The document examines urbanization, defining it as the increase in the proportion of the population living in urban areas and covering various indicators, historical trends, and demographic causes of urban growth. It highlights significant urbanization trends, particularly in developing countries, along with demographic, health, environmental, economic, and social consequences, as well as policy options to address urban challenges. The document emphasizes that while urbanization is a dominant demographic trend globally, the experiences of developing countries differ markedly from those of industrialized nations due to factors such as natural population growth and migration patterns.

1. 1
Urbanization

2. 2
• Definition & Indicators of urbanization
• Historical and emerging trends in
urbanization in different world regions.
• Urbanization trends in developing and
developed countries
• Demographic causes of urban growth
• demographic, health, environmental and
social consequences of urbanization
• policy options to deal with urban challenge
in developing countries
Lecture covers:

3. 3
Definitions
• Urbanization: Increase in the
proportion of the population living in
urban areas
• Urban growth refers to an increase in
the physical size of an urban area
• Countries differ in their definitions

4. 4
Definitions
• Generally refers to population living in any
place (e.g. towns) 2,000 or more, especially
if the population is non-agricultural.
• Some countries also have a middle category
designated as ‘Semi-Urban’
• Percent Urban: Population living in urban
areas, expressed as a percentage of the
area’s total population.
• Singapore is 100% urban while Rwanda is
only 5% urban%

5. 5
Definitions
Metropolitan Area: A large
concentration of population, usually an
area of 100,000 or more people with an
important city at its core plus suburban
and exurban areas that surround the
city and are socially and economically
integrated with it, as measured by
commuting patterns
• Refers to size and economic
integration, not density of settlement

6. Rural-urban migration as a result of push
and pull factors.
6

7. World’s Urbanization Trends
• World’s urban population is growing
60 million a year
• Urbanization-the dominant
demographic trend of the past half-
century
• In 1950, 760 million of the world’s
people lived in cities, which almost
tripled to 2.7 billion by 1998
7

8. 8
World Urbanization Trends
world world urban
Year
population
(in billion)
population
(in billion)
Percent
Urban
1950 2.5 0.8 30
1970 3.7 1.4 37
1990 5.3 2.3 43
2010 6.8 3.5 52
2030 8.1 5.0 61
2040 8.6 5.6 65
Source: UN Population prospects, the 1998 revision.

9. 9
World Urbanization Trends
• Proportion urban of the global
population has increased from 1/3 in
1960s to 47% in 2000, and is
expected to reach 65% by 2040
• The percent urban population in less
developed countries more than
doubled from 18% in 1950s to 40%
in 2000

10. Sources: UN Urbanization prospects, 1
19
09
8
3 3
57
9 0
19
9
4 8
3 4
5
5
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
950-1975 1975-2000 2000-2025
Percen
Urban (LDC) Urban (M DC) Rural (All countries)
Share of World population growth in
Urban and rural areas, 1975-2025

11. 11
Regional Trends in Urbanization 1950-2050
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Percent
1950 1975 2000 2025 2050
Asia
Africa Europe LAC North Amrica
Source:UN Urbanization prospect, 2007

12. Regional Trends in Urbanization
• Africa is currently least urban, but most
rapidly urbanizing
• In next quarter century, increases in
world urbanization will be attributed to
Asia and SSA, as MDR and Latin America
have already been highly urbanized
• Increasing urbanization levels
accompanied by concentration of urban
population in larger cities-the share of
urban population living in million plus
cities will increase from 10% in 1975 to
20% in 2015.
12

13. Population of Urban Agglomerations
with 10 Millions or more.
Year Cities Year Cities
1950 New York (12.3) 1975 Tokyo (26.6)
13
Tokyo (11.3) New York (15.9)
Mexico City (10.7)
2025 Tokyo (36.4)
Mumbai (26.4)
Delhi (22.5)
Dhaka (22.0)
2007 Tokyo (35.7)
New York (19.0)
Mexico City (19.0)
Mumbai (19.0)

14. Graphic Changes
14

15. Population Spatial Distribution and
Concerns in Developing countries
• High urban growth rates
• Mismatch between population and
resource distribution
• Rural over population
• Existence of small and scattered
villages
• International migration
15

16. 16
Population Distribution in some
selected Countries
• Rural-urban distribution: most important
feature of population distribution within
these countries
• Percent urban for Asia increased from
16.8% in 1950 to 39.7% in 2005. with
highest urban pop (66%) in Japan in
2005, Bangladesh has 25.7 % urban
population while Sri Lanka has only 15 %.
Both India and Pakistan have slightly
higher urban population .

17. Comparing Urbanization in MDC and
LDC
• The levels of urbanization in LDC lag 75
years behind MDC
• Taking place at lower level of economic
development
• Based on lower mortality and high fertility
• Involves many more people
• Governments are trying to intervene to
modify it
17

18. Demographic Sources of Urban Growth
• Natural increase within city dwellers
• Net in-migration mainly due to rural to
urban migration
–the relative contributions of natural
increase and net migration to urban
growth depends on urban economies
and urban fertility levels
• Reclassification of urban boundaries to
encompass formerly rural population
• Circular migration: leading to seasonal
fluctuation in the cities population
18

19. Demographics of Urban Population
• Sex ratio
• Age structure
• Household size
19

20. Demographics of Urban Population: Sex
Ratio
• Sex selectivity of rural-urban
migration Depends upon:
–Relative urban job opportunities for
men and women
–Family norms regarding migration
of men and women
20

21. 21

22. 22
• Sex ratio in of several Asian countries

23. 23
Demographics of Urban Population in
LDC: Age Structure
• Smaller proportion of very young (<5 years)
and very old (>65years) than rural
populations due to
–Lower urban fertility than rural fertility
–Higher proportion of young adults
among rural-urban migrants
–Retirement to rural areas in old age
• Result: Relatively higher proportion of
population in economically active ages

24. Consequences of Urbanization:
Demographic
• Invariably lower fertility in urban
areas due to :
– Higher cost of child rearing
– Social norms more conducive to
small families
– Better availability of FP services
24

25. Consequences of Urbanization: Health
• Urban health advantage makes
enormous disparities between urban
poor and rich.
–Infant mortality (or other
indicators of health) may be worse in
urban slums and squatter settlements
compared to rural areas
25

26. 26
Consequences of Urbanization: Health
• Is urban health advantage narrowing over
time?
• Double burden of disease
–Traditional diseases of developing
countries e.g. malnutrition, Malaria, TB.
–Diseases associated with modernization
e.g. obesity, road accidents, cancer
–Diseases associated with overcrowding
and pollution e.g. asthma, mental
diseases
• Prime locations of newly emerging killers,
notably HIV/AIDS .

27. Consequences of Urbanization:
Environmental
• Heavier death tolls due to natural disaster
like earthquakes, hurricanes etc.
• More vulnerable to flooding and storm
damage
• Higher levels of environmental pollution
• Contribution to global warming
• However, many of these can be minimized
by appropriate urban planning and
management
27

28. Consequences of Urbanization:
Economic
• Engines of economic development
• Density of population offers
significant cost advantage for
delivery of essential goods and
services
• Increase in use of basic resources,
such as energy and water
28

29. Consequences of Urbanization: Social
• Imbalance between urban population size
and employment opportunities, urban
infrastructure, housing -growing
inequalities-civil unrest, crime
29

30. Meeting the urbanization Challenge:
Policy Options
• Measures directed at slowing urban
growth?
OR
• Measures directed at improving
administration, governance and
management
30

31. Policy Options: Slowing Urban
Growth
• Is there an optimal city size?
31
• Over-urbanization?

32. Urbanization in Developing Countries:
Policy options
• Rapid urbanization: inevitable
• Ironically current policies focus on reducing
in-migrant flows, though natural increase
is equally responsible for contributing to
rapid urban growth
• Options: good management and
governance
32

33. 33
Urbanization in Underdeveloped Nations
Mirror the Experience of Industrialized
Nations?
• No: cities there grow much faster
• 1940s-50s:
– More than 4% average annual gain in
developing nations
– Compared to 2% average annual gain in
industrialized nations’ heyday of urbanization
• Cause is not urban-rural migration but instead
– Natural population growth in country as a whole
– Developing country cities have improved
mortality rates and only slightly lower fertility

34. 34
Urbanization in Underdeveloped Nations
Mirror the Experience of Industrialized
Nations?
– No decline in rural population, as occurred in
developed countries
– Problem: the rapidly growing population in
countryside has been absorbed to a good extent
by cities, leaving country side to be farmed more
productively, and cities are taking care of some
of the problems associated with fast-growing
population
– Rapid growing population requires the same
amount of land to feed more people than before

35. Bangladesh Slum Clearance
35

36. Recycling as a Way of Life - Waste
Collecting as Survival in Lagos, Nigeria
36

37. Petrona Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
37

38. Los Angeles at Night
38

39. Land Use In LDC
39