second testing ground of your template
The definition of an
urban area changes from country to country.
In general, there are no standards, and each country develops its own
set of criteria for distinguishing cities or urban areas. A city is generally
defined as a political unit, i.e., a place organized and governed by an
administrative body. A way of defining a
city or an urban area is by the number of residents. The United Nations defines settlements of
over 20,000 as urban, and those with more than 100,000 as cities. The United States defines an urbanized area
as a city and surrounding area, with a minimum population of 50,000. A metropolitan area includes both
urban areas and rural areas that are socially and economically integrated with
a particular city.
The human population
has lived a rural lifestyle through most of history. The world’s population, however, is quickly
becoming urbanized as people migrate to the cities. In 1950, less than 30% of the world’s
population lived in cities. This number
grew to 47% in the year 2000 (2.8 billion people), and it is expected to grow
to 60% by the year 2025.
Developed nations have
a higher percentage of urban residents than less developed countries. However, urbanization is occurring rapidly in
many less developed countries, and it is expected that most urban growth will
occur in less developed countries during the next decades.
Cities with over 5
million inhabitants are known as megacities.
There were 41 in the year 2000.
This number is expected to grow as the population increases in the next
few decades. It is predicted that by the
year 2015, 50 megacities will exist, and 23 of these are expected to have over
10 million people. Table I is a list of
the world’s 25 largest cities in 1995.
Why is the urban
population increasing so fast?
The rapid growth of
urban areas is the result of two factors:
natural increase in population (excess of births over deaths), and migration
to urban areas. Natural population
growth has been covered in other units, and consequently, here we will
concentrate on migration.
Migration is defined as
the long-term relocation of an individual, household or group to a new location
outside the community of origin. Today
the movement of people from rural to urban areas (internal migration) is most
significant. Although smaller than the
movement of people within borders, international migration is also increasing.
Both internal and international migration contribute to urbanization.
Migration is often
explained in terms of either “push factors” – conditions in the place of origin
which are perceived by migrants as detrimental to their well-being or economic
security, and “pull factors” – the circumstances in new places that attract
individuals to move there. Examples of
push factors include high unemployment and political persecution; examples of
pull factors include job opportunities or moving to a better climate.
Typically, a pull
factor initiates migration that can be sustained by push and other factors that
facilitate or make possible the change.
For example, a farmer in rural Mexico whose land has become unproductive
because of drought (push factor) may decide to move to Mexico City where he
perceives more job opportunities and possibilities for a better lifestyle (pull
factor). In general, cities are
perceived as places where one could have a better life, because of better
opportunities, higher salaries, better services, and better lifestyles. The perceived better conditions attract poor
people from rural areas.
In order to better
illustrate the causes of rural migration, we will consider policies that have
led to migration in many developing countries.
In order to pay foreign debt and to be more competitive in international
markets, national governments have encouraged the export of national resources
and agricultural products. Agricultural
products (sugar, flowers, coffee, etc.), and primary-sector goods (timber,
fish, minerals, etc) become natural resource capital that can be traded to
bolster the national economy. In order
to produce agricultural products quickly, efficiently, and for a decent prize,
national governments often look to decrease the number of small producers, and
turn agricultural production and resource extraction over to larger
enterprises, with larger production facilities, and a lower per-unit cost of
production. This trend turns land into a
commodity, that can be bought and sold, and it is viewed only in terms of its
productive capabilities. Free market
economics pursues economic efficiency to deliver goods at the lowest possible
price, and its advocates maintain that any government intervention diminishes
this efficiency. Consequently, they seek
to eliminate farm programs such as farm subsidies, cheap credit policies, etc.
intended to help the farmer, and to maintain stable prices. This scenario leaves farmers to shoulder the
burden of farming, sometimes with no alternative but to sell their land to a
foreign investor or a domestic-owned enterprise, and move to the cities, where
the farmer hopes to have a better life.
Other policies
reinforce the above scenario. In this
case, in order to boost the production of cheaper goods, governments have
maintained artificially low food prices in urban areas. The strategy here is to maintain urban food
prices below market levels to reduce the cost of urban labor and urban
life. This policy has resulted in
inadequate compensation of rural producers for the costs they incur to produce
food products and thus have aggravated rural poverty. On the other hand, these policies have also
made city life more attractive and pulled them from rural areas. As a result of these policies, an average of
270,000 rural migrants have been arriving in Mexico City annually over the last
ten years, transforming it into one of the largest cities in the world.
International migration
includes labor migration, refugees and undocumented migrants. Similar to rural-to-urban migration,
individuals move in search of jobs and a better life. Income disparities among regions, and job
opportunities, are key motivating factors.
The migration policies of sending and receiving countries also play a
key role. The best current estimate from
the United Nations Population Fund, indicates that more than 100 million people
were living outside their countries of birth or citizenship in 1998. There is a number of reasons why this figure
is rising, but an important one is that the native labor pool in the
industrialized countries is shrinking, while the developing world’s workforce is
rapidly increasing. Today, international
migration is at an all-time high. About
2% of the Earth’s population has moved away from the country of origin.
Readings and
References:
- “International Migration: A Global Challenge”, Population Bulletin, Population Reference Bureau, Inc.., Vol. 51, No. 1, 1996
- Robert Geodes, Ed., Cities in our Future, Island Press, 1997.
- Samuel P. Hunting ton, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Simian and Schuster, 1996.
- Peter van deer Veer, Nation and Migration, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995
- Joel E. Coven, How Many People can the Earth Support?, Norton, 1995.
- United Nations, International
Migration Policies, UN Publication, 1995.
World Resources 1996 – 1997 : The Urban Environment
