Difference between revisions of "Urbanisation"
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[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization] | ==Description:== | ||
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Urbanization is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. Urbanization is also defined by the United Nations as movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008. | |||
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As more and more people leave villages and farms to live in cities, urban growth results. The rapid growth of cities like Chicago in the late 19th century and Mumbai a century later can be attributed largely to rural-urban migration. This kind of growth is especially commonplace in developing countries. | |||
Urbanization occurs naturally from individual and corporate efforts to reduce time and expense in commuting and transportation while improving opportunities for jobs, education, housing, and transportation. Living in cities permits individuals and families to take advantage of the opportunities of proximity, diversity, and marketplace competition. | |||
People move into cities to seek economic opportunities. A major contributing factor is known as "rural flight". In rural areas, often on small family farms, it is difficult to improve one's standard of living beyond basic sustenance. Farm living is dependent on unpredictable environmental conditions, and in times of drought, flood or pestilence, survival becomes extremely problematic. In modern times, industrialization of agriculture has negatively affected the economy of small and middle-sized farms and strongly reduced the size of the rural labour market. | |||
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==Enablers:== | |||
Manufacturing, Traffic, natural catastrophes, population, economic growth | |||
==Inhibitors:== | |||
sustainable thinking | |||
==Paradigms:== | |||
Experts are arguing if urbanization really drives global warming. On the one side the people moving to cities often times live in areas (like slums) with bad or almost no infrastructure. Therefore they are not only easier affected by natural catastrophes (like storms, floods etc.) but also much less efficient in using resources. | |||
On the other side people like Steward Brand argue that the falling birth rate from families moving to cities avoids overpopulation.<br> | |||
==Experts== | |||
Steward Brand | |||
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==Timing:== | |||
==Web Resources:== | |||
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-[http://www.gapminder.org/videos/gapcasts/gapcast-2-urbanization/ Hans Rosling on urbanization] | |||
-[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization Wikipedia on Urbanization] | |||
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==Revision History:== | |||
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Bastian Wollenschein 31st August 2010 | |||