Urbanisation

• What is urbanisation

  • The growth in the amount of a country's population living in urban areas
• Causes of Urbanisation

  1. Natural increase - the birth rate is higher than the death rate
  2. Rural urban migration - people move from the countryside to cites to find work
• Push factors (reason to leave)

  • lower wages
  • poor living conditions
  • few facilities/services
  • natural disasters
  • war
• Pull factors (reason to go to a city)

  more jobs

  higher wages

  better living conditions

  better education and health services
• Urbanisation in developed countries

  • Highest rates of urbanisation happened in the Industrial revolution
  • Since the 1960s people have moved away from the cities due to De-industrialisation (this is called counter-urbanisation)
  • Natural increase doesn't increase as much
• Urbanisation in developing/emerging countries

  • Natural increase causes rapid rate of urbanisation
  • People in developing/emerging countries usually work in the primary sector (farming) so they move to the cities to get work in the higher paid secondary or tertiary sectors
  • Rural areas are very poor with lack of services so people move for to the cites for better quality of life
• Urbanisation problems in developed countries

  • Housing - High demand and lack of space means prices are high
  • Overcrowding - High population and housing shortage
  • Transport - High population means stress on transport networks
  • Services - High population means long waiting lists for healthcare and larger classes in schools
• Urbanisation problems in developing/emerging countries

  • Economic
  • High levels of unemployment
  • informal job sector (wages aren't taxed)
  • Lack of skills to get a job due to lack of education services
  • Social
  • Squatter settlements
  • Infrastructure can't be built fast enough
  • High levels of crime
  • Environmental
  • Rubbish isn't collected
  • Sewage and chemicals harm river wildlife
  • High amounts of air pollution from traffic
• Uneven distribution of Urbanisation in the UK

  • Upland regions are sparsely populated. It is difficult to farm and have few natural resources
  • Most coastal areas attract settlements. Ports and harbours are built
  • Mineral wealth has lead to rapid population growth as industries developed around these minerals (E.g iron and coal)
  • Most urban areas are developed in lowland areas as is is easy to build have have milder climate
• Rate of urbanisation in the North and West of the UK

  • Slow in the North and west and some areas have a declining population
  • Decline in manufacturing industry gas had a negative impact on cities leading to high job losses
  • People will move away to work somewhere else and few people go up north for work
• Rate of urbanisation in the South and East of the UK

  • Rapid growth
  • Growth of services and high-tech industries has caused wealth increase, more jobs and more leisure services
  • Around half of international migrants move to London or the South east