THE URBAN TRANSITION

By
Dr. Oyedokun Amos
Definition
 It is the demographic aspects of the process
whereby a society is transformed from rural to
urban.
 The process of urbanisation.
 Urbanisation refers to the change in the proportion
of a population living in urban places.
 A relative measure ranging from 0 percent to 100
percent.
World Urbanisation History…
 It is part of the demographic transition.
 Earliest cities were not very large
 Not demographically self-sustaining.
 Ancient city of Babylon had estimated figure of 50,000
people; Athens possibly 80,000 and Rome as many as 500,000.
 They represented a tiny fragment of the total
population.
 Symbols of civilisation, visible centres that were written
about, discussed by travelers, and densely enough settled
to be dug up later by archaeologists.
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation
 Early cities had to be constantly replenished by migrants
from the hinterlands:
 Due to higher death rates and lower birth rates than did the
countryside.
 The self-sustaining character of modern urban areas
began with:
 the transformation of economies based on agriculture
(produced in the countryside)
 to those based on manufactured goods (produced in the city),
 to those based on servicing the rest of the economy (and often
located in the suburbs).
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation…

 Control of the economy made it far easier for cities

to dominate rural areas politically
 And thus ensure their own continued existence in
economic terms
 A crucial transition in this process came between
about 1500 and 1800
 With the European discovery of “new” lands,
 The rise of mercantilistic states (economy based on
goods rather than landholdings),
 And the inception of the Industrial Revolution.
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation…

 These events were inextricably intertwined

 thereby adding up to a diversity of trade that gave a
powerful stimulus to the European economy.
 It was thus a period of building a base for
subsequent industrialisation.
 Although still a pre-industrial and largely pre-urban
era.
 For example, cities in England were growing at only a slightly
higher rate than the total population, and thus the urban
population was rising only very slowly as a proportion of the
total.
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation…

 Between 1600 and 1800, London grew from about

200,000 people to slightly less than one million (Wrigley
1987).
 With an average rate of growth considerably less than 1
percent.
 Also, during this span of 200 years, London’s population
increased from 2 percent of the total population of
England to 10 percent.
 Although significant but not necessarily remarkable
 Especially considering that in 1800, London was the largest city in
Europe.
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation…

 In 1801, only 18 percent of the population in

England lived in cities of 30,000 people or more.
 Nearly two-thirds of those urban residents were
concentrated in London.
 Thus, on the eve of the Industrial Revolution, Europe
(like the rest of the world) was predominantly agrarian.
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation…

 Neither England nor any other country was

urbanising with any speed at that time because:
 Industry had not yet grown sufficiently to demand a
sizable urban population.
 Cities could not yet sustain their populations through
natural increase.
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation
 Characteristics of the economies of Europe and
North America from the late 18th through the mid
19th centuries include:
 Early competitiveness,
 Laissez-faire capitalism
 The cities were largely commercial in nature.
 In the 19th century, urbanisation began in earnest, a
time closely tied to industrialisation and population
growth due to decline in mortality.
Precursors to Modern Urbanisation…

 Urban factory jobs being classic magnets sucking

young people out of the countryside.
 This happened earliest in England and later in Japan
and Russia
Current Patterns of Urbanisation
 In the contemporary post-industrial world with
advanced capitalism,
 The function of cities is changing:
 In the developed, already urbanised part of the world, cities
are losing their industrial base and are increasingly service
centres to economic activities occurring in the hinterlands of
the same country, or in another country altogether.
 In less-developed countries, commercial and industrial
activities combine with historically unprecedented rates of
city growth to generate patterns of urbanisation somewhat
different from that which occurred in the now-developed
nations.
The Proximate Determinants of the Urban
Transition

 Urbanisation can occur not only as a result of

internal rural-to-urban migration, but also through:
 Natural increase,
 International urban migration,
 Re-classification of places from rural to urban areas
 And combinations of these processes.
 The urban transition may end when nearly
everybody is living in an urban area, but urban
evolution (which is the changes taking place within
urban areas) may continue forever