Causes of Urbanisation (Edexcel GCSE Geography B)

Economic Change & Migration

• The main factors affecting the rate of urbanisation are:

  • Speed of economic development

    • Economic growth drives urbanisation

    • The faster the growth of secondary and tertiary employment sectors, the faster the growth of urbanisation

  • Rate of population growth

    • Economic growth needs a supply of labour

    • This demand can be met in two ways:

      • Natural increase in an urban population: A slow way of meeting demand

      • Rural-urban migration: This is the more important source of labour as it attracts a wider pool of people into the urban region

  • Counter urbanisation

    • Where people move from an urban area into the surrounding rural region

• Natural increase

  • Accounts for roughly 60% of urban population growth

  • Due to decreased death rates and higher birth rates

• Rates of urbanisation are lower in developed countries as a higher percentage of the population already live in towns and cities

• In 1900 there were just 2 'millionaire'' cities (London and Paris), by 2018 this had grown to 512

• As the growth of cities continues, the term mega city is used to describe cities with more than 10 million people:

  • In 1970 there were only 4

  • By 2000 there were 15

  • In 2018 that rose to 33 with Tokyo having close to 37.3 million people

• Due to modern transport and communication, urban areas are sprawling into rural regions to create conurbations, further adding to the growth of urban areas

Push-pull factors

• There are many reasons for people to migrate to and from urban areas and can be generally classified into push and pull factors

• The push factor is the reality of the current situation for the migrant; it is what makes the person consider moving from the place of origin

• The pull factor is the perceived outcome; it is what the migrant imagines the move will bring to the place of destination

• Push-pull factors are unique to each person depending on their end goal: What is a pull factor for one person may not be for another

• These factors can be further divided into:

  • Social

  • Economic

  • Political

  • Environmental

• High levels of unemployment are a push factor, whereas higher wages and a better lifestyle are a pull factor

• Therefore, rural-urban migration is usually a combination of factors that cause people to migrate

Urbanisation pathway

• The differences between developing and developed countries can be shown as a pathway over time 

• Countries become more urban as they develop economically

• As they move through the stages, the pace begins to slow and begins to flatten out or decline as counter urbanisation gains speed

Causes of urban change

• Natural increase

  • Accounts for roughly 60% of urban population growth

  • Due to decreased death rates and higher birth rates

• Urban pull factors - positive multiplier effect

  • Higher wages

  • Pace and excitement

  • Improved education and healthcare

  • Better job opportunities

  • Public utilities: water, gas, electricity, etc.

  • Government support

• Urban economic growth is focused around ports and urban cores, and are called growth poles

• This encourages:

  • People to move there for jobs

  • As new workers earn, they spend – creating demand for additional companies

  • They also need services such as housing which also creates jobs

• This creates an upward spiral called the Multiplier Effect, which over time becomes larger, creating a core region

• Areas which do less well are often left behind and generally known as the periphery regions

• Rural-urban migration

  • Accounts for 40% of urban growth

  • Due to rural push factors along with urban pull factors

  • Natural hazards

  • Poor basic services - health, water, education

• Rural push factors

  • Limited healthcare and education

  • Mechanisation of farming

  • Lack of opportunities

  • Lack of government support or investment 

  • Harsh and monotonous lifestyle 

  • Unreliable food supplies/famine

• Rural reclassification

  • Due to urban sprawl some rural regions are being reclassified as urban

  • Rural villages becoming dormitory settlements 

• Counter urbanisation

  • This is the movement of people from an urban area into the surrounding rural region due to:

    • Mobility and accessibility: higher personal car ownership, increase in public transport and road development making easier access to rural areas

    • Increased wealth: making housing and travel more affordable

    • Agricultural decline (mechanisation and merger of farms): more land becomes available for housing and agricultural workers leave the area

    • Green belt: people need to go further out to get the rural life they are looking for

    • Second homes and early retirement: have increased the movement of people from the city to the countryside

• Urban economic decline

  • If a city's economic growth slows, a city may begin to decline

  • If companies begin to close or reduce its employee numbers, people may move out of the city

  • This begins a downward spiral of where investment is moved elsewhere, and the city's economy continues to decline

  • Urban economic decline is more likely to occur in developed countries and Detroit, USA is a good example of this, having lost more than half its population when the motor industry began outsourcing manufacturing overseas 

Urban Economies

• Urban economies differ between cities in developed, developing and emerging economies

• The main difference is between informal and formal employment

Informal employment

• Informal employment is any employment which is unregulated and unofficial

• It is estimated that more than 60% of the world's employed population work in informal employment

• As much as 93% of informal employment is in developing and emerging countries

• Most informal employment is work in the tertiary sector

• Examples of jobs in the informal economy include:

  • shoe shining

  • rubbish collecting

  • selling fruit or other products on the street

  • Para-transit - including rickshaws and tuk tuks

• There are a number of causes of informal employment

Formal Employment

• Workers have a contract

• Jobs where workers pay taxes

• Employees have legal protection which includes adherence to health and safety regulations 

• Jobs are more secure 

• Working conditions are controlled

Developing City 

• Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh 

• It is a megacity with a population of 22.5 million people

• Approximately 400,000 people migrate to Dhaka each year

• Estimates suggest that over 75% of the population are engaged in informal employment:

  • 500,000 rickshaw drivers

  • 80,000 waste related workers

  • Workers in small workshops

  • Casual workers in restaurants and hotels

  • Day labourers in construction

• Informal employment also includes children with over 690,000 children in Dhaka involved in informal employment

Characteristics of Dhaka's informal sector

• Low pay

• Long working hours

• Temporary or part-time work

• Underemployment

• No benefits such as holiday pay or sick pay

• Poor and unhealthy working conditions

• Health and safety risks

• No training

• Exploitation by employers

• No legal protection

Developed city

• London is the capital of the UK

• It has a population of 9.5 million

• Business services is the largest form of employment in London making up 24% of all employment

• Informal employment is estimated to account for about 10% of all employment and is estimated to be approximately 12% of the UK's GDP

• People working in the informal sector include people who are:

  • Legal and illegal migrants

  • Self employed workers who don't pay tax because they haven't declared their income 

  • Working around childcare