L2 how urbanisation happens

• population growth is the difference between birth rate and death rate
• when the birth rate is higher than the death rate, population grows. this is natural increase
• when birth rate is lower than death rate, population falls, this is natural decrease
• world population grows because on average, globally birth rates have been higher than death rates
• a large proportion of the worlds megacities are in asia
• asia is where over half the worlds population lives, china and india both have over a billion people
• the majority of asias population is still rural, although this is changing as people move to cities. over 50 percent of chinas population now live in cities compared to just 20 percent in 1980
• location: historically, cities have grown on rivers, coasts and other busy transport routes, where trade can thrive. even today many of the worlds megacities are ports, which are a good location for trade
• economic development: cities that trade are also a good place for business, so they grow economically. it is economic growth that creates jobs, which attract people and it is people who bring the ideas and enterprise that cities thrive on
• migration: rural-urban migration is the main driver of urbanisation, most of these migrants are young. they migrate from the countryside to cities because of pull factors like jobs and a better education
• natural increase: the young population in many cities leads to high rates of natural increase. cities also tend to have better health care than rural areas so death rates are lower and life expectancy is higher
• cities do not grow at a constant rate, some cities that grew rapidly in the 1900s such as tokyo in japan, have now slowed down. meanwhile other cities that grew slowly in the 1900s, such as lagos in nigeria are now urbanising rapidly
• china has plans to merge cities in the pearl river delta to create one large megacity with a population of 120 million
• most of the new megacities are likely to be in asia, particularly in china and india
• push factors and pull factors are the reasons for moving away from and to megacities
• push factors are the reasons for moving away from urban areas for reasons such as:

  • wanting a change of scenery
  • feeling unsafe in urban areas
  • getting bored of big cities
• pull factors are the reasons for moving towards urban areas such as:

  • having poor job opportunities
  • land shortages
  • poor education and health services
• new york physical reasons of urbanisation:

  • ocean shipping was a great point to point system
  • rise of manufacturing in the city
• new york human causes of urbanisation:

  • regeneration and growth of knowledge and economy
  • wide rail network allows for suburbanisation
  • new york is a large manufacturing town, creating jobs, economy and food
  • surplus of births over deaths
  • draws people in with high cultural and economic influence
• mumbai physical causes of urbanisation:

  • good services in mumbai
  • mumbai has air transport links to many cities so businesses want to be there
  • mumbai has a national park
• mumbai human causes of urbanisation:

  • receives 1000 new migrants every day
  • good jobs and education
  • people believe there is a better quality of life in city than in villages
  • people move to mumbai for better pay
• tokyo physical causes of urbanisation:

  • japan is so centralised and so many of japans government and economy is based in tokyo, so people want to move there
  • smaller towns eventually linked up to form one large city
• tokyo human causes of urbanisation:

  • tokyo is well connected to the rest of the world
  • there are lots of job opportunities that naturally draw people in
  • people go for education and then end up staying