The Urban World

Urbanization, Megacities,
Agglomerations etc.
 Cities
• The human species has been on the earth
several millions of years. However humans have
lived in places without cities.
• Many if not most of us have spent the best part
of our life within an urbanized and city-like
environment
• Interestingly enough though, it seems that cities
in the span of history are, relatively speaking, a
creation of the last 7,000 to 10,000 years.
 What is a City? There is not an agreed
upon definition of what a city is

• Ancient Romans distinguished between

the community of people who banded
together to form a settlement referred to
as civitas (from which the word city and
civilization are derived from); and
• the physical place they formed called urb
(from which the world urban is
derived).
 The Ever-Changing World:
Urbanization
• Over the years the known world has seen many changes
that include social, economic, demographic, political,
structural, technological and environmental among the
most often cited ones.

• The biggest change that has occurred in the world in the

relative near past is that described by the massive
movement of people away from the countryside to the
cities and urbanized environments: Urbanization
• Urbanization can also be defined as the growth in the
proportion of a population living in urban areas.
 Urbanization in the USA

• Year Population Urban %

• 1800 5 million 300,000 6%
• 1900 76 million 30 million 30%
• 2000 260 million 195 million 75%
• 2010 313 million 250.4 mil. 80%
• 2019 329 million 276.4mil 84%
 Rural-Urban Migration
• Year Ag Work AG Pop T. Pop
• 1945 10 million 25 mill. 140 mill.
• 1970 4 million 10 mill. 203 mill.
• 1990 2.5 million 4.6 mill. 249 mill.
• Change 20.4 mill. 109 mill.
• Enormous # off the farm???
• What are the consequences of the move?
 Urbanism
• The term refers to the social patterns and
behaviors associated with living in cities. It
is often seen as one of the consequences
of urbanization and as the social, and
behavioral response to living in urban
places.
A chronology of Urbanization: For the
most part the human population has lived a rural lifestyle,
dependent on agriculture and hunting for survival

• In 1800, only 3 percent of the world's population

lived in urban areas.
• By 1900, almost 14 percent were urbanites,
although only 12 cities had 1 million or more
inhabitants.
 A chronology of Urbanization: The
Urban revolution
• In 1950, 30 percent of the world's population resided in
urban centers. The number of cities with over 1 million
people had grown to 83.

• In recent decades the world has experienced

unprecedented urban growth. In 2000, about 47 percent
of the world's population lived in urban areas, about 2.8
billion.
• Urban revolution: The rapid growth of
cities during the 19th and 20th century is
sometimes referred to as the urban
revolution.
Percentage of Urban Population at mid-year
2001 by Major area and Region of the World

Major area, %Urban

region
World 47.7
More 75.5
Developed
Regions
Less Developed 40.9
Regions
Least 26.2
Developed
Countries
The urban population in 2015 accounted for 54% of the total global
population, up from 30% in 1950 - it is expected to increase to 60% of
world population by 2030
Growth of Urban Agglomerations, 1950–2015
Share of the world's urban population, by
region 1950, 2010 and (projected) 2050
• There are 411 cities over 1 million.
• More developed nations are about 76
percent urban, while 40 percent of
residents of less developed countries live
in urban areas.
• However, urbanization is occurring rapidly
in many less developed countries. It is
expected that 60 percent of the world
population will be urban by 2030, and that
most urban growth will occur in less
developed countries
Images of Urbanization
 Population Growth
• The year 2007 marked a turning point in human history: the
world’s urban population was for the first time equal to the
world’s rural population. Asia and Africa will accomplish the urban
transition in 2030.
• However, six countries in Asia and Africa alone contribute almost
half of the 75 million people born into the world every year:
– Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.
• In parts of Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, rates of urban
growth now exceed 3 per cent per year, while cities in the more
developed regions of the world are growing at a snail’s pace of
0.5 per cent per year, on average; others are in fact losing
population.
• Asia has the largest urban population (more than 1.5 billion people)
even though slightly less than 40 per cent of its population is
urbanized.
Calcutta, India
Mumbi, India
China Slums
Latin America Slums
Jakarta, Indonesia
 Slums & Poverty Level
• Bangkok slums host 10% • 30% of Thailand’s
of the total population of population is below
the growing capital
the lowest poverty
• 69% of the pop. are
line according United
known as rural dwellers
Nation standards.
Manila Smog Issues
Africa Slums
Nairobi, Kenya
American Slums
Brooklyn
Brooklyn and Queens
Brooklyn and Queens
 What is an urban area?
• An urban area may be defined by the
number of residents, the population
density, the percent of people not
dependent upon agriculture, or the
provision of such public utilities and
services as electricity and education.
 Is there a uniform definition of an
Urban Area
• The United States defines urban as a city,
town, or village with a minimum population
of 2,500 people.
• Other places set a minimum of 20,000.
• In general one can say that there are no
universal standards, and generally each
country develops its own set of criteria for
distinguishing urban areas
https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization
The Forces Behind Urbanization during
the 19th Century in the US
• National Population Growth
• Increased Immigration
• The Industrial Revolution
– Agricultural Machinery
– farm workers replaced by machines
– 1800: 85 - 90% workers were in farming
– 1880: 50% workers were in farming
– Shift from cottage industries to factory production
– employment in factories producing mass goods
Note: Due to technological considerations most
factories were in cities.
The Forces Behind Urbanization during
the 19th Century
• Decentralizing Technologies (mass production
techniques and technologies, the car, the track,
telephone communications, the radio, and the
motion picture
• Higher incomes which allowed people to afford
cars and houses which were built outside the
“city”
• Invention of limited access highways
The Forces Behind Urbanization during
the 19th Century

• Advances in transportation technologies

which influenced the creation of a system
of cities along the major transportation
routes (railroad lines and water ways)
 US. Urbanization during the
19th and the 20th Centuries
• The 19th Century is characterized as one
during which we have concentration in
cities;
• The 20th Century is characterized as one
period during which although urbanization
is still continuing it is not happening
anymore in the city but rather in the
metropolitan area.
 Characteristics of U.S. Urbanization during
the 19th Century
• Rural to Urban Migration;
• Mass migration from Europe to urban
areas
• Concentration to the cities;
• Importance of cities and central cities;
• High population densities, congestion, and
poor quality of life for the average person;
• Concentration of manufacturing and
industry in general in the city.
 Why were cities so
concentrated?
• Transportation
– Costs favored port cities
– Walking dominant form for people, so
people lived concentrated--work and
residence
 Technology
• Steam power for factories favored multi-story
buildings
• Steel frame building construction
• Inefficient urban transportation systems
– short commutes
– short distances for shopping
• Limited Funds
– people couldn’t afford big places or places at a
distance from the city
 Characteristics of U.S.
Urbanization: 20th Century
• Sub-urbanization
• Central city Shrinkage, decline, and
demographic changes.
• The jobs went where the people were
going: Decentralization of employment
• Changes in the economic profile of cities:
from manufacturing to services and high-
tech, and culture
 Characteristics of U.S.
Urbanization: 20th Century
• Electric Streetcar
– Effective radius of the city doubled
• One-hour travel increases from 3 to 6 miles
• Reformers view congestion as evil
– Sprawl looks good
• Rise in income allows for more money
to be spent on housing and on travel
• Rise in productivity reduces work week
so there is more time for travel
 Central City Shrinkage
• City 1950 1990 %
• Buffalo
(261,025) 580,000 328,000 43%
• St. Louis (318,69) 857,000 397,000 54%
• Cleveland (393,806) 915,000 506,000 45%
• Chicago 3,631,000
(2,707,120) 2,784,000 23%
• Boston(625,087) 801,000 574,000 28%
• New York 7,891,000 7,323,000 7%
 Urbanization and City Growth
Differentiating between the Two
• Urbanization is the proportion of the
population living in the cities
• Growth refers to a general population
increase. It is possible for a city to grow
without urbanization taking place. This
occurs when the population in the city is
increasing at the same rate as the
population in the rural area.
 Definitions
• Megacities: A city with a population of 10 million
or more residents.
• Metropolitan area: A large concentration of
population, usually an area with 100,000 or
more people. The area typically includes an
important city with 50,000 or more inhabitants
and the administrative areas bordering the city
that are socially and economically integrated
with it.
 World Cities
• These are cities that have particular influence on
global economic, cultural and political systems. They
may be megacities (New York, Tokyo) but aren’t
necessarily (London, Moscow, Paris, Berlin). They are
seen to function as global hubs.
• Key global financial networks are influenced by their
concentration of major banks and commercial HQs,
stock markets and politico-economic influence and
include New York, London and Tokyo. Decisions taken
there have global significance.
• World cities may display the full range of key
influences, or be distinctive for their dominance in
certain ones rather than others (Paris: culture, fashion,
art and media).
 Definitions
• Urban agglomeration: Urban
agglomerations are areas of 1 million
population or more. The concept of
agglomeration defines the population
contained within the contours of
contiguous territory inhabited at urban
levels of residential density without regard
to administrative boundaries.
 Megacities
• 2025
• 2000 • Tokyo 26.4 mil
• Tokyo 26.4 mil • Bombay 26.1
• Mexico 18.4 • Lagos 23.2
• Bombay 18 • Dhaka 21.3
• Sao Paulo 17.8 ( Bangladesh)
• New York 16.6 • Sao Paulo 20.4
• Lagos 13.4 • Karachi 19.2
• Los Angeles 13.1 • Mexico 19.2
• Calcutta 12.9 • New York 17.2
• Shanghai, 12.9 • Jakarta 17.3
• Buenos Aires, 12.6 • Calcutta 17.3
 What are the implications of rapid population
growth in less developed countries?

• Environmental
• Resource Related
– Natural
– Housing
– Economic
• Social
• Health Related
 Question
• On Urbanization
– What are some of the changes and or
behaviors that are associated with living in an
urban vs rural area?