URBANIZATION PART 1

INTRODUCTION

 The World is urbanizing very fast and more than 45 per cent of the World’s population today are residing in urban areas. According to UN estimation, the Wold population is expected to increase by 72 percent by 2050, from 3.6 billion in 2011 to 6.3 billion in 2050.Customarily urbanization means increasing population living in cities and suburbs cities of a country. In 19th and 20th century, majority of the cities in the world are undergoing growth of urban population. In India also urban population which was 0.37 percent in 1951 has risen to 27.81 percent in 2001 and 31.16 percent in 2011 and is increasing day by day.According to Asian Development Bank, the national increase and net migration are the major contributory factors to urban growth. The share of world’s population living in urban areas has increased from 39 percent in 1980 to 48 percent in 2000. However, urbanization without proper planning has given rise to several problems such as housing, sanitation, education, provision of safe drinking water, unemployment, etc. particularly in underdeveloped countries. This unit on “Urban Development: An Overview” will provide you information and knowledge regarding urbanization, its trends, impact and idea about sustainable urban development. 

URBANIZATION:CONCEPTS AND MEANINGS 

Urbanization is popularly defined as the rise of population in urban areas. United Nations perceives urbanization as movement of people from rural to urban areas. Mishra (1998) defines urbanization in the following way “Urbanization is not a product. It is a process by which a people, instead of living in predominantly dispersed agricultural villages, start living in towns and cities dominated by industrial and service functionaries. It involves multiplication of urban places and/ or an increase in size of cities. Growth of urban population is only one of dimensions of urbanization.”

According to Davis, at this stage, the level of urbanization remains more or less same or constant. Urbanization is derived from the Latin “Urbs” a term used by the Romans to a city. The Census of India has broadly categorized urban areas in into following types: i) Statutory towns: all places with municipality, corporation, cantonment board, notified town area committees, etc. ii) Census towns: all villages with a minimum population of 5000 persons in the preceding census, at least 75 percent of male main working population engaged in non-agricultural activities and a population density of at least 400 persons per sq. km. iii) Urban Agglomerations (UAs): a continuous urban spread comprising one or more towns. iv) Urban Growths (OGs): areas around a core city or town, such well recognized places like railways colony, university campus, port areas, etc. lying outside the limit of town.

Number of Urban Agglomerations/Towns and Out Growths in India 

Types of Urban Units----- 2001 Census =====2011 Census 

1. Towns                               5161                          7935 

a) Statutory Towns               3799                           4041 

b) Census Towns                  1362                          3894 

2. Urban Agglomerations      384                            475 

3. Out Growth (OGs)            953                             981 

Source: Census - 2011

However, in India, the Municipal Law classification of urban areas is different to that of the Census one. The categories according to the Municipal Laws are as follows:

(i) The Municipal Corporation having population about 3 lakh; 

(ii) Municipal Council with 1 to 3 lakh population and 

(iii) Nagar Panchayats having 5000 – 10,000 population. 

The Municipal Council are further subdivided on the basis of their population which is as follows: 

Type                       Population 

A or Class-I            1 to 3 lakh

B or Class-II           50,000 to 1 lakh 

C or Class-III          25,000 to 50,000 

D or Class-IV          10,000 to 25,000 

Source: Census – 2011

Trends in Urbanization 

The 2005 data envisages that the world is projected to continue to urbanize and 60 percent of the global population is expected to live in cities by 2030. According to UN estimation, the Wold population is expected to increase by 72 percent by 2050, from 3.6 billion in 2011 to 6.3 billion in 2050.After knowing about urbanization, let us now discuss the trend of urbanization in developed and developing countries. Urbanization is taking place in almost all the countries of the world. It is generally faster in developed countries as compared to developing countries. The figure given in Table-1 clearly reveals that the percentage of urbanization in developed countries is 76, while that of developing countries is 40. According to Asian Development Bank, the national increase and net migration are the major contributory factors to urban growth. The share of world’s population living in urban areas has increased from 39 percent in 1980 to 48 percent in 2000.

Trends in Developed Countries.

 The important trends in urbanization in the developed countries are suburbanization, urban renewal, gentrification and megalopolitan development. 

a) Suburbanization: One of the most significant changes in urban form that has happened in advanced capitalist countries in the twentieth century is the growth of suburbs. It has taken place around the edges of major towns and cities. A suburb is an area of residence, a neighbourhood of houses rather than mixed land use type of neighbourhood found in the city proper. Suburbanization has primarily been caused by the migration of people into the countryside escaping from the drawbacks of urban life .Customarily, suburbanization implies a separation between home and workplace, perhaps the most important is relatively cheap transport, as transport connectivity extends the distance of suburbs from the central city. Since 1945, the rate of suburban growth in the USA has been tremendous. 

b) Urban Renewal: Urban renewal is a continuous process of remodelling urban areas by means of rehabilitation and conservation as well as redevelopment. In urban renewal, the emphasis is given on those parts of the city which have fallen below current standards of public acceptability. They are commonly found to be in the residential part of the inner city and also in the central parts of the inner city, face problems of inadequate housing, environmental deprivation, social malaise and the presence of nonconforming uses. The central business city part faces problems of traffic congestion and obsolescence of building and obsolesce of building and sites.

c) Gentrification: means change in the social character of neighbourhood as a result of professional higher income groups seeking residence in central city location. Gentrification is socially important in attracting some middle to high income residents back to central areas. Gentrification is so to say selective in nature not only in terms of population to attract but also of the conditions under which it occur. In the USA, most of the major cities are now experiencing varying levels of gentrification in their central area neighbourhoods. In Britain, the process has occurred in a few cities namely Bristol and London.

 d) Megapolitan Development: One of the most important facets of urbanization in the developed countries is the growth of cities not in terms of population but in terms of area. Here the cities expand physically and the same number of people is living in the cities but at low densities. The examples of megapolitan type of development are characteristics of Atlantic sea board of USA, and in Japan it has appeared naturally and in the Netherlands it has appeared by design and planning. The United States megapolis extends Urbanization: An Overview over 600 miles from Boston to Washington D.C., the Tokaido megapolis extends from Tokyo, Yakohoma to Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto and the Ransted megapolis comprises of three major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. This process has also started in developing countries. 

 Trends in the Developing Countries Some of the trends of urbanization in developing countries are as follows: 

i) Urbanization in the developed countries is higher as compared to the developing countries. As per UN statistics, the percentage of population residing in the urban areas of developed countries is 79.1%, while that of less developed countries is 46.8%.

 ii) The urbanization in the African region is found to be slightly higher than the Asian region. However in both the region, urbanization is comparatively lower than those of Europe and USA. 

iii) Urbanization takes place without much industrialization and strong economic base. Lack of industrialization led urbanization has resulted in growth of unorganized sector which is characterized by lower wage rate and poor service condition which affect the quality of life of urban population.

iv) Unplanned urbanization in developing countries has led to growth of urban slum areas characterized by low quality housing, poor sanitation, access to unsafe drinking water, etc.

v) It is not a flight of fancy, but delicately, the current pattern of urbanization in developing countries is alarming if viewed from a historical, spatial and cross country perspective.

 The unplanned urbanization greatly concerns most of the government in these countries. Some of the features of urbanization as mentioned by the WHO are as follows:

 i) More than half of the world’s population now live in cities. 

ii) By 2030, six out of every ten people will be city dwellers, which will rise to seven out of every ten people by 2050. 

iii) One in three urban dwellers lives in slums. 

iv) Urban air pollution kills around 1.2 million people each year around the world, mainly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases Tuberculosis incidence is much higher in big cities.

v) Urban environment tends to discourage physical activity and promote unhealthy food consumption

SOURCE- GYANKOSH