Summary — What This Chapter Covers
- Urbanisation = the rising % of a country's population living in urban areas — it's a global trend, but happens fastest in LEDCs today.
- Cities grow through two engines: natural increase (births minus deaths, ~60%) and rural-urban migration (~40%), driven by push and pull factors.
- As cities mature, they move through predictable stages: agglomeration → suburbanisation → counter-urbanisation → regeneration → re-imaging.
- Megacities (10m+ people) and world cities (London, New York, Tokyo) sit at the top of the urban hierarchy and dominate the global economy.
- Rapid, unplanned growth in LEDCs creates serious problems: informal settlements (slums), traffic congestion, pollution, unemployment, and a self-reinforcing cycle of poverty.
- Governments respond with five strategies to informal settlements: bulldoze, relocate, redevelop, self-help/site-and-service schemes, or simply ignore them.
- Rio de Janeiro is the key case study showing all of this in action — migration, favelas, transport strain, crime, and real improvement schemes like the Favela Bairro Project.
1. Urban Growth
1.1 What is urbanisation, really?
It's easy to mix up two different ideas, so let's separate them clearly from the start:
Urbanisation
The increase in the percentage of a population living in urban areas (towns and cities). This is about the proportion — it can rise even if the total population stays the same, as long as more of it is concentrated in cities.
Urban growth
The increase in the actual number of people living in urban areas. A city can experience urban growth (more people) without much urbanisation (if the rural population is growing just as fast).
Think of it like this:
Imagine a country with 100 people: 50 in cities, 50 in villages. If 10 more people are born in the city and 10 more in the village, the city has grown — but urbanisation (the % in cities) hasn't changed, because both grew at the same rate.
Urban areas differ from rural ones in four key ways worth memorising:
| Feature | Urban |
|---|
| Way of life | Faster-paced |
| Size | Larger |
| Density | Compact and high (buildings + people packed together) |
| Economy | Finance, service, and manufacturing jobs (secondary/tertiary) |
Key global pattern:
MEDCs (developed countries) show the highest levels of urbanisation overall — most of their population already lives in cities. But the fastest rates of change right now are in LEDCs, especially in Africa and South-East Asia, which are urbanising quickly from a lower starting point.
1.2 Why urban growth outpaced total population growth
Between 1950 and 2015, the world's total population roughly doubled — but the urban population more than tripled. Why the gap? Follow the chain of cause and effect:
The Chain Reaction
Industry declines in MEDCs (moves overseas for cheaper labour) → Industry grows in emerging/LEDC countries → Jobs appear in cities → Rural people are "pulled" toward cities hoping for a better life → Urban populations swell faster than rural ones.
High rates of urbanisation specifically occur in LEDCs for three overlapping reasons: