CITY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

OVERVIEW

According to a study by the United Nations on urbanization, the world

population living in cities has been increasing exponentially and will
continue to do so in the next years. From 1950 to 2007 the percentage of
urban population has increased from 29% to nearly 50% and the
projections made point that in the year 2050 this number will be 70%.
Although these values are mainly influenced by what is happening in the
developing regions where the percentage of rural population was high until
recent years, the fact is that population migration to cities is happening
all over the world, no matter the level of development of the country. One
other advantage of joining these different models is the possibility to
assess the advantages and disadvantages of urbanization in a quantitative
way. This may be a crucial understanding for governments and their
regional planning.

TOPICS:
 CAUSES OF URBAN GROWTH
 POPULATION AND EVALUATION

OBJECTIVES:
Summarize the various beginnings of cities, from centers of
agriculture to areas of protection, and the factors they need to be
successful
Examine the growth of preindustrial cities as political units, as well
as how trade routes allowed certain cities to expand and grow
 Discuss the problems
urbanization created for
newly formed cities
Analyze, using human ecology
theory, the similarities and
differences between the
various urban structure
models, such as grid model,
sectored model and
concentric ring model, among
others
Analyze the process of urbanization and its effects on economics
and the environment in society
Discuss the different ways governments and society define the
term “urban”
Summarize the various theories of urban growth and the
implications each theory has for today’s society

Continuing urban growth, environmental

problems, limited space in town and cities, greater
travelling distances, along with the need to move
toward greater travelling distances, along with the
need to move towards greater social equality are
the main reason why the use of public transport is
worldwide priority.

In the popular understanding of the early United States, what

began as a republic of farmers became, within a century and a half, a
metropolitan nation of cities. There is a measure of truth in this view.
The first United States Census of 1790 classified only 5.14 percent of
the total population of 3,929,214 as urban; there were only twelve places
with 5,000 or more people. But the first American cities and towns did
not grow as in Europe from agricultural villages or early military sites.
Founded during the worldwide commercial revolution, they served the
European powers as bases for the organization of the trade and
commerce of empire. Regardless of Their small size, they exercised
complex economic and urban functions nearly from the start. The four
ports of Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston provided the
major urban centers of Early America
and contained the bulk of the urban
population. Boston was settled in 1630
by Puritan migrants led by John
Winthrop, who sought to establish a
"city on a hill" that would be a beacon to
the world. The city represented in part
a Religious effort to reestablish the
true Christian church.
Capitalistic enterprisers were a
part of the Puritan effort. The growth
of transatlantic trade made Boston the "mart town" of the Western
Hemisphere and undermined the New England way of the small community
organized around the church. Boston merchants early amassed the capital
that financed much of the later rapid economic expansion of the United
States. In 1624 the Dutch had founded a trading center and named
it New Amsterdam; in 1664 England seized it and changed its name to
New York. Charleston, characterized by its large slave population, was
established in the Carolinas (as Charles Town) in 1670 as a major port
facility for the export of southern agricultural products. Newport, Rhode
Island, also served as a major urban center but later declined in
importance. Numerous smaller sites were tied to the new nation's four
major cities as part of regional and metropolitan networks of trade.
The transportation revolution and settlement of the trans-
Appalachian west sharply affected urban growth. The Erie Canal, built
between 1817 and 1825 from Albany to Buffalo, contributed to New York
City's first Rank among American cities and led to the transformation of
the villages of Rochester, Buffalo, and Cleveland into cities. Baltimore,
the first American Boom town, embraced the new technology of the
railroad with the start of the Baltimore and Ohio in 1828. The diverse,
compact city of small shops and tradesmen had begun to disappear. This
change led to greater segregation and a more defined urban class
structure.
DISCUSSION:
The Earliest Cities
Early cities arose in a number of regions, and are thought to have
developed for reasons of agricultural productivity and economic scale.

The Formation of Cities

There is insufficient evidence to assert what conditions gave rise
to the first cities, but some theorists have speculated on what they
consider pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that could explain the rise
of cities. Agriculture is believed to be a pre-requisite for cities, which
help preserve surplus production and create economies of scale.

Preindustrial Cities
Preindustrial cities had important political and economic functions
and evolved to become well-defined political units.
Preindustrial cities were political units, like today’s states. They
offered freedom from rural obligations to lord and community.

Cities as Political Centers

While ancient cities may have arisen organically as trading centers,
preindustrial cities evolved to become well defined political units, like
today’s states. During the European Middle Ages, a town was as much a
political entity as a collection of houses. However, particular political
forms varied. In continental Europe, some cities had their own
legislatures.

Trade Routes
Not all cities grew to become major urban centers. Those that did
often benefited from trade routes—in the early modern era, larger
capital cities benefited from new trade routes and grew even larger.
While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea
languished from the 16th century, Europe’s larger capitals benefited from
the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade.
Industrial Cities
During the industrial era, cities grew rapidly and became centers of
population growth and production.
Rapid growth brought urban problems, and industrial-era cities
were rife with dangers to health and safety. Quickly expanding industrial
cities could be quite deadly, full of contaminated water and air, and
communicable diseases.

The Structure of Cities

Urban structure is the arrangement of land use, explained using
different models. In the grid model of cities, land is divided by streets
that run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. This model
promotes development.
The concentric ring model describes the city as an ecosystem in which
residents sort themselves into a series of rings based on class and
occupation.

The Process of Urbanization

Urbanization is the process of a population shift from rural areas
to cities, often motivated by economic factors.
Urbanization may be driven by local and global economic and social
changes, and is generally a product of modernization and industrialization.
Urbanization has economic and environmental effects. Economically,
urbanization drives up prices, especially real estate, which can force
original residents to move to less-desirable neighborhoods.
Urbanization and rural flight
Urbanization is the process of a population shift from rural areas
to cities.
During the last century, global populations have urbanized rapidly:
 13% of people lived in urban environments in the year 1900

 29% of people lived in urban environments in the year 1950

HIGHLIGHTS

Urban growth should be parsed as an urban land pattern, that is, a

spatial configuration of given municipality at a given time, and as a
process, that is, how the spatial structure of urban space changes
over time.

Urban growth, urban extension, and urban sprawl are sometimes

used synonymously, even though they differ conceptually.

Urban growth is an increase in the urbanized land cover. One

possible means of urban growth according to spontaneous or
unplanned urban development is called urban sprawl

Urban growth scenarios predict substantial increases in population

and growth for many regions of the world. The replacement of
forested land and riparian habitats with impervious surfaces such
as road, rooftops, and lawns alter the hydrology and geomorphology
of streams.

Environmental problems, limited space in town’s cities, greater

travelling distances, along with the need to move toward greater
social equality are the main reasons why the use of public transport
is a worldwide priority.

TREMS OF REFERENCES

URBAN GROWTH
- Is defining as the rate at which the population of an urban area
increases.
URBAN EXTENSION
- System is to help local groups by providing unbiased information
based upon sound scientific data.
URBAN SPRAWL
- Urban sprawl is the encroachment of developed areas into less
developed rural areas.

TRADE ROUTES
- Trade routes is an area or proscribed passage by land or sea used
by merchants and caravans for economic purpose

HYDROLOGY
- The branch of science concern with the properties of the earth’s
water, and especially its movement in relation to land

GEOMORPHOLOGY OF STREAMS
- Fluvial geomorphology is the study of the form and function of
streams and the Interaction between streams and the landscape
around them.

PRE-INDUSTRIAL CITY
- Pre-industrial society refers to social attributes and forms of
political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the
advent of the industrial revolution, which occurred from 1750 to
1850.

SUBURBANIZATIONS
- A term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of
major cities; one of the many causes of the increase in urban
sprawl.

RURAL FLIGHT
- A term used to describe the migratory patterns of peoples from
rural areas into urban areas
.
URBANIZATION
- The physical growth of urban areas as a result of rural migration
and even suburban concentration into cities.
COUNTER URBANIZATION
- A demographic and social process whereby people move from urban
areas to rural areas

GENTRIFICATION
- A shift in an urban community toward wealthier residents and/or
businesses and increasing property values; often resulting in poorer
residents being displaced by wealthier newcomers.

INDUSTRIAL CITIES
- Rapid growth brought urban problems, and industrial-era cities
were rife with dangers to health and safety. Quickly expanding
industrial cities could be quite deadly, full of contaminated water
and air, and communicable diseases.
INDUSTRIAL ERA
- During the industrial era, cities grew rapidly and became centers of
population and production.

SUMMARY

In the popular understanding of the early United States, what

began as a republic of farmers became, within a century and a half, a
metropolitan nation of cities. The transportation revolution and
settlement of the trans-Appalachian west sharply affected urban growth.

The Earliest Cities

Early cities arose in a number of regions, and are thought to have
developed for reasons of agricultural productivity and economic scale.

The Formation of Cities

There is insufficient evidence to assert what conditions gave rise
to the first cities, but some theorists have speculated on what they
consider pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that could explain the rise
of cities.
Preindustrial Cities
Preindustrial cities had important political and economic functions
and evolved to become well-defined political units.

Cities as Political Centers

While ancient cities may have arisen organically as trading centers,
preindustrial cities evolved to become well defined political units, like
today’s states.

Trade Routes
Not all cities grew to become major urban centers. Those that did
often benefited from trade routes—in the early modern era, larger
capital cities benefited from new trade routes and grew even larger.
Industrial Cities
During the industrial era, cities grew rapidly and became centers of
population growth and production.

The Structure of Cities

Urban structure is the arrangement of land use, explained using
different models. In the grid model of cities, land is divided by streets
that run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.
The Process of Urbanization
Urbanization is the process of a population shift from rural areas
to cities, often motivated by economic factors.

ACTIVITY 2. Based on what you have read kindly answer the

following questions..

Q: How did cities formed?

Q: When did people start moving to cities?
Q: What is Urban Growth?
Q: What is the GEOMORPHOLOGY OF STREAMS?