Why does urbanisation take place

Throughout history, cities have attracted people as centers of culture, religion, learning, and economics. But looking ahead, 90 percent of the future urban increase is expected to take place in Asia and Africa, and it is projected that more than two-thirds of all people will be calling cities home by Urbanization is often linked with economics — increased job opportunities, a centralized market, better pay and higher individual wealth have all drawn people into cities.

And for a long time, these pull factors are what caused cities to grow. The Industrial Revolution caused a shift from agriculturally based societies to industrial, and thus geographically centered, societies.

But that dynamic is changing. Today, most urban growth is natural increase — due to more births than deaths among those already dwelling in cities. Additionally, formerly small settlements are being reclassified as urban areas as the populace living there grows from within. Many of the newer urban areas, located in Latin America, Asia and Africa, have an entirely different look, feel, and outlook than their older European or North American counterparts.

How fast an area grew, or is growing, is a key component. When a city grows at a manageable rate, which is often considered roughly 1 percent annually, its infrastructure can keep pace with an increasing population and its demands.

Necessities such as roads and public transportation, appropriate sewers and water treatment facilities, clinics, schools and housing have time to be planned and built alongside the increase in human numbers. Without infrastructures in place to provide basic needs, residents can be forced to create their own provisions with whatever is available.

In less developed countries, densely populated slums form both on the edges and within the largest cities. Due to a poor economy and weak infrastructure, cities such as Mumbai, India do not have the means to support the overwhelming urban population. Good planning and sound management is needed to manage this. National and local governments need to become more strategic in responding to the full range of challenges and opportunities posed by rapid urbanisation.

This can be done by formulating a national urbanisation strategy as a first step to help to identify urban development priorities, shape plans and better coordinate actions by all the actors involved, including the private sector.

There is, however, no one-size-fits-all urban strategy. Urban policy priorities and choices depend on a variety of factors - including the scale, speed and source of urbanisation, the size of cities and the stage of urban development. Intergovernmental relationships are also key to successful urbanisation. National, regional and city governments need to be connected and share a similar vision. Local governments will need technical and managerial skills, the ability to engage with the public and strong capacities to design, implement, monitor and evaluate local public policies and services.

As cities grow, governments will need to cater to rapidly growing demands for public services and infrastructure.

In many places, they are not keeping up. For example, almost million urban slum dwellers lack adequate sanitation, which, along with the paucity of safe drinking water, raises the risk of communicable diseases, particularly among children. And urbanization creates income and opportunity disparities, not only between rural and urban areas but also among socioeconomic groups in cities.

People living in rural areas are 'pulled' to the city. Often they believe that the standard of living in urban areas will be much better than in rural areas. They are usually wrong. People also hope for well paid jobs, the greater opportunities to find casual or 'informal' work, better health care and education.

Natural increase caused by a decrease in death rates while birth rates remain high. Million Cities A million city is, yes you guessed it, a city with one million or more inhabitants. These are the largest cities on the planet: 1. Tokyo Japan Seoul South Korea Mexico City Mexico , New York USA Mumbai, India, Forstall, R. Greene, and J. Pick, "Which are the largest? Why published populations for major world urban areas vary so greatly" , City Futures Conference, University of Illinois at Chicago, July — Table 5 p.

Counter-urbanisation Counter-urbanisation is the movement of people out of cities, to the surrounding areas. There are four main reasons for counter-urbanisation: 1. The increase in car ownership over the last 40 years means people are more mobile. This has led to an increase in commuting. Also, the growth in information technology E-mail, faxes and video conferencing means more people can work from home. Urban areas are becoming increasing unpleasant place to live.

This is the result of pollution, crime and traffic congestion. More people tend to move when they retire. New business parks on the edge of cities on Greenfield sites mean people no longer have to travel to the city centre.

People now prefer to live on the outskirts of the city to be near where they work.