Urbanization

By: Gyémánt Angelika & Szabó Eszter

 01
What is it?
● It refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, and the ways in
which societies adapt to this change.
● The phenomenon has been closely linked to modernization,
industrialization, and the sociological process of rationalization.
● It started with Britain’s industrial revolution and spread from west to east
Europe
 02
Economic effects
● Segregation (the poor working class from the rich)
● Rapid urban growth and often efficiency can lead to less equitable urban
development
● Less space and poor air quality
 03
Enviromental effects
● Most existing infrastructure and city planning practices are not sustainable
● An urban heat island is formed when industrial and urban areas produce and
retain heat.
● When it rains, the water filters CO2 filters into the ground
● Increase of food waste

○ Environmental concerns (increase production of methane and attraction

of disease vectors)
○ Fermentation (increases the risk of rodent and bug migration)

● Greater potential of diseases spreading to humans

 04
Habitat fragmentation
● It breaks apart the habitat (roads and railways)
● It may disable species to access food and find hiding places
● Although it caused an increase in richness of some species of birds (trees
planted in cities)
 05
Health effects
Urbnization does not translate into a significant increase in life expectancy
● non-communicable diseases associated with lifestyle, (cancer, heart disease
etc.)
● Little/no fresh food → obesity, diabetes, under-nutrition
● Air pollution → asthma
 06
Social effects
● Crime
○ Greater awareness of the income gap
○ Less social cohesion (more crime in city centers)
● Mental health
○ Social disintegration → social disparities → insecurity (physical
and social environment)
○ Increased stress (reduced social support, increased violence,
overcrowding)
○ Urbanization+physical and social risk factors
 07
Urbanization
throughout the world
● most countries are urbanized
● the average global urbanization: 56.2% 
● predominantly urbanized: Europe, the Middle East and the Americas
● urbanization rates over 80%: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil,
Japan, the UK, South Korea etc.
● The most urbanized continent: South America more than 80% of its
population is urbanized
● very lowly urbanized countries: from central to eastern Africa, and from
central to southeast Asia
Thank you
for your
attention