Urbanisation Trends

The world’s population is becoming increasingly urbanised. Cities in developing global

regions are growing especially fast.

More than 50% of the world’s

population currently live in
urban areas and this is Key terms
increasing very day. The fastest Urbanisation – The growth in the
rates of urbanisation in the proportion of a country’s population
world are in developing living in urban areas.
countries.
Megacity – An urban area with over 10
million people living there – e.g.
Mumbai.
High rates of urbanisation
are leading to the growth Urban primacy - When one city
of megacities. More than dominates the country it is in. Primate
2/3 of current megacities cities have a much larger population
are in developing and than other cities in the country –
emerging countries, usually more than twice as many
mostly I Asia. people as the next biggest city.
Rural-urban migration – When people
Primate cities influence the country economically: move from the countryside to the
• Investment – businesses often locate there, attracting town/city.
investment in infrastructure. International migration – Moving to
• Migration – there are lots of jobs so people move there to find live in another country.
work. Highly skilled workers are attracted by better
opportunities – higher-paid jobs. Internal migration – Moving from one
• Transport – international ports and airports are often located part of a country to another.
there, encouraging further investment and migration.
They also have political influence:
• Governments and the HQ of large, powerful businesses are often located there. This can mean that
decisions about development favour the city rather than the rest of the country.

There are two main ways that cities grow or decline:

• Migration – people move to live in the city, or move away from the city.
• Natural increase – the difference between birth rate and death rate.

Migration to cities can be national or international and is affected by push factors (things that encourage
people to leave an area)and pull factors (things that encourage people to move to the city).

Push factors Pull factors

• Shortage of jobs • Job opportunities
• Low wages • Better standard of living
• Poor standards of living • Better healthcare
• Poor healthcare • Better education
• War
• Natural disasters
Urban Economies
You need to know why urban economies are different in developing, emerging and
developed countries.

There are two types of employment:

• Formal employment – jobs that pay taxes and
provide workers with job security and legal
protection.
• Informal employment – jobs that are not
regulated. Informal workers pay no taxes and are
not protected by law.

There are also four different economic sectors.

Urban economies vary by their level of development…

Developing Emerging Developed

The number of workers in the Few workers are employed in

informal sector declines as the the informal sector. Fewer
Many workers are employed in
country develops. Employment people work in the secondary
the informal sector – lots work
in the secondary sector is high. sector than in emerging
in low-skilled tertiary sector
There are also lots of low- countries. Most work in the
jobs e.g. market stalls. Few
skilled tertiary jobs. Conditions tertiary sector due to the
people work in the secondary
improve and workers’ rights skilled and educated workforce.
sector. Working conditions are
increase. Conditions are good, pay is high
poor and pay is low.
and workers have any rights
protected by law.
Urban Change
Urban areas go through a lot of changes as they develop.
1) Urbanisation

Urban areas spread into the surrounding countryside as the population increases. Cities in
developed countries grew during the Industrial Revolution and workers lived in small terraced
houses round the factories in city centres. When factories relocated to emerging countries in the
1970s, slums and apartment blocks sprung up around them to house workers.

2) Suburbanisation

Suburbanisation is the movement of people from the middle of the city to the edges – urban areas
expand rapidly (sprawl) as housing is built in the outskirts. Urbanisation causes urban areas to
become overcrowded and polluted with little open space. Improvements in transport networks
means people could live in the suburbs and commute into the centre for work.

3) Deindustrialisation

As countries develop, they experience deindustrialisation (manufacturing move away to other

areas). Urban areas are particularly affected by this. Deindustrialisation can lead to depopulation
as people leave the old industrial areas. Unemployment increases, leading to lower living
standards and poverty.

4) Counter-urbanisation

Counter-urbanisation is the movement of people away from large urban areas to smaller
settlements and rural areas. This happens for a number of reasons:
• People think they’ll have a higher quality of life in rural areas.
• Increased car ownership and improvements in public transport.
• Improved communication services e.g. high-speed internet make it easier for people to live in
rural areas and work from home.

5) Regeneration

Some cities in developed countries have undergone regeneration to reverse the decline of urban
areas from suburbanisation, deindustrialisation and counter-urbanisation. To attract people back
to the city centre, governments and private companies invest in new developments e.g. high-
quality flats.
Urban Land-use
In general, cities have a similar layout – there are distinct zones with different land
uses.
Land in cities can be used for different purposes:
Commercial – office buildings, shopping centres.
Industries – factories, warehouses.
Residential – houses, flats etc.

Different types of land use are found in particular areas of the city because they have similar
requirements. This creates distinct zones.

Land use in a Land use in a

developed developing
country country
Land use is influenced by a number of factors…

Availability of land
Accessibility
City centres tend to be heavily built up.
Shops and offices need to be accessible to as
Availability of land may also affect how land
many people as possible and so are usually
is used. When factories close, the brownfield
found in city centres that have good
sites may be used for housing, shops and/or
transport links.
offices.

Cost
Planning regulations
Land in the city centre is often the most
Planners try to balance different uses for
expensive because of its lack of availability.
land. The city’s authorities often decide how
Some land uses, such as shops and offices
they want a city to look and develop and
can afford to pay high rents but more are
have plans for which land uses will be
now looking to relocate to cheaper areas
permitted.
towards the outskirts of cities.
 Mumbai - Location and
Structure
You need to know where Mumbai is located in India, and the significance of this
location in the city’s growth.
Mumbai is located on the west coast of India, with a 10km long
coastline. It has one of the deepest natural harbours in the world,
which means it is accessible to large, modern container ships. This
gives Mumbai a big advantage as a major port on the Arabian Sea.

The Suez Canal is an artificial waterway in Egypt that can be used to

offer watercraft a shorter journey between the North Atlantic and
northern Indian Oceans. Mumbai’s location on the west coast means
that it is closer to Europe than other Indian ports – shipping times are
five days shorter than from the east coast.

Mumbai was built on seven islands. City growth was limited, making land
very expensive.

Mumbai has India’s busiest international airport, which has capacity to

handle a large number of passengers.

Mumbai generates 1/6 of India’s total GDP and is India’s top location for FDI.

The diagram below is a model that can be used to show the

structure of cities in developing countries…

…however, Mumbai is not exactly like this and there are two key
reasons for this. There are some industrial areas near the port, but land
here is so expensive that many have moved further from the CBD
where land is cheaper. Mumbai was built around the harbour so the
CBD is not in the centre, but at the island tip.

• The CBD in Mumbai is located at the southern tip of the

peninsula. Important TNCs have their headquarters here
including Cadbury India, Microsoft India and Walt Disney.
• The wealthiest suburbs are all inner city areas, along the
harbour or coastal waterfront and the housing next to the CBD is
extremely expensive.
• Low income groups live in buildings known as ‘chawls’ – these
are low quality, multi-storey buildings.
• The poorest 60% of people live in informal housing. Most of
these are squatter shacks.
• There are also thousands of people without a permanent home
and they live on the streets.
Mumbai – Challenges and
Opportunities (1)
You need to know how and why Mumbai’s population has grown in recent decades,
and the opportunities and challenges this poses for people living there.
Mumbai is the largest city in India (by population) and has a population of 12.5 million. Population growth in
Mumbai is 2.9% per year.

Reasons for population growth in Mumbai:

• Rural-urban migration – 1000 national migrants arrive in Mumbai each day. 9/10 are from rural areas.
• International migration - economic investment means many services have been outsourced to Mumbai
from developed countries. This creates jobs and attracts migrants.
• Natural increase – Mumbai has a high rate of natural increase as improved healthcare means life
expectancy has increased.

Dharavi is the biggest slum in India (and Asia), with a population of more
than 1 million in an area of only 1.5km² - it is incredibly densely
populated! Rapid population growth in Mumbai has caused many
opportunities and challenges for people living in the city, particularly
those living in areas such as Dharavi…

Opportunities

• Unemployment is very low – traditional manufacturing has gone into

decline, but economic growth has continued with a switch to the service
sector. With such an enormous population, a lot of services are needed
e.g. taxi drivers, cleaners. Migrants will often send money back home to
their families.
• Access to better education – Mumbai has 10 universities.
• The rise of the service sector – globalisation has meant more foreign
companies have invested in Mumbai’s finance and IT industries, bringing
more international migrants to the city
• Dharavi industries – Dharavi is home to 5000 small businesses. Estimated to
be worth around £350 million per year.
• Cheaper rents - in Dharavi rents are low (about £2 per month) and so can
be afforded by people who would otherwise be unable to afford rental
prices in Mumbai.
• Infrastructure benefits – Even in slums, homes often have satellite dishes
and have access to services they would not have in rural areas. A large
market for services creates jobs – large numbers of people creates
profitable markets for business and attractive opportunities for big
companies who need cheap, low-skilled workers.
Mumbai – Challenges and
Opportunities (2)
You need to know how and why Mumbai’s population has grown in recent decades,
and the opportunities and challenges this poses for people living there.

Challenges

Housing - Population growth is faster than the rate new housing is being built.
City authorities have no money for building and private companies are put off
building by the rent limits that the authorities impose on new developments. As a
result, many people have to live in poor conditions such as chawls. These are old,
multi-storey buildings that are so overcrowded conditions can be worse than in
the slums. Other people live in squatter settlements (e.g. Dharavi) or are
homeless on the streets.

Transport – Mumbai is one of the most congested places on Earth. A rapid rise
in privately-owned cars (there are currently 1.8 million in Mumbai) means that
roads are frequently gridlocked. Despite this, 90% of Mumbaikers travel by rail
instead of car, but this puts huge strain on the rail network.

Waste disposal – People often go to the toilet in waste ground, disposing of their
excrement in plastic bags left there. These waste areas smell bad and diseases
can spread.

Water supply - Squatter settlements often do not have a piped water supply, and
60% of Mumbai’s population use communal taps. People can buy bottled water to
drink, but it is expensive. Some people take water from nearby rivers, which are
often polluted e.g. River Mithi.

Employment – In Mumbai, most people work in the informal sector. This is

because rates of migration are so high, jobs are not created quickly enough in the
informal sector and migrants often don’t have the necessary skills for many of
those jobs as well. As most Dharavi factories are illegal, it is difficult to collect tax
from those.

Quality of life – Mumbai has both Asia’s largest slum and the world’s most expensive single-family dwelling.
Many wealthy areas can be found right next to very poor areas. Squatter settlements often develop close to
the city centre because the poorest people can’t afford to travel far to work. This poses major political and
economic challenges.

Mumbai is underachieving in terms of quality of life because:

• Government in Mumbai is inefficient – it takes a long time for infrastructure improvements to be approved.
• Most Mumbai property is rent-controlled – there is a limit to how high rents can be and this means
property owners aren’t motivated to make improvements as they won’t be able to get the money back
from increased rent.
• Corruption has meant that areas that should have been redeveloped for affordable housing have instead
been sold to developers to build expensive apartment blocks.
Mumbai – Sustainable
Development
You need to know different strategies for tackling the challenges linked to Mumbai’s
rapidly rising population, and the advantages and disadvantages of each of these.
Bottom-up strategies – small-
Sustainability – in cities, this Top-down strategies – large-
scale ways of improving city
means planning for an efficient scale ways of improving city
sustainability that do not
city that uses less energy and sustainability that are planned,
involve governments directly.
minimises pollution to create funded and managed by the
They are often funded by NGOs
higher living standards for all. government.
or community organisations.

Top-down strategies

The Gorai garbage site closure project Mumbai monorail

The Gorai garbage site is close to
residential areas and by 2007 the
waste was 27m deep and releasing
methane. By 2009, the waste had
been reshaped into a gentle hill and
planted to create a 19ha park.
Methane-capture technology has
been installed and is used to generate
power. Property prices in the Gorai
area have increased significantly.
The Mumbai city government formed a
partnership with foreign engineering companies
and began constructing a monorail in 2009. This
was seen as a good solution to transport
problems in the city. The first 9km section
opened in 2014 (3 years late), at a cost of £310
million. Tickets are cheap, but passenger
numbers have been much lower than expected
because the route does not currently go into the
old city where many want to go.

‘Vision Mumbai’ - In 2003, a report from an American firm, ‘Vision Mumbai’

suggested investing $40 billion to improve Mumbai. It was intended to improve
quality of life, including building one million low-cost homes to reduce slums,
and improve transport infrastructure. However, this would involve demolishing
Dharavi, with the land worth US$10 billion due to its location next to the
financial district. Developers would be able to buy land at a discount and
redevelop it. 45,000 homes in Dharavi have been demolished, with new flats
replacing slums. However, many in Dharavi don’t like the changes and believe
the scheme only really benefits the rich and powerful.

Bottom-up strategies

SPARC and community toilet blocks Hamara Foundation

Toilet blocks provided by the city There are an estimated 200,000 street
government were expensive and badly children in Mumbai. These children
designed. SPARC is an Indian NGO that have dropped out of school and are
works with communities in Mumbai to build often forced to steal or take drugs. The
new toilet blocks connected to city sewer Hamara Foundation provides social
and water supplies. Monthly permits are work services for street children to
only 25 rupees and the blocks have electric help them improve their health,
lights and separate toilets for children. 800 education and job skills. In 2013, 327
blocks have been provided in the past 5 children were supported in going to
years. school.