We explain what urbanization is and what are the causes of global urbanization. Also, its advantages and disadvantages.
What is urbanization?
Urbanization is the process of concentration of the population of a nation and their main economic activities in a city context, instead of a rural one.
This process began gradually in the world with the entry of the Modern Age and the consolidation of its new industrial values (the Industrial Revolution), and is currently the prevailing way of life in industrialized countries and even in those in development.
Since the mid-20th century, more people live in urban contexts in the world (54% of the world's population) than in rural locations, and even future projections point to only a third of the world's population living in rural environments by the year 2040. This represents a significant change with respect to the global trend of past centuries, which favored rural life.
It is estimated that this boom in urban life has reached its historical peak in the last six decades, going hand in hand with globalization and the technological revolution, which is openly committed to an urban future. This has an undeniable impact on our values, our way of living and the footprint we leave behind during our time on the planet.
There is also the phenomenon of counterurbanization either ruralizationwhich occurs when there is an exodus from the cities to the rural area, but it occurs only in very specific historical conditions.
See also: Economic development
Types of urbanization
From an ecological point of view, a distinction is made between two modes of urbanization: sustainable and unsustainable. The first aims at urban life processes that cohabit with the natural environment and the ecosystem, trying to do as little damage as possible. The second, on the other hand, does not take these concerns into account, which is why it has a notable environmental impact.
Other distinctions when talking about urbanization can be:
- Rururbanization. It occurs when the city exerts influence on the rural areas that surround it, but since its costs are so high, many of the economic and experiential activities that normally occur within it begin to be located on rural land, like urban islands in the countryside.
- Periurbanization. This is the appearance of spaces within the city that do not serve traditional purposes of commerce, habitability or industry, but that provide a kind of “intermediate space” to the city, such as parks, transit facilities, highways, etc.
- Suburbanization. Also called urbanization by spillover, it consists of the spread of the city towards rural territories due to the excess of housing concentration in the city, which is why new low-density distant neighborhoods are founded, connected to the urban core by expressways.
Causes of urbanization
Global urbanization responds to various causes, such as:
- The population increase in recent centuries, which expands cities and generates new demand for housing.
- Mass industrialization, which replaced rural jobs with machinery and opened new urban opportunities in bureaucratic administration, commerce and mass manufacturing, better paid and less effortful.
- Greater urban diversity, facing increasingly complex cities that involve greater entertainment prospects.
- Greater incidence of basic services, and therefore a more modern standard of living.
- Expansion of postindustrial culture thanks to globalization.
Urbanization has positive and negative consequences, which we will see separately:
Advantages of urbanization
- Sustained growth. The growth of cities is accompanied by a greater demand for basic services and consumer goods, which generates a larger market to satisfy.
- Population concentration. Cities are areas that are more controllable by the States and are more easily covered by service or distribution networks, given that the population is concentrated in a few kilometers around them.
- Job complexity. The employment market in the city is much more diverse and varied than in rural areas, thus allowing the development and complexity of industrial, commercial and service activities.
Disadvantages of urbanization
- Impoverishment of agriculture. The general preference for the urban life model usually goes to the detriment of rural life, which is impoverished and abandoned in many cases, since industry can in some cases supply its activities (as in importing countries).
- Greater urban poverty. Migration from rural areas to cities affects their quality of life, since many times the supposed opportunities are scarce and rural migration increases the marginal belts of large cities.
- Environmental impact. By concentrating the population in a few kilometers, the impact on the quality of the air, water and land is maximized, which in turn affects the health of the population and the ecosystem.
- Consumption maximization. The demand for electrical energy and fuel is much greater in cities, which affects global raw material markets and the adverse effects of available electricity generation methods.
