Urbanization

Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the
corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies
adapt to this change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become
larger as more people begin living and working in central areas.

Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and historic transformation of
human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly rural culture is being rapidly replaced by
predominantly urban culture.

Short history
Before 18th century, Indus valley civilization, Mesopotamia and Egypt area was existed between the
vast majority of the population who were engaged in subsistence agriculture in a rural context, and
small centres of populations in the towns where economic activity consisted primarily of trade
at markets and manufactures on a small scale.

an equilibrium existed between the vast majority of the population who were engaged in subsistence
agriculture in a rural context, and small centres of populations in the towns where economic activity
consisted primarily of trade at markets and manufactures on a small scale.

an equilibrium existed between the vast majority of the population who were engaged in subsistence
agriculture in a rural context, and small centres of populations in the towns where economic activity
consisted primarily of trade at markets and manufactures on a small scale.
Urbanization of the human population accelerated rapidly beginning in the middle of the eighteenth
century. With the onset of the British agricultural and industrial revolution in the late 18th century, this
relationship was finally broken and an unprecedented growth in urban population took place over the
course of the 19th century, both through continued migration from the countryside and due to the
tremendous demographic expansion that occurred at that time.

Urbanization rapidly spread across the Western world and, since the 1950s, it has begun to take hold in
the developing world as well. At the turn of the 20th century, just 15% of the world population lived in
cities.

According to the UN, the year 2007 witnessed the turning point when more than 50% of the world
population were living in cities, for the first time in human history.

Urbanization in perspective of transport geography

Urban transportation is organized in three broad categories of collective, individual and freight
transportation. In several instances, they are complementary to one another, but sometimes they may
be competing for the usage of available land and/or transport infrastructures

• Collective transportation (public transit): The purpose of collective transportation is to provide

publicly accessible mobility over specific parts of a city. Its efficiency is based upon transporting
large numbers of people and achieving economies of scale. It includes modes such as tramways,
buses, trains, subways and ferryboats.

• Individual transportation: Includes any mode where mobility is the outcome of a personal
choice and means such as the automobile, walking, cycling and the motorcycle. The majority of
people walk to satisfy their basic mobility, but this number varies according to the city
considered.
 • Freight transportation. As cities are dominant centers of production and consumption, urban
activities are accompanied by large movements of freight. These movements are mostly
characterized by delivery trucks moving between industries, distribution centers, warehouses
and retail activities as well as from major terminals such as ports, railyards, distribution centers
and airports.

Urbanization and transportation are interdisciplinary, so transport has enormous role to mobilize fright ,
public transport one area to another. Urban transportation aims at supporting transport demands
generated by the diversity of urban activities in a diversity of urban contexts.

Some tools that help Urbanization and transportation 1) Land use models 2) Spatial interactions models
3) Transportation network models .

Urban land use models

Von Thunen ’s regional land use model is probably one of the oldest relationships found between
transportation, urban areas and regional land use. It was initially developed in the early nineteenth
century (1826) for the analysis of agricultural land use patterns in Germany. It used the concept of
economic rent to explain a spatial organization where different agricultural activities are competing for
the usage of land.

The Burgessconcentric model was among the fi rst attempts to investigate spatial patterns at the urban
level (1925). Although the purpose of the model was to analyze social classes, it recognized that
transportation and mobility were important factors behind its spatial organization. The formal land
userepresentation of this model is derived from commuting distance from the CBD, creating concentric
circles Each circle represents a specifi c socio-economic urban landscape.

Sector and nuclei land use models were developed to take into account numerous factors overlooked
by the concentric models, namely the infl uence of transport axes (1939) and multiple nuclei (1945) on
land use and growth. Both representations consider the emerging impacts of motorization on the urban
spatial structure.

Hybrid models tried to include the concentric, sector and nuclei behavior of different processes in
explaining urban land use . They are an attempt to integrate the strengths of each approach since none
of these appear to provide a completely satisfactory explanation.
 Von Thunen ’s regional land use representation The Burgessconcentric representation

Sector and nuclei land use representation Hybrid land use representation

Transit is predominantly an urban transportation mode, particularly in large urban agglomerations. The
urban environment is particularly suitable for transit because it provides conditions fundamental to its
efficiency, namely high density and high short distance mobility demands.

• Metro system

• Bus system

• Transit Rail system

• Sutter System

• Paratransit system

• Taxi System
 Issue of Urbanization
Urbanization has occurred in the past also, but currently, it is happening on a global scale as
resources and facilities tend to concentrate more in cities and towns.

So, Urbanization has two types of issue 1. Positive and 2. Negative issue.

Positive Issue:
urbanization also has a specific positive impact on the development of the nation. Let us take a look
at some of these effects-

1. Improved standards of living

Urbanizations lead to the creation of employment, better job opportunities, availability of

technological facilities, improvement in infrastructural facilities, etc.

The quality of education also improves, and people are provided with better medical facilities and
healthcare requirements. There are better communication and transportation facilities in urban
areas. Naturally, the living standards of the population improve.

They become financially stable enough to avail all these facilities with better quality. It leads to an
increase in the Human Development Index or the HDI of the urban settlement.

2. Improved market potential

City life generates the market potential of the population. Their shopping potential increases
manifold. It leads to the development of malls and shopping complexes.
These malls cater to various needs, including entertainment, food, recreation, cultural activities, and
many more. But most of these shopping complexes are owned by national
and international companies. These significantly interfere in the growth of small independent
businesses.

3. Availability of better services

Due to advancements in the field of technology in urban areas, they can provide a variety of services
to the people. These services are not available in rural areas.

Proper medical care, education, transportation, etc. are more developed in urban areas. Even
recreational facilities are more advanced in urban settlements.

Negative issue:
1. Housing Problems

An increase in the number of people within any area results in the problem of accommodation. The
population has also significantly increased in the last few years.

Because of this population pressure, urban areas face a scarcity of housing facilities.

It occurs because the expansion of housing and public utilities has been insufficient. Building
material is also expensive, which cannot be afforded by everybody.

2. Overcrowding

Since there is a lack of housing facilities, many people are forced to share small living spaces.

Congestion has significantly increased with the influx of rural population into urban areas. It
increases pressure on land and resources, creating a scarcity of basic amenities.

3. Unemployment

Although the primary reason for urbanization was ample job opportunities, the situation has
dramatically reversed now.

Since several people flock to cities in search of jobs, employing every one of them becomes difficult.
Moreover, jobs have become highly specialized- not everyone can meet all the job requirements of
a profile.

4. Water Scarcity

Where the population has increased, resources have remained minimal.

One major crisis that big cities face today is water scarcity. Dry summer seasons are even worse
where water is available for only some hours during the day.

5. Sanitation Problems
There are too many people inhabiting a small region in urban cities. This results in inadequate
sewage facilities.

Municipalities and local governments have found it particularly hard to take care of all the waste
generated in a city. Most of this is dumped into water bodies, which results in pollution and health
hazards.

6. A rise in the crime rate

Due to the increase in migration towards urban areas, cities experience various problems due to lack
of resources, poverty, unemployment, overcrowding, and many more.

These economic problems give rise to many social issues. These issues include vandalism, increase in
crime rate, drug abuse, etc. An economic backdrop in the city leads to many social crimes like
kidnapping, rape, murder, theft, robbery, hijacking, etc.

Such an open crime rate disturbs the peace and stability of cities and towns. The increase in the
price of urbanization will only cause a significant boost in the crime rate.

Solutions for the Issues of Urbanization:

• The government needs to take more initiative in managing urban lifestyle. There should be
better urban planning, financing, and institutional reforms

• Governmental transfers and land utilization should be considered in line with a large number of
workers migrating into cities.

• There should be laws for sustainable and environmentally friendly. Smarter growth techniques
need to develop for conserving natural ecosystems.

• Tourism promotion, as well as sustainable use of natural resources, should be made the
founding base for creating more job opportunities.

• Stakeholders in urban regions can provide counseling and campaigns for active health clinics as
well as family planning. It is needed to keep the population growth in check.

• Social management, along with public governance, needs to be improved. More job
opportunities need to be created for people who remain unemployed.

Industrialization
During the period of major industrial change known as the ‘Industrial Revolution’, the methods of
transport also changed greatly. Historians and economists agree that any industrializing society
needs to have an effective transport network, to enable the movement of heavy products and
materials around in order to open up access to raw materials, reduce the price of these materials
and the resulting goods, break down local monopolies caused by poor transport networks and allow
for an integrated economy where regions of the country could specialize. While historians
sometimes disagree over whether the developments in transport experienced by first Britain, then
the world, were a pre-condition allowing for industrialization, or a result of the process, the network
definitely changed.

Industrialization and Transportation

Britain Pre-Revolution

In 1750, the most commonly used start date for the revolution, Britain relied on transport via a
wide-ranging but poor and expensive road network, a network of rivers which could move heavier
items but which was restricted by the routes nature had given, and the sea, taking goods from port
to port. Each system of transport was operating at full capacity and chaffing greatly against the
limits. Over the next two centuries industrializing Britain would experience advances in their road
network, and develop two new systems: first the canals, essentially man-made rivers, and then the
railways.

Development in Roads

The British road network was generally poor prior to industrialization, and as pressure from
changing industry grew, so the road network began to innovate in the form of Turnpike Trusts.
These charged tolls to travel on especially improved roads, and helped meet demand at the start of
the revolution. However, many deficiencies remained and new modes of transport were invented as
a result.

Invention of Canals

Rivers had been used for transport for centuries, but they had problems. In the early modern period
attempts were made to improve rivers, such as cutting past long meanders, and out of this grew
the canal network, essentially man-made waterways which could move heavy goods more easily
and cheaply. A boom began in the Midlands and Northwest, opening up new markets for a growing
industry, but they remained slow.

The Railway Industry

Railways developed in the first half of the nineteenth century and, after a slow start, boomed in two
periods of railway mania. The industrial revolution was able to grow even more, but many of the key
changes had already begun without rail. Suddenly the lower classes in society could travel much
further, more easily, and the regional differences in Britain began to break down.
 List of the positive issues of Industrialization

1. Industrialization brought us the current import-export market.

Businesses use the concepts formed from industrialization to have a more abundant supply available
for particular goods and services. When domestic demands were not enough to help optimize
production levels, multinational firms began forming. Countries could expand their import and
export markets for the goods getting made.

The world started to see that the balance of trade was shifting to the producer, increasing the
wealth of businesses, and adding tax revenues to society.

Bangladesh export and import market over the world

2. It allows us to become more productive.

Industrialization brought us a series of new and useful items, hand tools, and additional ways to be
productive. This benefit promptly led to the development of new channels and shipping methods
that could carry more products and people from one place to another. That led to the creation of
roads that could support higher traffic levels.

Communication processes improved because of industrialization, eventually leading us to the

telephone and fiberoptic cables. Even machines like the loom allowed manufacturers to create more
items in a shorter time. When electricity became available, then humanity’s standard of living
increased even further because of these efforts.

3. Industrialization makes goods and services more affordable.

Labor is the most expensive part of the manufacturing process for most industries. When people
were creating items by hand, including books and clothing, then they needed to be compensated for
their efforts. With machines helping humans to create products with greater speed, then the cost of
labor per unit went down.
This advantage applies to services because industrialization provided equipment that made jobs
easier to complete. Imagine the difference between manually cleaning a rug versus using a vacuum
cleaner. It is an advantage that eventually led to higher levels of income for everyone in the
economy.

4. It improves the quality of life for each person and household.

Before the world experienced industrialization, comfort and convenience were typically reserved for
the wealthy, nobles, military leaders, and high-ranking politicians. The introduction of mass
production changed how everyone could access goods or services. It was a change that led to mass
production of numerous items, lower costs and improved availability to the average family. This
event would lead to the first time in history when the “poor” or “middle class” could save money
while still meeting their needs.

You could own property without needing to be a farmer or a royal. You didn’t need to grow your
own food through homesteading efforts. Some companies were even building towns to give homes
to families in exchange for their labor.

5. Industrialization improved our medical care.

The technological advances that led to our modern approach to medicine came about because of
industrialization. Diagnostic equipment that we often take for granted today, such as MRI and CAT
scans, wouldn’t be possible without this evolution. Factories made it easier to produce everything
from scalpels to new laboratory equipment, making it possible for more people to become doctors,
nurses, and caregivers.

Instead of having regionally based care, the improvements to communication networks allowed
researchers to share their findings in real-time with their colleagues. This process led to the
development of new best practices, eventually leading to improved patient outcomes.

6. It allows a worker to focus on specialization.

Farmers who focused on monoculture and people with individual skills were the only specialists in
the pre-industrialization economy. Once societies began to focus on manufacturing, this developed
allowed families to begin training for jobs that could pay them better. Instead of going through a
long apprenticeship or being born into the “right” family, anyone could change their stars by putting
in enough hard work.

7. Industrialization created more jobs for the global economy.

New manufacturing equipment required additional employment opportunities in each community.
Factories that had higher quotas to meet needed new workers on the floor working to produce
goods. Each new invention or best practice that came about because of industrialization led to more
jobs for the global economy. It created structures where the average person could earn a decent
living while having more time with their family, even if the conditions were sometimes unsafe or
unsanitary.

When the workers with higher wages could invest their savings into new ventures, each economy
benefitted because new cash pools help to fund new ventures. It shifted money away from the
aristocracy to the average household.

8. It shifted our perspective of wants vs. needs.

When people made products before industrialization, the labor required to create something meant
that each item required a specific purpose. We made things because of their usefulness, which
limited our innovation. Factories could make clothing faster while helping it to last longer. It allowed
people to step outside of the family business to try something new. This advantage would eventually
lead to a stronger free-market economy where those with the most innovation could get rewarded
for their creativity.

9. Anyone could make a name for themselves because of industrialization.

The story that often gets told when discussing industrialization is the life of Charles Goodyear. He
sacrificed almost everything in his pursuit of vulcanization. He went into a lot of debt, lost almost
everything in 1837, and then accidentally combined sulfur and rubber on his stove to change the
world. Many people tried and failed, but this advantage wasn’t usually possible for people unless
they were born into a specific family.

List of the Disadvantages of Industrialization

1. The working conditions declined during industrialization.

Industrialization brought people more money and better access to goods and services, but it also
increased the amount of risk that people faced. Employees were expected to put in long shifts, often
working 12-hour days with only Sunday off to spend time with their families. If you were sick or got
injured, then you’d probably get fired.

The work was also quite dangerous. There weren’t any regulations in place to protect employees, so
many people worked with equipment that didn’t have safety features. During the 19th century, it
was not unusual to see people working with a finger, a limb, or worse.

2. Child labor was an essential component of industrialization.

We often take for granted the child labor laws that exist today. Those regulations came about
because of society’s experience with this issue during the first days of industrialization. Many
factories hired kids to work in unsafe conditions, preferring them because they’d work for lower
wages than adults.

Children were expected to work the same 12-hour days that adults put in while on the job, reducing
their opportunities for schooling. It was not unusual for families to lose multiple children in these
early factories.

3. Living conditions around the new factories were not always better.
Factory towns like Hershey had a reputation for providing workers with quality housing and access
to needed resources. This outcome didn’t always happen. When the cities became crowded with
people moving away from their farms on a chance to earn a better income, then it led to living
conditions that weren’t better than the working conditions in the factories. Large slums began
forming in many of the communities where entire families were sometimes living in studio
apartments.

When that many people lived close together in unsanitary conditions, it was not unusual for
diseases to start spreading rapidly. Since there was little medical care available during the early
years of industrialization, it was not unusual for most families to lose multiple members in their
quest to make a better life.

4. Industrialization created more income inequality for the top 0.1%.

We often look at names like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates and their combined wealth of
about $400 billion and wonder how a few people can hold so much. During the initial days of
industrialization, people like John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie held that much money by
themselves. The three richest people in the world at the turn of the 20th century held a combined
wealth of over $1 trillion when accounting for inflation.

Rockefeller by himself was responsible for almost 2% of the U.S. GDP each year. No one at any other
time in history outside of a monarchy controlled that much of the economy.
5. It created the foundation for global warming and climate change:
The carbon levels before the 19th century were under 300 parts per million. After industrialization,
CO2 rates rose to 400 parts per million. Oceans have a more acidic pH level. We have plastics
pollution everywhere, with microplastics entering the human food chain because animals consume
these small items.

This disadvantage has led to changes in our soil composition, water quality, and the air that we
breathe. It’s reducing biodiversity while our economies grow. Unless action gets taken to curb this
issue, we will one day reach a tipping point where a recovery might not be possible.

6. Industrialization altered the political landscape of the planet.

We still experience the fallout from industrialization in our global politics. Fewer than 40 countries
have gone through a modern economic revolution to fully incorporate these technologies, giving
those that have a massive advantage over the “developing” world. There are more opportunities for
success in these countries, requiring people who want an advanced education to leave their homes
to receive it.

This inequality of development leads to resource issues because factories require raw materials to
operate. That means the countries without industrialization hold themselves back because they sell
the items needed to evolve their economies for short-term gains instead of long-term results.

7. Agricultural production methods are different because of industrialization.

There are fewer farmers operating today than ever before in our planet’s history because of the
ways that industrialization changed our approach to growing food. The agricultural industry relies on
automation, longer shelf life, and other interventions that allow for large-scale farming instead of
homesteading. The quality and safety of the foods we eat from these processes are questionable at
times, especially when GMOs, herbicides, and pesticides enter into the discussion.

8. It causes us to use more fossil fuels.

Whaling became an industry because we needed to harvest the oil from these animals to power our
lamps and produce consumer goods. People even made margarine from whale oil in the early days
of industrialization. Now we use fossil fuels to produce the goods and services we need through our
factories. Although that means we’re not significantly reducing animal populations to meet our
fueling needs, it doesn’t shift us away from a finite resource. What will happen to today’s
industrialization efforts if we run out of oil or natural gas?

9. Industrialization changed our concept of work.

Industrialization created the surge in automation that we experience today. With artificial
intelligence and machine learning taking over many of today’s repetitive processes, this shift in our
economy changed the way we think about productivity. We don’t walk to work because we can
drive there. Instead of mixing foods by hand, we use small appliances. Instead of a majority of jobs
being out in the fields, people are now sitting in front of computers in cubicles.