Urbanization at Higher Level: The same ideas as SL, with China and Shenzhen as the case: the largest move from countryside to city in history. At HL, read urbanization through economics: why cities grow, and who gains and who pays.
Practise this as you read
- Describe urbanization as a share, with data.
- Weigh the costs and benefits of rapid urban growth.
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People move, land changes: Urbanization changes both where people live and what the land is used for.
The points to remember
- Urbanization is the shift of population from rural to urban areas.
- So the proportion (share) of people living in towns and cities rises.
- Land use changes: more built-up, more industrialized.
- Settlement becomes dense and continuous, with more infrastructure.
- Urban growth is different: a rise in the number of people in urban areas.
Urbanization
- A rising SHARE in urban areas
- Rural to urban shift
- Land becomes built-up
Urban growth
- A rising NUMBER in urban areas
- Can happen with no shift
- Can stop while share rises
Real example: in 1980 China made Shenzhen, a border town of about 300,000 people, a Special Economic Zone. Farmland and fishing villages became factories, flats and motorways; by 2020 the city had 17.6 million people.
Remember it as: Share up, land built up.
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Urbanization is one of the biggest changes of the last century, and it is still happening fastest in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia.
The global trend
- About 14% of people lived in urban areas in 1900, and about 30% in 1950.
- In 2007 the world's urban population overtook its rural population.
- By 2025 about 58% lived in urban areas; UN projections expect about two-thirds by 2050.
- Fastest growth now: sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
- Megacities (over 10 million people): 8 in 1975, 33 in 2025; the largest are Jakarta, Dhaka and Tokyo.
Real example: China's urban share was about 19% in 1980 and about 66% in 2025, the largest shift of people from countryside to city in history. Japan's jump in the 2000s came from merging towns into cities, not from people moving.
Proportion, not number: Describe urbanization as a rising share (%), with years and values from the graph: 'from 28.8% in 1950 to 57.8% in 2025'.
Why do urban populations grow faster than the country as a whole? Cities gain people in ways the whole country does not.
Why urban populations grow
- Rural-urban migration: people move from the countryside into towns and cities.
- Immigration from other countries, mostly into cities.
- Natural increase: young migrants have children; better healthcare lowers death rates.
- Reclassification: growing villages are counted as towns, or city boundaries expand.
- Economic development: industry and services gather jobs in cities.
Moving in
- Rural-urban migration
- Immigration from abroad
Births and deaths
- Young migrants, more births
- Healthcare, fewer deaths
Counting and jobs
- Reclassified places
- Industry draws workers
How fast will it double?: Doubling time = 70 ÷ growth rate (%). A city growing at 3.5% a year doubles in 70 ÷ 3.5 = 20 years. Divide by 3.5, not by 0.035.
Real example: Shenzhen's factories drew tens of millions of young migrant workers from China's villages; as the city spread, whole villages around it were redrawn as city districts.
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When people arrive faster than homes, pipes and jobs can be provided, rapid urbanization causes problems.
Challenges of rapid urbanization
- Housing: not enough homes, so informal settlements (slums) and overcrowding.
- Infrastructure strain: water, sanitation, power and transport overloaded.
- Jobs: many work in the informal economy, with low and insecure pay.
- Pollution: air, water, noise and solid waste.
- Health: diseases spread in crowded areas with poor sanitation.
- Social issues: crime, inequality.
Remember it as: Homes, pipes, jobs, fumes, germs, gaps.
Real example: Shenzhen's migrants often rented rooms in urban villages: old villages swallowed by the city and rebuilt as crowded, 'handshake' buildings so close together that neighbours could reach across. Rents were low, but light, space and sanitation were poor.
Link the problem to the growth: Say why the problem comes from urbanization: 'people arrived faster than housing was built, so informal settlements grew'. A list of city problems on its own explains nothing.
Cities are not only problems. Well-managed cities can be more sustainable than the same number of people spread across the countryside.
Opportunities of urbanization
- Efficiency: many people share pipes, roads and power lines.
- Services: schools, hospitals and utilities are easier to provide to dense populations.
- Innovation: cities are centres of education, new ideas and economic growth.
- Lower emissions per person in dense cities than in sprawl.
- Social mobility and cultural exchange: more chances to learn and earn.
Challenges
- Slums, overcrowding
- Overloaded services
- Pollution, disease
Opportunities
- Shared infrastructure
- Services, education
- Jobs, ideas, lower emissions per person
Cities in numbers: Cities cover only about 3% of Earth's land, but hold most of its people, use about three-quarters of its resources and produce about 70% of its CO₂ emissions. How cities grow decides how sustainable the world is.
Real example: Shenzhen is home to firms such as Huawei, Tencent and BYD, and by 2018 it ran all its public buses and almost all its taxis on electricity: urban wealth paid for cleaner transport.
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How this comes up: Paper 1, from a demographic fact file: outline two reasons why the urban population grows faster than the whole population [2] (specimen paper).
Figure 1 is a fact file on the demography of Uganda.
Outline two possible reasons why the urban population growth rate is higher than Uganda's total population growth rate.
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