Urbanization

UNIT III- Facts, Theories. Socio-spatial problems of

migrants, slums, high and low density housing; high rise
living such as isolation, alienation, accessibility, conflicts
etc. as related to planning and design of buildings in
different areas of the city. Social Survey and social
research.
Where conurbations have joined to become one large
10 million + people Megalopolis
urban area.

A group of large cities and their suburbs that have strong

3-10 million people Conurbation
links connecting them to each other.

A city and surrounding towns that are in close proximity

1-3 million people Metropolis
and have started to merge into each other.

A city with a large population and many services.

300,000 - 1 million Large city

A city would have a wide range of services but not as many

as a large city.
100,000-300,000 City

Large towns now see a much more varied range of shops

available when compared to villages.
20,000-100,000 Large town

Towns see an increase in services, for example, they would

have senior schools and police stations.
10000-20,000 Town

Villages start to have some basic services like a petrol

station or a vilage shop.
100 - 1,000 Village

Hamlets have very tiny populations and few services, if

any.
< 100 Hamlet

Isolated dwelling often in rural areas, these tend to be

farmhouses or holiday homes.
a few buildings at most Isolated
dwelling
Introduction
• Process of becoming urban, S & D
• Urbz, DMA
• Hierarchical change – increase in population, dev of
infrastructure : megacities
• Movement of people
• Patterns of development – land use, economic activity and
culture
• Economic and social transformation
• In 1970, there were only three mega-cities across the globe,
but by the year 2000, the number had risen to 17 and by
2030, 24 more mega-cities will be added
• Accelerated urbanization in mid 18th century due to
industrialisation
Beginning about 1750, the
rate of
urbanization in England,
then other European
countries and North
America accelerated
dramatically. By the latter
part of the twentieth
century, the developed
countries of
Europe and North America
were nearing full
urbanization and the rate of
urbanization declined. Tthe
most advanced
industrialized
countries may now be
deurbanizing as more
people choose to live in
small towns and rural areas
within commuting distance
of urban areas.
in a highly urbanized country like
the Netherlands, almost the entire
population lives in urban areas,
the proportion of the
population that is urban
approaches 100 per cent, and the
society can be characterized as
fully or nearly fully urbanized. In a
country like Upper Volta, only a
very small proportion of the total
population live in urban areas and
the society can be characterized
as barely urbanized at all.
• Institutional – •Production – modes,
marriage, family, labour, resources,
efficiency
customs, culture
•Employment – rates,
• Individual – education, competition, specialized
productivity., attitude, fields , quality of life
priorities

Social Economic

Environm-
Physical
ental
•Infrastructure •Consumption of food,
•Land use energy, water, and land
•Slums
•Settleent pattern
CAUSES OF URBANIZATION

•Industrialization: Shift from the old agricultural practices to non-agricultural jobs creating
a modernized society.

•Trade and exchange : Distribution of goods, services and commercial transactions have
developed many modern marketing institutions and exchange methods resulting in the rapid
growth of towns and cities.

•Services and utilities: People get better facilities in urban area like educational,
sanitation, housing, health care, recreation and living standards to lead a good social life in
general.

•Transport and Connectivity: Between housing and work places, reduced cost, choice of options
•Employment opportunities: People migrate into urban areas in search of well-paying jobs in
developmental sectors such as public health, education, transport, sports, recreation and business
enterprises.

•Social progress and Leisure: Changes in attitudes brought on by scientific development, and
lifestyle, freedom, anonymity

•Rural-urban transformation: Increase in productivity leads to economic growth and higher

value-added employment opportunities. This trend normally contributes to the development of land for
use in commercial properties, socio-economic support institutions, transportation and residential
buildings.
Challenges of urbanisation
• Poverty – inequality, public health, unemployment, housing shortage
• Environment Degradation
• Ecological degradation – natural resource depletion
• Pollution – Air, water, sound
• Quality of life
• Overcrowding or overpopulation
• Infrastructure strain
• Loss of agriculture land
• Commercial production of raw materials
• Micro climate – increased temperatures, climate change, urban floods
• Crime, trafficking
Migration
• Temporary or permanent movement of people
from one place to another
• Push- Pull factors: in search of employment
opportunities, access to healthcare, education,
quality of life – Climate disaster, forced
displacement, war, poverty,
• Voluntary and Involuntary, seasonal
Socio-spatial problems of
migrants and slums
• Housing issues – squalid, risk ridden, undesireable, without
access to services or utilities
• Higher risks – poverty, prone to disaster, incurs highest
losses
• Informal sector – vending, low level jobs, daily wage,
unreliable, exploitative condition
• Health risks – on type of employment, no laws regulating,
risk reduction, safety equipment, dirty jobs etc. visit to
hospitals cost day wage
• Social pressure – earn and send back home, aspirations
• Uneven distribution, unplanned development
• Social acceptance – isolation, lack of community, support
groups
Density
• No. of people per unit of land area
• Urban Form and architecture
• Residential population and DU density are the most
common measures of density in urban areas.
• Housing density is crucial to planning facilties,
services as transit, retail, and recreation areas.
• Indirect measure of population density and rough
measure of physical characteristic of spaces
• Lot sizes – to regulate no. of people living in an area
• Net residential density measures the area of a
housing site up to the surrounding roads include
facilities for the immediate benefit of the housing,
such as small areas of open space, community
centers, a few shops and so on.
• Gross residential density measures a residential
area and includes - in addition to housing - parks,
schools, the road and transport network and other
mixed uses. It does not normally include large
commercial or industrial areas.
• Perceived density – evaluation of population of built
density related to environmental cues, culture and
design.
• Ex. High rise vs low rise
• Density is measured in different scales - net density is
typically the number of dwelling units or persons per
site area where the site is just the parcel of land being
developed for housing
• Detached, semi detached, apartment, high
rise/skyscraper ; boundaries
• Low-Medium-High
Low density housing, 30 ph, 75 ph
• Single land use - residential, ancillary dwelling units,
home occupations, parking, mainly, garden, orchards or
crop cultivation
• Street patterns restrictive, public access not possible
• Increased distance to amenities, community, services,
destinations and public transport
• Unsustainable, unregulated growth, large land parcels,
singular use, land use conversion, leisure shopping,
health impact, safety
• Ex. Suburbs, gated communities with plots etc.
Low rise low density and low rise high density
High density
• Restricted development
• Hierarchy of roads
• Divided neighborhoods, segregation
• Closer to amenities
• Reliance on public transport (less parking)
• Design possibilities, mix of income groups, affordability,
public spaces, low cost of infrastructure maintenance, tax
incentive
• Lack of privacy, private garden or park spaces, infrastructure
mismatch, not self reliant, energy intensive , traffic, costly,
• Social problems – lack of communal bonds, similar
background people, boredom, isolation, alienation (and
suicidal)
High density housing, 100 ph, 250 ph
• Single or mixed land use - residential, retail, parks
etc, more FAR
• Street patterns restrictive, public access not
possible
• Increased distance to amenities, community,
services, destinations and public transport
• Unsustainable
• Ex. Suburbs, gated communities with plots
High Rise – high density or low
density
• “ A ‘ tall building ’is a multi-story structure in which
most occupants depend on elevators [lifts] to reach
their destinations. The most prominent tall
buildings are called ‘ high-rise buildings ’ or tower
blocks ’
• Impact on evacuation
• 7+
• a high-rise structure is considered to be one that
extends higher than the maximum reach of
available fire-fighting equipment – 23 to 100
meters.
1. In 1853, an American, Elisha Graves Otis,
invented the world’s first safety lift or elevator.
This new form of vertical transportation
enabled people to travel safely upward at a
much greater speed and with considerably less
effort than by walking

2. In the 1870s, steel frames became available,

gradually replacing the weaker combination of
cast iron and wood previously used in
construction. Until then, the walls had to be
very thick to carry the weight of each floor.
Separates people from ground space – vision
distance, visibility, threshold
Not human Scale
Reduces chance encounters – liveliness,
character, social capital
Verticcal sprawl
Gentrification, Inequality. Economic dev,
developer, luxury, divisive society
Not green
Not good for health
Propinquity is "one of the main factors leading
to interpersonal attraction. It refers to the
physical or psychological proximity between
people. Propinquity can mean physical
proximity, a kinship between people, or a
similarity in nature between things," according
to Wikipedia. Propinquity happens in public
spaces – on the street, in parks, public
transportation and city squares. High-rises
diminish people's participation in public spaces
and therefore diminish propinquity.
Living in a high-rise creates a very finite and
encapsulated world in and of itself. The high-
rise becomes your world, especially those
which include a restaurant, market, gym and
other amenities. You never have to go outside
or encounter other people. Plus, this
phenomenon creates the opposite effect of
public spaces. It ensures that people mostly
interface with others of the
same socioeconomic strata. High-rises literally
create silos, both physical, social and
psychological.