Urbanization as a General Increase in Population - Essay Example

?Johnston et al (2004: 883) describe urbanization as ‘a general increase in population and the amount of industrialization of a settlement’. Berg (2007) adds that it involves the transformation of rural land into urban areas. The UN World Urbanization Prospect Report (2009) states ‘that as of 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) has surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion). The UN (2009) also predicts that by 2050, 70% of the world’s estimated 9.1 billion population will live in urban areas. The aim of this paper is to discuss the reasons why people migrate from small settlements to cities. I will examine a series of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors, which encourage people to leave rural areas and migrate to cities. I will then discuss the effects migration has had on cities and rural areas in Britain and Ghana to highlight the similarities and differences between the problems faced in developed and developing countries. Lewis (1982) argues that migration is caused by a series of forces which encourage people to leave one place (push) and attract them to another (pull). Push factors include the decline of natural resources in rural areas. For example, the exhaustion of mines, timber and agricultural resources can result in fewer jobs available in rural areas, causing poverty, which forces people to move to urban areas in the hope of finding work. Parnwell (1993) also cites high rural population growth as a reason for rural-urban migration. This is because it results in a surplus of labour in rural areas, forcing people to move to urban areas to find jobs. Environmental degradation of rural areas (e.g. over-grazing and draught) can also force people to migrate due to food shortages. Religious strife, political persecution, escaping from oppression and war also contribute to rural-urban migration Bogue (1959) also highlights that people leave rural areas due to the lack of basic infrastructure (electricity and water supplies) and services (public transport, hospitals and schools). Parnwell (1993) highlights a series of ‘pull factors’ that encourage people to move to cities, including migrant’s belief that superior opportunities for employment in manufacturing, construction, commerce and the service industry can be found in urban areas. Many people also move to cities to join kin already living and working there. However, Parnwell (1993) notes that despite migrants believing that urban areas offer an escape from poverty and better employment opportunities, the reality can be quite different, and unemployment and hardship are quite common it cities. Other people may move to urban areas because they may offer better career opportunities and higher wages. Better welfare facilities such as education, increased access to doctors and health care, raised standards of living and better housing have also contributed to a growth in urban environments. Valentine (1995) also believes people move to urban areas for their ‘freedom of expression and liberation’, e.g. urban areas allow people to express themselves in ways not possible in rural areas, e.g. creation of gay and lesbian districts. However, Parnwell (1993) notes that cities can also provide a danger and intimidating environment for others, e.g. fear of crime. ‘Modern urbanization in developing countries is unlike earlier growth of towns and cities in developed countries’ (Kemp, 2004: 123). In Ghana urbanization is not driven by industrialization, but by natural growth and migration from rural areas. Ghana’s current population stands at 24.8 million (CIA, 2010), in which 51% of Ghanaians live in urban areas. Every year the urban population grows by 3.4%. A developed country such as Britain on the other hand has 80% of it’s population already living in urban environments, with a much slower urban growth rate of 0.7% per year (CIA, 2011). Jackson et al (1996) claim that the process of urbanisation in developing countries such as Ghana tends to be less controlled than in developed countries, and as a consequence they suffer from a wider range of negative environmental, social and economic effects. In Ghana, the rapid influx of people into urban areas has led to ‘over-urbanization’. This has resulted in an overabundance of labor, which has consequently led to high unemployment. In Britain, urbanization consists of a planned combination of residential housing, service industries, transport infrastructure and industrial development such as heavy investment in hi-tech and electronic industries, which has led to the creation of over 2 million new jobs in the south of England alone. High wealth and low unemployment in Britain’s prosperous urban regions has enabled many people to live in affluent residential neighbourhoods such as Chelsea, a wealthy suburb of London. This is in stark contrast to Ghana’s capital Accra, in which the poorest migrants live in shanty towns and slums. This has led to a range of social and environmental problems such as air and water pollution and inadequate sanitation. Ghanaian cities in also lack the transport network that allows people in Britain (e.g. London Tube) to easily move around the city, and as a result Ghana’s cities are more densely populated. Parmwell (1993) claims that the Ghanaian government originally encouraged its citizens to move from rural areas to cities back in the 1960’s in order to relieve population pressure in rural areas. However, it led to a reduction in rural household’s ability to make the fullest use of productive resources such as the land because there weren’t enough people to cultivate it. In Britain, urbanisation led to the decline of primary industries in rural areas that fuelled the industrial revolution such as coal mining. New industries relocated to towns and cities, and as a result many rural areas still suffer deprivation such as higher unemployment, lower wages and fewer public services. This is a similar situation in Ghana, where there are also sharp disparities between urban and rural areas. For example, rural areas have become marginalized from the mainstream of national development, and the most significant rural-urban imbalance can be seen in the uneven provision of basic services in which only 4% of households in rural areas have access to clean drinking water compared with 39% in urban households (WHO, 2004). In conclusion, the expansion of urban areas over the coming century will result in a series of economic, social and environmental challenges in order to sustain rapid population growth. In developing countries such as Ghana, basic infrastructure is desperately needed to raise living standards, provide jobs and cut potential environmental problems such as air and water pollution. In developed countries there is a need for government policy to address rural deprivation issues such as service provision. References Berg, L and Hager, M (2007) Visualizing Environmental Science, Chapter 7. Hoboken, N.J. Wiley Publishers. Bogue, D.J. (1959) Internal Migration cited in Lewis, G.J. (1982) Human Migration. London and Camberra. Croom Helm. CIA World Fact Book: Ghana (Accessed 24th April 2011). Available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html CIA World Fact Book: United Kingdom (Accessed 24th April 2011). Available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html Jackson, A and Jackson, J (1996) Environmental Science. Singapore. Longman. Johnston et al (2004) Dictionary of Human Geography 4th Edition. Oxford. Blackwell Publishing. Kemp, D.D (2004) Exploring Environmental Issues: An Integrated Approach. London and New York. Routledge. Lewis, G.J. (1982) Human Migration. London and Canberra. Croom Helm. Parnwell, M (1993) Population Movements and the 3rd World. New York. Routledge. United Nations World Urbanization Prospects: The 2009 Revision (2009). Available at http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Documents/WUP2009_Highlights_Final.pdf Valentine, G. (1995). Out and About: Geographies of Lesbian Landscapes. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 19 (1) p. 96-111. World Health Organization (2004) (Accessed 24th April). Available at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/facts2004/en/ Read More