"Urbanization (or urbanisation) is the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change."
The process of migration from rural to urban areas which results in the growth of cities and towns.
Definition of Urbanization: Understanding the concept of urbanization is helpful in grasping the key concepts of urban economics. Urbanization refers to the process of population concentration in urban areas.
Urbanization Process: To understand urbanization, it is important to know about the process of urbanization, including the various factors that contribute to it, such as technological advancements and economic growth, migration, and changes in social patterns.
Urban Planning: Urban planning is the process of designing and managing the physical and social complexity of urban areas, ensuring the efficient use of land, infrastructure, and resources.
Transportation Systems: Urbanization is often accompanied by an increase in demand for transportation services, necessitating efficient and sustainable transport systems.
Housing: A significant aspect of urbanization is the availability, affordability, and quality of housing. Understanding housing demand, supply, and the different types of housing markets is crucial.
Urban Public Services: Urbanization requires an adequate provision of public services, including water and sanitation, public health, education, and safety, among others.
Land Use: The use of land in urban areas has a far-reaching impact on the social and economic development of these areas. Understanding land use patterns and the factors that influence them can assist in planning and development.
Economic Growth: Urbanization is often associated with economic growth and development. Understanding the relationship between urbanization and economic growth is crucial in analyzing urban economic development.
Employment: Urban areas offer many employment opportunities. Understanding the urban labor market is crucial for understanding the workings of urban economics.
Social and Environmental Issues: Rapid urbanization can lead to social and environmental challenges such as overcrowding, pollution, and crime. Understanding these challenges is crucial in analyzing urban economics.
Central Business District (CBD): A CBD is an area in the heart of the city that typically has the largest concentration of office buildings, shops, and other commercial activities.
Residential Suburbs: Residential suburbs are areas on the outskirts of the city dominated by residential buildings or homes. They are typically characterized by single-family homes, parks, and low-density living.
Industrial Suburbs: These are areas on the outskirts of the city dominated by industrial activities such as factories, warehouses, or chemical plants.
Commodity Towns: Commodity towns are urban areas that are centered around a particular commodity or natural resource like mining, oil or gas and agriculture.
Tourist Towns: These are urban areas that are catered to tourists through the provision of entertainment activities such as hotels, casinos, amusement parks, and resorts.
Recreational Towns: These are small urban towns on the outskirts of the city that provide communal recreational activities such as fishing, hiking, golf, and skiing.
University and College Towns: These are urban areas that are dominated by universities and colleges, and they provide a high concentration of student services, dormitories, shared activities, and lectures.
Creative Districts: Creative districts are neighborhoods that have emerged as creative and artistic hotspots characterized by art, music, and cultural activities.
Gated Community: Gated communities are residential areas surrounded by barriers, walls or gates that are designed to provide security, exclusivity, and privacy.
Urban Decay: Urban decay is the process by which a city or a particular area in a city goes through a decline in social, economic, and physical conditions.
"It can also mean population growth in urban areas instead of rural ones."
"It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas."
"Urbanization refers to the proportion of the total national population living in areas classified as urban, whereas urban growth strictly refers to the absolute number of people living in those areas."
"It is predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized."
"This is predicted to generate artificial scarcities of land, lack of drinking water, playgrounds and so on for most urban dwellers."
"Much of which will occur in Africa and Asia."
"The United Nations has also recently projected that nearly all global population growth from 2017 to 2030 will be by cities, with about 1.1 billion new urbanites over the next 10 years."
"Urbanization is relevant to a range of disciplines, including urban planning, geography, sociology, architecture, economics, education, statistics, and public health."
"The phenomenon has been closely linked to globalization, modernization, industrialization, and the sociological process of rationalization."
"Therefore, urbanization can be quantified either in terms of the level of urban development relative to the overall population, or as the rate at which the urban proportion of the population is increasing."
"Urbanization creates enormous social, economic and environmental challenges..."
"...which provide an opportunity for sustainability with the 'potential to use resources much less or more efficiently, to create more sustainable land use and to protect the biodiversity of natural ecosystems.'"
"However, current urbanization trends have shown that massive urbanization has led to unsustainable ways of living."
"Developing urban resilience and urban sustainability in the face of increased urbanization is at the center of international policy."
"Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and historic transformation of human social roots on a global scale."
"Village culture is characterized by common bloodlines, intimate relationships, and communal behavior, whereas urban culture is characterized by distant bloodlines, unfamiliar relations, and competitive behavior."
"This unprecedented movement of people is forecast to continue and intensify during the next few decades, mushrooming cities to sizes unthinkable only a century ago."
"The world urban population growth curve has up till recently followed a quadratic-hyperbolic pattern."
"Urbanization is a rapid and historic transformation of human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly rural culture is being rapidly replaced by predominantly urban culture."