbanisation with a lot of people moving to Moscow. However, the greenbelt scheme remains.

Reasons For differences in Global Urbanisation

The main difference is the development of the country as urbanisation is faster in LEDCs than MEDCs. Birth rate > death rate due to increased healthcare and so the population in LEDCs is growing rapidly.

Industry in LEDCs:

• Job security
• Pensions, get more money – better paid.
• Possible Housing – Good standard of living.
• TNC investment attracts people to cities e.g. car industry in Mexico.

Industry in MEDCs:

• Closure of secondary industry – Corby. Therefore loss of jobs & leave cities. Ripple effect causes spiral of decline – dead heart in city centres.
• Increase in footloose tertiary industry so locate to country for better life. This is helped by the development of technology – Internet, motorways, air-flights, faxes etc.

Government Impact:

• Grants – encourage TNCs to build factories.
• Housing Policy- Bangladesh bulldozers squatter settlements so discourages migration.
• Migration Policy – Communism – prevents internal migration
• Development Policy
• Trade Policy – Embargo, tariffs, subsidies e.g. NAFTA affects urbanisation in Mexico.
• Greenbelt controls urbanisation in MEDCs – prevents urban sprawl.

Perceived Quality of Life:

• Better communication in MEDC lead to counter-urbanisation – working from home
• Environmental controls stricter in MEDC
• Better conditions in rural areas – less pollution/ stress
• Rural-urban fringe - suburbanisation
• People in LEDCs attracted by the bid lights of cities, as think will give them a better life.
• People better off in MEDC – want convenience, space and can afford luxury low-density housing

Also See

• Urban Deprivation in MEDCs
• Global Variations in Urbanisation
• Management and Planning in Urban Areas
• Changes in the Central Areas of Cities
• Urbanisation at the Fringe
• Greenbelts - Preventing Urban Growth
• New Towns
• Megacities
• The influence of Urban Economies on Rural Areas
• Agriculture in LEDCs
• Agriculture in MEDCs
• Resources in Rural Areas
• The Globalisation of Food Production
• Farming at a Global Scale
• Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
• Farming Case studies
• National Parks

Comments

These notes were originally written by F1_fanatic and posted here on TSR Forums. They are suitable for people studying for geography at A Level.