Urban issues and challenges

• Urbanisation is the growth in the proportion of people living in urban areas
• Urbanisation in HICs:

  Most HICs have already experienced urbanisation, so around 80% of the population live in urban areas. Many people leave urban areas for rural areas.

  The rate of urbanisation is low - usually under 1%
• Urbanisation in LICs:

  Only around 30% of the population live in urban areas.

  The rate of urbanisation is high - up to 6%
• Urbanisation in NEEs:

  Urban population is around 50%, though for countries experiencing rapid urban growth this can be higher.

  The rate of urbanisation is typically around 2%
• Rate of urbanisation:

  A) LIC

  B) NEE

  C) HIC

  D) HIC

  E) NEE

  F) LIC

  
• Urbanisation is caused by rural-urban migration and natural increase
• Rural-urban migration:

  • Movement of people from the countryside to cities
  • The rate of rural-urban migration is affected by a combination of push factors (which encourage people to leave an area) and pull factors (which encourage people to move to an area)
• Rural-urban migration push and pull factors:

  • Push factors:
  • Natural disasters can damage property and farmland, which is expensive. Rural areas find it harder to recover as they have fewer resources
  • Fewer jobs due to mechanised agricultural equipment
  • Desertification makes land unproductive so people cant support themselves and makes farmers income unstable
  • Pull factors:
  • More jobs which are better paid in urban areas
  • Access to better healthcare and educational opportunities
  • May have other family in urban areas
  • People think they will have a better quality of life
• Natural increase:

  • When birth rate exceeds death rate, causing the population to grow
  • It's normally young people that move to cities to find work. They then have children, increasing the proportion of the population living in urban areas. Access to better healthcare in urban areas also increases life expectancy, preventing the decline of urban populations
• Megacities:

  High rates of urbanisation are leading to the growth of megacities (urban areas with more than 10 million residents, e.g. Mumbai, India). As of 2018, there were 33 megacities, and 27 of them were in LICs and NEEs. By 2030 the number is expected to have risen to 43.