Urbanization Taking On New Shapes

Alison Kendal^*
*Correspondence: Alison Kendal, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Warrnambool, Australia, Email:

Editorial

The population shift from rural to urban regions, the concomitant decline in the number of people living in rural areas, and the methods in which societies adjust to this transition are all referred to as urbanisation (or urbanisation). It is primarily the process through which towns and cities originate and grow in size as more people begin to live and work in core locations. Urbanization affects several areas, including urban planning, geography, sociology, architecture, economics, education, statistics, and public health. Modernization, industrialisation, and the sociological process of rationalisation have all been related to the occurrence [1].

From the development of the earliest cities in the Indus Valley civilization, Mesopotamia, and Egypt until the 18^th century, equilibrium existed between the vast majority of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture in a rural context and small population centres in towns where economic activity was primarily trade at markets and small-scale manufacturing. Due to agriculture's primitive and largely unchanging status throughout this period, the rural-tourban population ratio stayed fixed at a set equilibrium. This relationship was finally broken with the onset of the British agricultural and industrial revolution in the late 18^th century, and an unprecedented growth in urban population occurred over the course of the 19^th century, both through continued migration from the countryside and due to the tremendous demographic expansion that occurred at the time.

Urbanization quickly swept throughout the Western world, and it has only recently begun to take hold in the developing world (since the 1950s). Only 15% of the world's population lived in cities at the turn of the twentieth century [2]. According to the United Nations, the year 2007 marked a watershed moment in human history when cities housed more than half of the world's population for the first time. This relationship was finally broken with the onset of the British agricultural and industrial revolution in the late 18^th century, and an unprecedented growth in urban population occurred over the course of the 19th century, both through continued migration from the countryside and due to the tremendous demographic expansion that occurred at the time. Urbanization raced over the Western world swiftly, and it has only lately begun to take hold in the developing world (since the 1950s). At the turn of the century, cities housed only 15% of the world's population. According to the United Nations, the year 2007 marked a watershed moment in human history when cities housed more than half of the world's population for the first time. The dominating conurbation(s) of a country might profit more from the same things that cities do, making them magnets for not only non-urban, but also urban and suburban inhabitants from other cities [3]. Dominant conurbations are frequently primate cities, but this is not always the case.

As cities grow, the repercussions might include a substantial increase and change in costs, sometimes pricing the local working class out of the market, including municipal employees. Similar issues are now affecting the emerging world, with increased inequality as a result of rapid urbanisation trends [4]. The desire for rapid urban growth, frequently at the expense of efficiency, might result in less fair urban development. For a variety of reasons, urbanisation may improve environmental quality. For example, urbanisation raises income levels, which stimulates the eco-friendly services industry and drives up demand for green and ecologically friendly products.

Furthermore, urbanisation enhances environmental eminence by providing superior facilities and higher-quality living standards in metropolitan areas versus rural places. Finally, urbanisation reduces pollution by promoting R&D and innovation. There are two types of urbanisation: planned urbanisation and organic urbanisation [5]. Planned urbanisation, also known as planned communities or the garden city movement, is based on a detailed plan that can be produced for military, aesthetic, economic, or urban design objectives.

References

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2. Batty, Michael. "The size, scale, and shape of cities." Science 319(2008): 769-771.             

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3. Moomaw, Ronald L. and Ali M. Shatter. "Urbanization and economic development: a bias toward large cities?" J Urban Econ 40(1996): 13-37.

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4. Moore, Melinda, Philip Gould and Barbara S. Keary. "Global urbanization and impact on health." Int J Hyg Environ Health 206(2003): 269-278.

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5. Bloom, David E., David Canning and Gunther Fink. "Urbanization and the wealth of nations." Science 319(2008): 772-775.

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