Urbanisation Class 8 ICSE Notes
•Urbanisation
Urbanisation is the process of urban growth that leads to a greater percentage of the population living in towns and cities. It is the movement of people from rural areas (countryside) to urban areas (towns and cities).
Though urbanisation has a long history, the modem city worldwide has developed only over the last 200 years. Three historical processes have shaped modern cities in decisive ways :
- The rise of industrial revolution
- The establishment of colonial mle over large parts of the world
- And the development of democratic ideals.
Towns and cities that first appeared along river valleys, such as Ur, Nippur and Mohenjodaro, were larger in scale than other human settlements. Ancient cities could develop only when an increase in food supplies made it possible to support a wide range of non-food producers. Cites were often the centres of political power, administrative network, trade and industry, religious institutions, and intellectual activity, and supported various social groups such as artisans, merchants and priests.
Industrialisation changed the form of urbanisation in the modern period.
The early industrial cities of Britain such as Leeds and Manchester attracted large numbers of migrants to the textile mills set up in the late eighteenth century. In 1851, more than three-quarters of the adults living in Manchester were migrants from rural areas.
- The agricultural revolution and the enclosure movement and industrialisation were the major factors which lead to growth of Manchester and London as the modern cities.
- Bombay and Calcutta are the two oldest and important mega cities of India. Both these cities
developed during colonial era. Large number of farm workers left their homes in search of jobs Most of them came from the present-day regions of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, central India and the dry districts of Tamil Nadu.
Causes of Urbanisation
People migrate from rural to urban areas due to push and pull factors.
Pull factors are those that attract people to major cities. This may include - More economic opportunities, better jobs, better quality of life, better services (education, health and entertainment), better housing, more freedom, women empowerment, better services (Like banking , communication , transportation etc.
Push factors are those that push people from the countryside to the major cities. This may include: lack of economic opportunities, division of land, lack of services ( Education, communication, transpiration, health etc.) low pay, rural poverty, drought and flooding.
IMPACTS OF URBANISATION
- Urbanization is a natural part of the transition from low-productivity agriculture to higher-productivity industry and services.
- Cities are important drivers of development and poverty reduction in both urban and rural areas, as they concentrate much of the national economic activity, government, commerce and transportation. More than 80% of global income is generated in cities.
- Urban living is often associated with higher levels of literacy and education, better health, greater access to social services, and enhanced opportunities for cultural and political participation.
- No country has ever reached middle income status without a significant population shift into cities.
Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas, with 54 per cent of the world's population residing in urban areas in 2014. In 1950, 30 per cent of the world's population was urban, and by 2030, more than 60 per cent of the world's population is projected to be urban. Today, the most urbanized regions include Northern America (82 per cent living in urban areas in 2014), Latin America and the Caribbean (80 per cent), and Europe (73 per cent). In contrast, Africa and Asia remain mostly rural, with 40 and 48 per cent of their respective populations living in urban areas. All regions are expected to urbanize further over the coming decades. Africa and Asia are urbanizing faster than the other regions and are projected to become 54 and 55 per cent urban, respectively, by 2030.
However, the speed and scale of urbanisation also brings variety of challenges; including its impact on the environment and quality of life . Because of the effects of traffic congestion, concentration of industry, and inadequate waste disposal systems, environmental contamination is generally higher in cities than in the countryside.
Cities also puts a huge pressure on land, water, and natural resources.
Even though urbanization may increase incomes, it is also linked to increases in urban poverty. Most of the Asian and African cities are facing the problem of slums. Slums have invariably extreme unhygienic conditions.
Consequently people suffer from waterborne diseases like blood dysentery, diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid, jaundice.
The UN estimates that the number of people living in slums passed 1 billion in 2014 and could reach 1.39 billion in 2020. Asia has by far the highest number of city dwellers living in slums-the problem is worst in South Asia, where half of the urban population is composed of slum dwellers. But in percentage terms, sub-Saharan Africa leads the pack: about 72 percent of city dwellers in that region live in slums.
Child mortality is higher and primary education enrolment lower in slums than in non slum urban districts, and slum dwellers are more vulnerable to environmental disasters and pollution.
These inequalities often lead to other, sometimes greater, social problems, such as crime and violent conflict.
The proportion of young people is particularly high in slum areas, where employment opportunities are limited. This combination of youth and poverty can make for high crime rates. Some demographers have forecast that the increasing concentration of humanity in big cities will lead to major conflicts affecting both urban areas and entire countries.
As cities grow in number and size the problem of pollution and trash disposal is assuming alarming proportions. Huge quantities of garbage and harmful gases produced by our cities pose a serious health problem. Most cites do not have proper arrangements for garbage disposal and the existing landfills are full to the brim. These landfills are hotbeds of disease and innumerable poisons leaking into their surroundings.
People who live near the rotting garbage and raw sewage fall easy victims to several diseases like dysentery, malaria, plague, jaundice, diarrhoea, typhoid, etc.
•Future of Urbanisation
We cannot think of development, when our cities remain squalor, quality of urban life declines and the urban environment is damaged beyond repair. So construction of environment friendly cities or satellite town or smart cities is the answer to the emerging multiple problems of the mega cities.
Satellite towns are smaller municipalities that are adjacent to a metropolitan area.
Some examples of Indian satellite cities are :
Delhi: Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad;
Mumbai: Navi Mumbai; Kalyani, Thane;
Kolkata: Kalyani, Rajpur-Sonarpur, Uluberia.
There are various advantages that Satellite cities offers. Besides providing its residents with superior quality of living in the form of road connectivity, electricity, water, drainage and other important amenities, it also enables to propel the local economy. It leads to appreciation in prices of land and residential property in and around the Satellite city. For residents in the main city who wish to escape from the stress, pollution and hassles of city life, it provides them with a viable alternative. Transport infrastructure developed in Satellite cities not only provides its residents easy accessibility but also enables to decongest traffic in the main city. Moreover, Satellite cities provides a scientific balance between the population and the resources needed by them leading to environment-friendly and sustainable development.
Smart City Project in India
With increasing urbanisation and the load on rural land, the Indian government has now realised the need for cities that can cope with the challenges of urban living and also be magnets for investment. The announcement of '100 smart cities' falls in line with this vision.
Kochi in Kerala, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Manesar in Delhi NCR, Khushkera in Rajasthan, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Ponneri in Tamil Nadu and Tumkur in Karnataka are some of the proposed Smart Cities of India Core infrastructure elements in a Smart City would include :
- adequate water supply,
- assured electricity supply,
- sanitation, including solid waste management,
- efficient urban mobility and public transport,
- affordable housing, especially for the poor,
- robust IT connectivity and digitalization,
- good governance, especially e-Govemance and citizen participation,
- sustainable environment,
- safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and
- health and education.
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