Assignment on

Narrate the pattern of urban growth in Bangladesh with the reference to the issues,
trends and problem of city life.
Course Title: Urban Sociology
Course Code: SOC354

Submitted to
Dr. Mohammad Morad
Professor
Department of Sociology
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet

Submitted By
Anika Tabassum Tias
Reg no: 2016232052
3rd Year 1st Semester
Department of Sociology
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet
Narrate the pattern of urban growth in Bangladesh with the reference to the issues,
trends and problem of city life

Introduction :

This assignment narrate the urban growth in Bangladesh focusing on issues, trends
and problem of city life. For this we have to know about urbanization .

Urbanization is the process through which cities grow and higher and higher
percentages of the population comes to live in the city life. The origin of city
and urban life is the period when humankind was transformed from hunters
and gatherers to city dwellers in the past. Cities and urban civilizations
founded in many different areas of the world in many different time.
Urbanization, or the building of and living in compact, densely populated
places, appeared as early as 10,000 years ago.

The process of urbanization in Bangladesh was relatively low compared to other

Asian countries. The trends and patterns of urbanization in Bangladesh were
influenced by different political administrative eras in different periods of its history.
During British period, a ‘new kind of urbanization’ was generated and different
urban centers were established in Bangladesh for administrative and trade purpose
but they are more parasitic in real. Communication system was also developed for
the accumulation of raw materials and administrative purposes. In British period
Dhaka lost its importance as urban center because of Calcutta. So, trades and
commerce become dependent on Calcutta. So in this period urban growth in
Bangladesh remained bit slower.
Though Bangladesh has experienced a remarkable progress of urbanization and
urban growth in terms of increasing proportion of urban population and urban
centers since the country’s independence in 1971.
The definition of urban area used in 1981 was continued up to 2001, the definition
was changed in 2011. In earlier, the urban area included city corporations
,municipalities, upazilla headquarters, growth centers, cantonment and urban
agglomerations adjacent to the city corporations termed as Statistical Metropolitan
Area (SMA). However, in 2011, the concept of SMA, growth center and some
other urban areas was abandoned and the areas covered only city corporations,
paurashavas, upazila headquarters and cantonment area.

Components of Urban Growth in Bangladesh :

▪ A persistently high natural increase of native urban population.
▪ The territorial extension of existing urban areas with conversion of rural
centers to redefinition of urban areas.
▪ Rural to urban migration.

Urban population growth in Bangladesh :

Growth of urban population rate is higher in Bangladesh than the rate of natural increase
of population.

Before 20th century the urban growth in Bangladesh cannot be termed as truly
urbanization because of the nature of urbanization. The growth of the urban
population in Bangladesh since 1901 is depicted through the following periods. In
1901 only 2.43% of the country’s population lived in urban centers. During the next
two decades the urban population remained almost static. Between 1911 and 1921
there was only an 8.8% increase in the urban population. Plagues caused large scale
depopulation in many urban centers during this period. Since 1921 there has been
slow but steady growth - except when thousands left the cities out of fear during
World War II. But a famine which ensued soon pushed millions from rural areas
back into urban areas. In Bangladesh the first significant phase of urbanization
started in 1947. During the 1951-61 decade there was a 45.11% increase in the
urban population, more than twice the previous decade’s 18.4%. The factors causing
this were many, some political, others socio-economic. Large scale migration of
Muslims from India in 1947 and afterwards was a major factor. The emigration of a
large Hindu population from Bangladesh to India was mostly from rural areas, while
the immigrants from India, mostly concentrated in the urban areas of Bangladesh,
thus outnumbering the emigrants from the urban areas. Moreover, there was
substantial development of new centers of trade, commerce, industry and
administration in Bangladesh after it attained a new political status in 1947. Despite
the growth in the urban population, the nature and characteristics of urbanization has
remained similar to the pattern during the British period. During the Pakistan period,
the West Pakistani rulers treated East Pakistan (Bangladesh) as their colony. There
was no significant industrialization in this part during the first half of Pakistani rule.
During the 1960’s there was some industrial development which was not significant.
The most phenomenal urban population growth in Bangladesh occurred during the
1961-74 inter-census period. Over 6 million people were living in urban areas
constituting roughly 8.0% of the total population. Thus the percentage increase of
the urban population during the 13 years was striking. That accelerated growth is to
a great extent the result of the very recent influx from rural villages. The growth rate
of the urban population was 5.4% during the 1981-1991.The total urban population
increased to 28.6 million by 2001.
Table -1: Urban population growth in Bangladesh(1901-
2001)

census National population Urban population

Number Growth Number Share (% of Decadal Growth

(million) rate (million) total increase of rate
( population) urban (
% population % of
annual) annual)
1901 28.2 0.70 2.43 - - -
1911 31.65 0.94 0.80 2.54 14.96 1.39
1921 33.25 0.60 0.87 2.61 8.85 0.84
1931 35.60 0.74 1.07 3.01 22.20 2.00
1941 41.99 1.66 1.54 3.67 43.20 3.71
 1951 44.17 0.51 1.83 4.14 18.38 1.74
1961 55.22 2.26 2.64 4.78 45.11 3.74
1974 76.37 2.53 6.00 7.86 137.57 6.52
1981 89.91 2.56 13.56 15.08 110.68 10.97
1991 111.45 2.17 22.45 20.15 69.75 5.43
2001 129.25 1.54 28.60 23.10 37.05 3.15

Figure: Growth rate(annual) in urban population in Bangladesh(1901-2001)

urban growth
12
rate
10

1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1974 1981 1991
2001

urban growth

has been observed that the urban population density (per sq. kilometer) has also been
increased in line with the growth of the urban population. The figure shows that
urban population density has been almost doubled in 2011 compared to 1991.

Figure: Urban Population Density (per Sq. Kilometer)

 8000

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
BANGLADESH BARISAL CHITTAGONG DHAKA KHULNA RAJSHAHI RANGPUR SYLHET

2011 2001 1991

Growth of urban centers in Bangladesh :

There was a general decline of urban population in Bangladesh after the British took
over in the mid 18th century and there were no urban centers left with populations
of over 100,000 until 1891. In 1901 there were only 2 and that did not change up to
1951. There were no other urban centers in the range of 25,000 - 49,999 (population)
up to 1911, but by 1921 there were. Then there were 5 in 1921. Most urban centers
fell in the range of 10,000-24,999 population. They were 14 in 1872 and this
increased to 23 in 1911, then decreased to 20 and remained so up to 1951.21 Urban
centers within the range of 5,000-9,999 population size increased from 5 in 1872 to
19 in 1941. The total number of urban centers increased from 22 in 1872 to 59 in
1941, an increase of 168% during a span of nearly 70 years. Thus urban growth was
rather slow throughout the period of 1872-1947. After the partition of India in 1947
Dhaka City became the provincial capital of East Pakistan and the growth of the
urban population began to increase substantially. In 1951, Dhaka City had a
population of 411,279 which increased to 718,766 in 1961. Then there was a rapid
growth of urban centers followed by an explosive growth of big cities after the
liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. After the liberation of Bangladesh,there was an
explosive growth of big cities.
Cities with a population of 100,000 increased from 4 in 1961 to 6 in 1974, 13 in
1981 to 23 in 1991. This shows an increase of about 383% during 1961-91. And the
total number of urban centers increased from 78 in 1961 to 492 in 1991, an increase
of over 647% during a span of 30 years. The growth of urban centers by size/class
indicates that there is a strong association between city size and city growth rates,
that is the large and medium sized cities are increasing more rapidly simply because
of the graduation of cities occurring in that class.
In short ,we can say that the urban population of Bangladesh grew at a much faster
rate from 1961-1974 (8.8%) and reached its peak during the period 1974-1981
(10.97%). And about 30% of the total increase during 1974-1981 can be explained
by the extended definition of urban areas in 1981 .
The 1991 Census shows data in relation to only 110 municipalities. It does not give
a complete picture of the total number of urban centers of different size categories.
The population census report gives the figure of the urban municipal population as
1,22,55,307 and the population of 4 Statistical Metropolitan Areas (SMAs) as
10,40,60,79, which constitutes 84.91% of the total municipal population. Out of the
existing 110 municipalities, 28 are in the Rajshahi division where there is an urban
population of 16.09%; 33 in Khulna where there is an urban population of 14.98%,
27 in Dhaka Division with an urban population of 45.83% and 22 in Chittagong
Division, having 22.95%of the urban population.36 Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and
Rajshahi municipalities constitute 50.26% of the total municipal population. There
are 20 municipalities with a population of 50,000-99,999, which constitute 10.70%
of the population. The number of municipalities with a population of 25,000 to
49,999 is 41, with an urban population of 12.29%. There are 17 municipalities with
population of 10,000-24,999 constituting 3.77% of the municipal population. And
the number of municipalities with populations less than 5,000 is one, which
constitutes 0.07% of the municipal population.
Some urban centers have recorded a very rapid population growth (above 50%). In
the 1951-61 period 12 urban centers recorded a growth of more than 50% in their
population with Khulna, Chuadanga and Dhaka showing a very high (above 200%)
increase. Khulna recorded high growth due to industrialization, Dhaka due to its
importance as the provincial capital, and Chuadanga due to the influx of refugees
from India. In the 1961-74 period, 36 urban centers recorded a growth of more than
50% in population size with Dhaka showing a 936% increase; due to its importance
as the new capital city and due to the expansion of commercial activities. During this
period 8 urban centers recorded the highest growth of 180.2%. The 1991 census
recorded 11 urban centers with a (50-112)% increase from 1981 to 91. During that
period 4 urban centers recorded growth of more than 100%. Sherpur, Dhaka, Moulvi
Bazar, Cox’s Bazar, Rangamati and Jessore have shown more than a 50% increase
in three consecutive inter-censual periods while Feni and Naogaon experienced over
50% increase throughout the period.
 Urban 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1974 1981 1991 2001
centers
Dhaka 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Chittagong 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Sirajgonj 3 3 5 4 6 - 10 - - - -
Bramanbari 5 8 9 9 9 - - - - - -
a
Comilla 6 6 4 5 5 5 8 9 6 9 -
Barisal 7 7 3 3 3 3 5 7 7 7 7
Pabna 8 - - - - - - - - - -
Jamalpur 9 9 10 10 - - - - - - -
Madaripur 11 - 6 8 - - - - - - -
Nawabganj - 5 - - - - - - - - -
Mymensing - 10 7 6 4 6 9 5 5 6 8

Chandpur - - - - 8 - - - - - -
Rangpur - - - - 10 - - - 9 5 6
Saidpur - - - - - 4 6 8 - - -

Khulna - - - - - 7 4 3 3 3 3
Dinajpur - - - - - 10 - - - 10 10
Narayangan - - - - - - 3 4 - - -
j
Jessore - - - - - - - 10 10 8 9
Sylhet - - - - - - - - 8 - 5
Rajshahi 4 4 8 7 7 8 7 6 4 4 4

Table-2: ranking of major urban centers in Bangladesh (1901-2001)

Rural to urban migration:
In developing countries, rural-urban migration is considered as the main driving
force of rapid growth. But this may vary from country to country. In Bangladesh
rural-urban migration is a very common thing. Nowadays, rural people are migrating
to cities for variety of reasons that include both economic and non- economic factors.
Millions of rural people are migrating to divisional cities for grabbing the income-
generating opportunities. Industrialization in city areas and continuous expansion of
informal sector growth are the gravity of migration. In rural area population pressure,
shortage of land, and lack of employment opportunities, natural diseases are the main
reasons for migration to the urban area. It is the most dominant component of urban
population growth.

The causes of migration to a city are generally described in a simple push- pull
model. Urban pull factors are the employment opportunities due to free market
economy and globalization. Rural push factors are the population pressure, surplus
labour force, rural poverty & environmental and natural diseases It has been
reported that rural areas characterized by land scarcity, imprecise distribution of
land and a high proportion of agricultural labour tend to show a high rate of rural
depopulation. Factors which contribute to internal migration in Bangladesh are
ecological in nature, such as river erosion, and natural hazards like cyclones,
droughts and floods. Yet social conventions and politics play a role too: Living in
the cities is viewed as prestigious. Marriage, pressure from relatives, and disputes
with friends or family lets people leave the rural areas, as does political unrest.
Marginalized rural people are attracted to Dhaka. As a result, Dhaka has become
one of the fastest growing cities in the world. 40.8% migration happened to
Dhaka. The population of the city was a only 0.41 million and 0.71 million in
1951 and 1961 respectively. By 1974, it had risen to 2.06 million, with an average
annual growth rate of 11.15 percent (BBS 2008). In 1981, the population increased
to 3.44 million and reached around 6.48 million and 9.67 million by 1991 and
2001 respectively (BBS 2001, 2003). Currently, the megacity's population is more
than 14 million, with an average annual growth rate of 4.08 percent. If the current
rate of population growth continues, Dhaka will exceed Beijing in size by 2025,
with a projected population of 22.9 million
The Distribution of migrants according to major destinations :
The destination of the migrants has broadly been categorized into five places: Dhaka
city, Chittagong city, other divisional cities, District headquarters and Upazilla
headquarters. Figure shows the distribution of migrants according to the major
destinations. The results indicate that about two-fifths of the migrants were found to
migrate to the capital city Dhaka, about three-in-ten migrants were found to migrate
to the district headquarters. Beside these two kinds of place, almost similar
percentages of migrants migrated to Chittagong, other divisional headquarters and
upazilla headquarters.

Figure : The Distribution of migrants according to major destinations

Sale
s

Dhak District Upazilla Chittagong

a headquaters headquaters city
For more specification, we can see the pattern and trends of urban growth in Dhaka
city. Because the urban growth of Bangladesh is interlinked with the intense
development of Dhaka City which has developed as a politico-administrative center,
having gained and then lost its position through the political development of the
country. Due to the concentration of both domestic and foreign investment Dhaka
City has experienced massive migration from the rural population of Bangladesh in
recent decades.
Dhaka City is centrally located in Bangladesh, in the southern part of the district of
Dhaka. According to the adjusted population of the 2001 Census the size of Dhaka’s
population is 10,712,206 of which 5978482 are male and 4733724 are female. This
makes Dhaka a megacity. The population growth of Dhaka stands at 56.5% in the
last decade, which is very high. This means that during the last decade the city’s
population has grown by 3,868,077. The sex ratio of the population is calculated as
123.4 based on the current population census. Moreover, the sex ratio of Dhaka City
has decreased over the years due mainly to the reunion of females to their male
partners living in the city and the increase in the number of single females in the
urban work force.5 The number of the Dhaka City’s young population is relatively
high due to age selective rural-urban migration.6 About 40% of the total city’s
population is in the unproductive age groups of 0-14 and 60 and over, which
indicates a high dependency burden on the working age population.7 The high
dependency ratio among the city’s population causes poverty, especially among the
low income groups in the city.
The Glory and peculiarity of Dhaka City has developed over a long span of time. The
city was under the suzerainty of different kings and rulers and its growth was
hindered and distributed from time to time. Sometimes the growth gained
momentum during the reign of some rulers at other times it did not.
Dhaka City has faced its highest rate of physical and population growth during 1981-
1991, with the population doubling during that decade and the city expanding from
510 sq. km to 1353 sq. km. The city now includes the surrounding areas of Gazirpur,
Savar, Narayangong, Bandar thanas and the entire thana of Keraniganj. In 1995, a
new master plan was prepared for the further development of Dhaka City and the
recent construction of a bridge over the Buriganga river has encouraged the
expansion of Dhaka City in a southerly direction to the other side of the river.
However, the expansion of Dhaka City is constrained by physical barriers such as
the low-lying flood prone areas around the city. Also, valuable agricultural and
forested land will have to be sacrificed if the built-up area is to increase. But as
mentioned, the population of the city is increasing very rapidly due mainly to rural-
urban migration. The population of the city reached to 10.7 million in 2001 and the
population growth of Dhaka has been 56.5% in the last decade, which is very high.
Understandably, these additional people have created tremendous pressure on the
urban utility services and other amenities of urban life. This has resulted in an
adverse effect on the urban environment where a large number of people have settled
in slums and squatter settlements where they live below the poverty line.

Table-3: Population and area size of Dhaka City (1700-2001)

Year Population Area (sq.km)

1608 30,000 2
1700 900,000 10
1800 200,000 4.5
1867 51,636 10
1872 69,212 20
1881 80,358 20
1891 83358 20
1901 104,385 20
1931 161922 20
1941 239728 25
1951 411279 85
1961 718766 125
1974 2068353 336
1981 3440147 510
1991 6887459 1353
2001 10712206 1530
 Issues and problems of city life

A city is a large human settlement. By definition, cities consist of very large numbers
of people living in a relatively small amount of space. Cities generally have
extensive systems for housing, transportations, sanitations, utilities, land use, and
communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, Government
organizations and business sometimes benefiting different parties in the process,
such as improving efficiency of goods and service distribution. But the city life has
some negative consequences too. This section discuss the issues and problems of
city life.
The city has various opportunity but because of rapid urban growth the issues and
problems of city life increases. They are :

1. Population problems
2. Health issues
3. Unplanned settlement
4. Fiscal problems
5. Traffic Congestion and transportation problems
6. Water pollution
7. Air pollutions
8. Public Education
9. Crime
10. Mental health issues
11.Urban poverty
12.Homelessness
13.Inequality
1. Population problems:

The city life suffers a lots of problem but the population problem is the root
of all those problems. Because of migration and natural process the
population in city is increasing rapidly. Migration is the main fact for that.
People in rural areas migrated in urban city for seek a better livelihood. So as
a result large numbers of people living in a small amount of space and suffer
a lots of problems including security , sanitations
,food, overcrowding, traffic congestion, pollution, housing shortages (slum
and squatter housing), high rents, poor urban living conditions, low
infrastructure services, poverty, unemployment, and poor sanitation which
has become pervasive and indeed high crime rate. All of these have an effect
on the high population density in city life.

2. Health issues :

In cities half of humanity still suffer from inadequate housing and transport,
poor sanitation and waste management, and others . Other forms of pollution,
such as noise, water and soil contamination, urban heat islands, and a dearth
of space for walking, cycling and active living also combine to make cities
epicenters of the noncommunicable diseases epidemic and drivers of climate
change. Consequently, today’s cities and those of tomorrow are facing a triple
health burden such as infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
pneumonia, dengue, and diarrhoea ; noncommunicable diseases like heart
disease, stroke, asthma and other respiratory illnesses, cancers, diabetes and
depression; and violence and injuries, including road traffic injuries. And
many people doesn’t have that medical opportunity. The number of people
hospitalized for lung or heart- related diseases was extraordinarily high.Over
the past several years the incidence of a number of diseases has increased
greatly. Asthma is perhaps the most important disease with an increasing
incidence, but other diseases, such as allergic reactions, bronchitis and
respiratory infections also have been increasing. The cause of these increases
may be due at least in part to the effects of air pollution (Kleinman
2000Therefore, research is now under way to assess the long-term effects of
chronic exposure to low levels of air pollution and its effects on health.
3. Unplanned settlement :

A third problem involves unplanned settlement . Here there are several related
issues. Much urban settlement is substandard, this opening news story
illustrated, and characterized by such problems as broken windows,
malfunctioning heating systems, peeling lead paint, and insect infestation.
Other research supports this conclusion. As a review of the research evidence
summarized this situation, “Whether voluntary or involuntary, living in
racially segregated neighborhoods has serious implications for the present and
future mobility opportunities of those who are excluded from desirable areas.
Where we live affects our proximity to good job opportunities, educational
quality, and safety from crime (both as victim and as perpetrator), as well as
the quality of our social networks”.

4. Fiscal problems :

One evident problem is fiscal: Cities typically have serious difficulties in

paying for basic services such as policing, public education, trash removal,
street maintenance, and snow removal (at least in cold climates), and in
providing certain services for their residents who are poor or disabled or who
have other conditions. The fiscal difficulties that cities routinely face became
even more serious with the onset of the nation’s deep recession in late 2007, as
the term fiscal crisis was used again and again to describe the harsh financial
realities that cities continued to face even after the recession officially ended
in mid-2009.
5. Traffic Congestion and transportation problems:

The population of cities is increasing, placing more demands on public

transport. Cities are dynamic and over time the use of different areas changes.
So the need of public transport changes over time. When transports exceed the
capacity of the road that occurs traffic congestion. Nowadays , traffic
congestion is very common problem in city life.
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower
speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. As demand
approaches the capacity of a road (or of the intersections along the road),
extreme traffic congestion sets in. Sometimes vehicles are fully stopped for
periods of time. Traffic congestion can lead to drivers becoming frustrated
and engaging in road rage. It makes life in cities uncomfortable for peoples.
There are many reason for causing traffic congestion and transportation
problems in city life. But the main reason is increasing number of population
growth in city areas. They need to travel to get to work or school and to visit
stores, museums, and any number of other leisure-time settings. This made
the necessary demand for transportation infrastructure while the capacity of
road remain same. Another reason is that car ownership is rising in cities.
Traffic accidents are a major cause of death, especially among the younger
age groups in cities.

6. Water Pollution :

Higher, faster peak flows change streams channels that have evolved over
centuries under natural conditions. Undisturbed soil and natural vegetation are
replaced with brick, cement, concrete, and other materials. In rains, water is
less likely to be absorbed into the ground; water flows directly into the river
channels. Also, flooding can be a major problem as cities grow and stream
channels attempt to keep up with these changes. The water quality degraded
with time due to urbanization that ultimately leads to increase the pollution.
 Rapid development can occur high levels of erosion and sedimentation in river
flows. The fertilizers that spread across lawns finds its way into water channels
where it promotes the growth of plants at the expense of fish. The waste
dumped into streams lowers oxygen levels during its decay and cause the die-
off of plants and animals. There is also complete eradication of habitats as an
outcome of urbanization, and native species are pushed out of cities. Moreover,
new habitats are also created for some species such as pigeons, sparrows, rats,
mice, flies, and mosquitoes. It causes the climate change.

7. Air Pollution :

Air pollution is one of the serious problem in city life. Air pollution may be
defined as an atmospheric condition in which various substances are present at
concentrations high enough above their normal ambient levels to produce a
measurable effect on people, animals, vegetation or materials. ‘Substances’
refers to any natural or manmade chemical elements or compounds capable
of being airborne. The city is full of industrial areas that often produces
environment pollution. Lead-based paint used on highways, roads and on
buildings that is one of the causes of Environment Pollution. For example, a
widely dispersed pollutant that found its way into the soil. Some solid
Materials such as concrete, bricks, asphalt, etc. absorb and reflect energy
differently than vegetation and soil because cities are built of solid materials
which create heat. So Cities remain always warm in the night while
countryside has cooled. Human activities produce every day a wide range of
Green House Gas (GHG) emissions into the environment including carbon
dioxide (CO2), Mithen (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), sulfur
oxides SO, Mithen (CH4), and many other pollutants. For this reason, the air
is always polluted in cities. Emissions from motor traffic are a very important
source group throughout the world. During transmission, air pollutants are
dispersed, diluted and subjected to photochemical reactions. The dust and
GHG emissions freed into the environment alter patterns of precipitation over
the cities. Cities often catch more rain than the surrounding villages. Air
pollution is a major environmental problem that causes serious health issues.
8. Public Education :

Yet another issue for cities is the state of their public education. As it
emphasized, many city schools are housed in old buildings that, like much
city housing, are falling apart. City schools are notoriously underfunded and
lack current textbooks, adequate science equipment, and other instructional
materials.

9. Crime :

Crime rates are much higher in cities than in either small towns or rural areas.
For example, the violent crime rate (number of crimes per 100,000 residents) in
2010 was almost four times higher in the nation’s largest cities than in its rural
counties, while the property crime rate was more than twice as high.
Figure: Crime Rates in Large Cities and Rural Counties, 2010 (Number
of Crimes per 100,000 Residents)
Why city crime rates much higher? Because crime rates take the number of
people into account, the answer is not simply that cities have more people than
rural areas. Nor is the answer simply that cities have higher poverty than rural
areas, because rural areas in fact have higher poverty overall. Rather, an
important answer is that cities have higher residential crowding (or higher
population density) and also more household crowding. Several reasons
explain why higher residential crowding produces higher crime rates.
Consider violent crime. For a violent crime to occur, it takes two people to
tangle, so to speak. Criminals cannot kill, rob, or assault someone unless there
is a “someone” to assault. In a city, there are many potential targets of violence
all crowded together into a relatively small space, and thus many potential
targets for criminals. In a rural area, potential targets are spread across miles,
and a robber can go a long time without ever seeing a potential victim. Many
assaults are also committed not by hardened criminals but by people (usually
men) who get angry because of some perceived insult. In a city, there is a
much greater chance for interaction to occur where someone might feel
insulted, simply because there are so many people living within a small space
and bars and other venues for them to congregate. A thousand people living
on one city block are more likely to encounter each other than
 a thousand people living across thirty square miles in a rural area. Because
there is more opportunity in a city for insults and other problems to occur that
lead to violence, more violence occurs.

Cities also have more crowded households than rural areas, as we saw earlier, and
these also make a difference for at least two reasons. Crowded households are more
stressful, and people who experience stress are more likely to be aggressive. Further,
people (and perhaps especially young people) who live in crowded households often
find they need to “get outside” to be away from the stress of the household and to
have some “elbow room” and privacy. But once outside, they are that much more
likely to interact with other people. Because, as we just noted, social interaction is a
prerequisite for violence, household crowding indirectly contributes to violence for
this reason.

Residential crowding and household crowding thus combine to produce higher crime
rates in cities than in urban areas. City neighborhoods differ in their degree of both
types of crowding, and those that have higher crowding rates should have higher
crime rates, all else equal. In sociologist Rodney Stark’s term, these neighborhoods
are deviant places because their structural features, such as crowding, almost
automatically contribute to higher crime rates regardless of who is living in these
neighborhoods.

Another structural feature of cities helps to explain why they have a higher property
crime rate than rural areas. Burglars obviously cannot burglarize a home unless there
is a nearby home to burglarize. In cities, there are many homes to serve as potential
targets for burglars; in rural areas, these homes are far and few between. Similarly,
if someone wants to shoplift in a store or break into a store overnight, they can more
easily do so in an urban area, where there are many stores, than in a rural area, where
the landscape is filled with trees or fields rather than Walmarts or Best Buys.
Although Stark coined the term deviant places to refer to urban neighborhoods that
had certain features that contribute to high crime rates, his term can also refer to cities
themselves. For the reasons just discussed, cities are inevitably much more likely than
rural areas to be deviant places. The defining feature of a city large numbers of
people living in a small area guarantees that cities will have higher crime rates than
rural areas. Cities are deviant places precisely because they are cities.

10. Mental health issues :

crowding and of traffic congestion indicated that stress is one of the most
important consequences of these two urban problems. Stress in turn impairs the
mental health of urban residents. Much research finds that urban residents
have worse mental health than rural residents. In particular, they have much
higher levels of mood and anxiety disorders and of schizophrenia
.

11. Urban Poverty :

Because of urbanization city life faces various problems and urban poverty is
one of them. In cities there are various class types of people. And their socio-
economic conditions are different from others. The rich enjoy various
facilities in city life and the poor suffers. Squalid living conditions in dirty and
unhygienic ‘slums’ where residents are exposed to high under- and
unemployment and many are engaged in social disorders, such as crime,
violence, drug addiction, gambling and prostitution. The opportunities and
obstacles facing low-income urban households as they struggle to secure their
livelihoods are shaped by multiple social, economic and political processes
and institutions. Close linkages between the causes and consequences of urban
poverty in some cases making them inseparable highlight its multi-
dimensional nature and the implications of this with regards to the limitations
of narrow sectoral approaches to urban poverty reduction.
12. Homelessness :

An another problem is homelessness. In cities throughout the United States,

men, women, and children live in the streets, abandoned vehicles or houses,
cheap motels, or trailers, or living in someone else’s home temporarily. In
cities with cold climates, homelessness can be life-threatening during the
winter. But regardless of climate, the homeless are in a dire situation. Some
research finds that one-third of the homeless are victims of violence or theft
during the year; this rate of victimization is four times higher than that in the
general population. Homeless shelters provide some relief against crime,
hunger, and the many other problems arising from homelessness, but too few
shelters exist to meet the demand, and those that do exist are underfunded. As
should be clear, the problem of homelessness cannot be understood from the
problem of poverty. Wealthy families that lose their homes, as after a fire,
usually can expect to find suitable temporary lodging and have their
homeowners’ insurance pay for a new home. Poor families who can no longer
pay their rent or mortgage payments face eviction and homelessness from
which they find it difficult to recover. It is rather difficult to determine the
actual number of homeless persons. For example, if a family is living literally
in the streets, we would all agree they are homeless. But if they are living in
an abandoned building or in a cheap motel, should they be considered
homeless? Even with an adequate definition of homelessness, it is difficult to
actually count the number of homeless persons because it is very difficult to
find them all. For example, if researchers count all the homeless people who
use all the shelters in a city within a given time period, they still fail to count
the homeless people who do not come to a shelter.
 13. Inequality :

Urban inequality reflects the choices of more and less skilled people to live
together in particular areas. City-level skill inequality can explain about one-
third of the variation in city-level income inequality, while skill inequality is
itself explained by historical schooling patterns and immigration. Some
studies shows that, inequality trends are often related to issues of economic
globalization, international migration, and neoliberal government policies.
Many studies rely exclusively on income data even though it is widely
acknowledged that inequality is a multifaceted phenomenon with economic,
social, environmental, and political dimensions. Variations across class, race,
ethnicity, age, gender, or citizenship status are also often considered at the
national level.

Conclusion:
Report shows that In 2019, 37.41% of Bangladesh's total population lived
in urban areas and cities. Though Bangladesh is a developing country the growth
of urban population rate is higher than the rate of natural increase of population.
Because of lack of opportunities, adverse person-land ratio, landlessness and
poverty, severe natural disasters lack of social and cultural opportunities people
migrate from rural to urban areas so that cities in Bangladesh are faced with the
challenges of rapid population increase such as lack of economic dynamism,
governance failure, severe infrastructure and service deficiencies, urban poverty,
massive slums and crime etc. Urban areas in Bangladesh have exceptionally high
population density, but relatively low economic density. High population density,
combined with rapid urbanization, implies a large and fast-growing urban
population to manage.
References :

1. Flanagan, William G.(2010). Urban Sociology. Fifth edition. Rowman &

Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

2. Hossain, Shahadat .(2008). Rapid Urban Growth and Poverty in Dhaka

City. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228434258_Rapid_urban_gr
owth_and_poverty_in_Dhaka_City

3. Bangladesh - Urban Population Growth (annual %). Retrieved from

https://tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/urban-population-growth-
annual-percent-wb-data.html

4. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). (2015). Changing pattern of

urbanization in Bangladesh: An analysis of census data. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290740451_Changing_Patte
rns_of_Urbanization_in_Bangladesh_An_Analysis_of_Census_Data

5. 5.Abdul Rahman, Haliza (2016). Air Pollution in Urban Areas and

Health Effects. Retrieved from
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/132305048.pdf

6. Problems of urban life. Retrieved from

https://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/14-3-problems-of-
urban-
life/#:~:text=Major%20issues%20and%20problems%20confronting,relati
vely%20small%20amount%20of%20space.
7. Air pollution and health in urban areas.
Retrieved from
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10939084/

8. Urban inequalities in the 21st century economy. Retrieved from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124478/