Professional Documents
Culture Documents
URBANIZATION
The city is a place where a lot of problems are concentrated; but the city also has the resources
to overcome these problems and be the place of development.
Prof. Valentino Castellini, Italy, 1998
2.2.3
There are also many positive factors in the cities. It would be short-sighted to see only the negative
points in this situation. Large cities are usually dynamic, growing centers for modern production
and industry, financial services, internal commerce and foreign trade, education and government.
That is why cities are more efficient than smaller places in production, economic growth and
contributing to higher incomes. Many peoples economy and life expectancy in the city have
increased, economy has came more stable and stronger and families have got smaller (Brookfield
and Byron 1993, Bilsborrow 1998).
The differences between living conditions in cities and rural areas are big-terms of education and
health, safe drinking water, sanitation, electricity, food, recreational and entertainment, jobs,
information and knowledge. These differences can most clearly be seen among the middle and lowincome people. Worldwide the scale and depth of poverty in rural areas are higher. In general,
higher the level of urbanization, lower the level of absolutely poverty (HABITAT 1996, Bilsborrow
1998).
2.2.4 The size of the city
There is not actually any optimum size of the city, but environment is putting some borders to it.
Current mega-city-size is not sustainable. Urban populations are too concentrated in few large
cities. For example in Cote dIvoire, Cameroon, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela cities are
very intent, whereas in Niger, Nigeria, Colombia and Brazil are decentralized. Even though, large
cities are becoming our primary habitat (Massay et al. 1999).
The cities are growing in the size and complexity. In 1960 only 100 cities had more than one
million habitants. Now there are almost 400 of those cities and over next decades there may be as
many as 650. Even the growth occurs in all kinds of cities mainly the focus tends to be in megacities. Still the problem is global and concerns every scale of cities. For example, secondary cities
such as Surabaya in Indonesia and Guadalajara in Mexico, have become metropolises of two or
three million in the last decade and continue to grow rapidly in the future (Massay et al.1999,
Girardet 1996).
There are no direct and simple relations between size and power when considering cities. For
example, Sao Paulo is not more powerful than New York even it is bigger. Some cities can be very
large and yet not so powerful on the world stage normally this is the way in developing countries
(Massay et al.1999, Gugler 1997).
The worlds cities must become sustainable, productive, safe, healthy, humane, and affordable.
Boutros-Boutros Ghali, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1996
Input
City
Output
Sewage
Exhaust
Processed goods
Timber, pulp
& paper
wastes
Building materials
Wanton
disposal
Figure 2. 1. City consumes.
2.3.1
Population growth
Population growth is one of the main reasons to the urbanization. In rural areas natural increase is
not high because fertility rate is often lower compared with rural regions. Fertility rates are largely
dependent on economic considerations. As economic wellbeing increases, the fertility level
decreases. Security about the future and alternatives to family life in the cities are the main reasons
for this decrease (Long 1998).
Education level has similar effect as economic wellbeing to the fertility rates. For example in
Taiwan and South Korea, rising education level has resulted in smaller families, and population
growth has fallen by half. However, womens knowledge of how to manage their own fertility has
the biggest effects on birth rates. Nowadays only 25 per cent of the women do have access to family
planning materials and the power to control the amount of their children. Another key factor that
influences birth rates is a woman's confidence that the children she bears will survive and be
healthy. If the health care is proper and infant mortality rate low, like in developed countries, the
fertility rate is often also low (ENCARTA 2001).
2.3.2 Rural-urban migration
Migration is a form of geographical or spatial motion between one geographical unit and another.
Internal migration consists of rural-rural, rural-urban, urban-urban and urban-rural migration.
Migration is continuos and repeated process rather than a single event. Because of these facts, it is
difficult to measure and study. The time of migration also varies; it can be periodic, seasonal, or
long-term migration (Bilsborrow 1998b).
Migration is the main reason for rapid growth of mega-cities. Migration has been going on over
centuries and it is normal phenomenon. When considering urbanization rural-urban and urban-rural
and rural-rural migrations are very important. Urban-urban migration means that people move from
one city to another. This is quite common, for example, in Nigeria (Bilsborrow 1998b, Sajor 2001).
Many migrants are environmental refugees from badly depleted rural areas. In developing countries
industrial growth in urban areas offers employment and trading opportunities for rural people which
are faced with declining living standards. Nowadays the urbanization is increasingly occurring also
without any significant opportunities for new migrants and it is fastest in Africa (Bilsborrow
1998b).
Sometimes people do not have to move to the city even if they are working in it. Transportation is
the biggest question of this movement. With accessible transportation many are able to live as far as
40-50 kilometers away from the city. People can move regularly between urban and rural areas, in
accordance with the demand of the job and of family responsibilities, without a need to make a
permanent change of residence. Advances in transportation, by easing rural access to external
markets, can relax the housing problem in the cities (Brookfield and Byron 1993).
2.3.2.1 Push and pull factors
People may move to the city because they are pushed by poverty from rural communities or they
may be pulled by the attractions of city lives. Combination of these push and pull factors can also
be on reason for moving to cities. In many parts of the world rural population growth and shortage
of arable land are the major problems. Even though the land holdings have been quite big they are
to be divided with several children and eventually, their children. These circumstances make
migration the only opportunity to farming people. Things are made worse by environmental
deterioration (Gugler 1997, Girardet 1996).
2.3.2.1.1
Push factors
The normal push factors to rural people are the circumstances that make their earning of living
impossible, land deterioration, lack of adequate land, unequal land distribution, droughts, storms,
floods, and clean water shortages. These serious disadvantages make farming, the livelihood of
rural people, hard and sometimes hopeless. Lack of modern resources, firewood shortages, religious
conflicts, local economic declines, are also major reasons for moving to the urban areas (Gugler
1997, Girardet 1996).
2.3.2.1.2
Pull factors
High industrial wages in urban areas are one of the biggest attractions for rural people. People will
continue to migrate to cities as long as they expect urban wages to exceed their current rural wages.
Employment opportunities, higher incomes, joining other rural refugees, freedom from oppressive
lifestyle, access to better health care and education, are the bright lights for rural people. One of
the main reasons for people to move to the urban areas is that the situation in the rural areas is very
difficult. With the income level they have it is not possible to survive. In this case even the low
salaries in the rural areas are more attractive than non-existing salaries in the rural areas (Gugler
1997, Girardet 1996, Sajor 2001).
2.3.2.2
Increased industrialization, education and urbanization may provide more opportunities for women
to advance economically and socially. More women will be able to join wage-earning labor force.
Education and industrial activities are viewed as the only two ways for women to advance in
economically underdeveloped countries. These activities are normally associated with lower
fertility rates (Gugler 1997, Girardet 1996).
Men are more active in migration. Many men migrate alone, without family, to the cities to work in
factories, companies or the informal sector. Normally this kind of migration is seasonal or
periodical. Due to this women become head of the families, which puts a lot of pressure on them.
Their responsibility is to take care of the house, children and money. Even the men will send some
money to their families women have to earn some "household money" too. It is common to women
to have their own shops or businesses on top of their household duties. This is very normal
especially in Lagos ( Rinne 2001 ).
2.3.2.3 Modernization theory
The modernization theory means that industrial employment attracts people from rural to urban
areas. In the urban areas people work in modern sector in the occupations that facilitate national
economic expansion. This means that the old agricultural economic is changing to a new nonagricultural economy. This is the trend, which will create a new modern society (Gugler 1997).
This theory states that inequality in welfare between country and city increases rural to urban
migration and thereby expands urbanization. The citys bright lights are the main pull factors to
the people. The divergence ultimately reduces economic growth and efficiency in the developing
world (Gugler 1997).
2.4.1
Population growth
There are three components of urban population growth: natural growth of urban population, ruralurban migration and the reclassification of areas previously defined as rural. Natural increase
provides a base for urban population growth rates, and rural-urban migration and reclassification
supplement this growth. Anyhow the natural increase of the population in the city often declines
sharply together with the urbanization process, that has happened for example, in Thailand,
Malaysia and Indonesia. (Stutz and Souza 1998)
2.4.3 Poverty
Poverty is hard to define. Poverty means that human needs are not met. Poverty is every day life in
every country, even in developed areas. In every country can be identified individuals who have so
small income that they cannot afford even the very basic goods. These physical needs are adequate
diet, housing, work, water supply, sanitation and health care. For humans a few mental demands are
also important, like basic civil and political rights and feeling of safety (HABITAT, 1996).
Poverty can be measured by income level. This is not always the best way to define poor people
because some level of personal income cannot substitute problems with health, crime, physical
violence or life expectancy. Still using this kind of income level is normal in every country. People
whose income is under this minimum level are considered poor. At least 20 per cent of the worlds
population live in absolutely poverty. More than 90 percent of these live in the developing
countries. These numbers are only rough averages because it is in reality difficult to estimate the
amount of people who suffer from absolute poverty (HABITAT, 1996).
2.4.3.1 Rural poverty
At the moment in many countries the trend is that the poverty of rural population is growing. In
rural areas poverty is associated with different circumstances like drought, seasonal changes in food
prices and lack of adequate land. Poverty also fluctuates more in rural areas and causes seasonal
migration to the urban areas. When the situation is bad in the rural area migration is evident. By
improving rural economy, migration flows can be better controlled.
The economic situation of the family depends on their family cycle as well. Many families with
small children or elderly people to take care of are poorer than others. Accidents might also change
the whole economic of the family because social security is not often provided in rural areas. In the
developing countries accidents occur more often due to bad roads, vehicles, misused laws and
orders (HABITAT, 1996).
2.4.3.2 Urban poverty
It is not equitable to compare poverty by poverty lines, such as the used income of US$ a day,
between urban and rural areas, because costs in the urban areas are usually higher than in rural. The
costs of fuel, food and shelter are much higher in big cities and central regions. Also people in rural
areas have wider surviving ways; they can grow their food on the wastelands and collect their
firewood from the forests, which is impossible in the crowded urban areas. Environment is also
much more polluted in the urban areas which decreases the health of the urban poor. Due to these
poor people in urban areas are even poorer than they seem to be and the total income level is much
lower than in the rural areas. Studies show that more than half of the urban population is below the
poverty line in several Asian and Latin American countries (HABITAT, 1996).
The urban environment has some positive sides too; in urban areas it is easier to find a job, health
care, education and other facilities which might help poor people to stand up from the poverty hole.
This is not simple but might be possible. In the cities production and sales jobs are quite easy to get
with adequate language abilities and other skills. Anyhow, informal sector is very important source
of income for many poor people (HABITAT, 1996).
2.4.4
Standard of living
The differences in standard of living are major issues when considering factors that encourage
urbanization. Higher living standards and higher salaries in the city attract people to move to the
cities. As long as the income gap between rural and urban areas is big, people tend to move to the
cities. Economic factors and employment are the main reasons for migration. Sometimes the
employment in rural areas is non-existing. In these cases moving to the city, even for very low
salaries, is more profitable than staying in the countryside (Sajor 2001, Brookfield and Byron
1993).
Political and social factors are also better in the urban areas and they are one reason for migration.
In the city health care and social relations are much easier to organize which makes the inhabitants
feeling more secure. In the city people may more easily have they voices heard by joining different
political groups and by this poor people can require better living standards and services.
2.4.5 Environmental pressure
The biggest environmental pressure for rural people is the lack of profitable land. The land inherited
from the parents is divided to the children and their children. At last the land per farmer becomes so
small that it is unprofitable to farm. On the other hand erosion and land deterioration makes farming
even more difficult. Even when poor farmers have enough land space they cant always afford and
compete for non-sufficient water resources or fertilizers. Water is sometimes very polluted and
regulations forbid the use of that kind of water because of food contamination. This gives no
opportunity to the poor farmers. They can either continue farming with contaminated water and get
caught with the contamination of crops or try to find some other livelihood. This is the problem in
lower basins of many rivers in developing countries (Sajor 2001).
Water shortage increases social inequity. Poor farmers cannot sink boreholes to the necessary
depths to extract water. Wealthier farmers can benefit by moving inland to buy up more land or
water. The only way to survive for these poor farmers is to move to cities to find some nonagricultural livelihood (UNEP 1999).
2.5.1
Socialist model
In the past there have been many successful ways of controlling urbanization. Socialism in old
China and Russia was one of these. The method was to control urbanization by the place where
people had born. People who were born in the countryside were not allowed to move permanently
to the urban areas. This means that people have to live at place similar they have been born. They
belong to the rural areas if they were born in there and vice versa. Although, rural people can move
to other rural areas and urban people could move to the similar rural areas. This method was very
effective when controlling urbanization. Thus it doesnt give alternatives to the inhabitants (Sajor
2001).