Geography 1050 The geography of cities

URBANIZATION
or

HOW CITIES GROW

Outline
1. Global patterns of urbanization 2. Differences in urbanization between MDCs and LDCs

3. Urbanization and the population question

4. Urban service provision and urban economies in LDC cities

URBANIZATION & CITIES

Urbanization refers to the proportion of people in living in cities. It also refers to the process in which rural populations move to urban areas. Urbanization refers to all of the cities in a country, considered as an urban system. The urban system is the network of individual cities within a region or country.

The World At Night

The United States, The World And Europe At Night

Urban and Rural Population, Less Developed Countries 1950 to 2025

Urbanization

QuickTime an d a TIFF (LZW) decomp ressor are need ed to see this p icture .

The urbanization curve is typically logistic or S-shaped

<1.5X
% of population living in urban areas in major world regions, 1950, 1975, 2000 and 2025

~3X

~4X

~3X

2X

Sources of Urbanization
The urban system of a country grows mainly by:
1. Natural population increase (births deaths) 2. Migration from rural areas (especially in countries with large rural populations) 3. Immigration from other countries (especially in Europe and North America) 4. Reclassification of urban boundaries to encompass formerly rural areas

Outline
1. Global patterns of urbanization 2. Differences in urbanization between MDCs and LDCs

3. Urbanization and the population question

4. Urban service provision and urban economies in LDC cities

Urbanization in MDCs and LDCs

MDCs
Slow pre-industrial growth Rapid industrial growth Slows again once most previously rural populations are in cities Europe, North America, Australia and Japan, the population is 75% to 80% urban. Canada is 80% urbanized.

LDCs
Rapid urbanization without proportional industrialization (population growth, land tenure) By 2020 majority of LDC population will live in urban areas of 1 million+ By 2020 most megacities of 10 million+ will be in LDCs

Urbanization

MDC urbanization
QuickTime an d a TIFF (LZW) decomp ressor are need ed to see this p icture .

LDC urbanization

The urbanization curve is typically logistic or S-shaped

Urban Growth is Speeding Up

Time required to reach 2 million population:

Rome, Italy Vienna, Austria Vancouver, B.C. Shenzhen, China 2000 years 400 years 115 years 20 years

Share of World Population Growth Urban and Rural Areas LDCs and MDCs 1950 to 2025

Over the next quarter century, increases in urbanization will be almost entirely attributable to sub-Saharan Africa and Asia

Cities with 10 million or more people 2015

Outline
1. Global patterns of urbanization 2. Differences in urbanization between MDCs and LDCs

3. Urbanization and the population question

4. Urban service provision and urban economies in LDC cities

Share of World Population Growth Urban and Rural Areas LDCs and MDCs 1950 to 2025

Over the next quarter century, increases in urbanization will be almost entirely attributable to sub-Saharan Africa and Asia

Urbanization & the population question

Thomas Malthus and Malthusianism

1766-1834

I SAID that population, when unchecked, increased in a geometrical ratio, and subsistence for man in an arithmetical ratio.
Thomas Malthus. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population
Available at http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/

Urbanization & the population question

Time

Subsistence

Pop.

Urbanization & the population question

Thomas Malthus and Malthusianism

1766-1834

Solution to unchecked population growth: inculcate middle-class values in the lowerclasses

Advocated universal sufferage, state-run education

But his analysis of population growth has been used to naturalize the idea of overpopulation as a purely mathematical problem ---> buries struggles for power (politics) in apparently objective language of math.

Urbanization & the population question

Source: Marshall, J. 2005

Urbanization & the population question

Source: Marshall, J. 2005

Urbanization & the population question

Source: Marshall, J. 2005

Urbanization & the population question

Source: Marshall, J. 2005

Urbanization & the population question

www.pivotlegal.org/pivot/points/DownEast.htm

Urbanization & the population question

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