Urbanization: Some Key Terms and Definition

URBAN GROWTH

The (relative or absolute) increase in the number of people who live in towns and cities. The pace or urban population growth depends on the natural increase of the urban population and the population gained by urban areas through both net rural-urban migration and the reclassification of rural settlements into cities and towns.

 

URBANIZATION

–  The portion of a country that is urban

–  Changes in the proportion of the population of a nation living in urban places (demographics)

–  Process of people moving to cities or other densely settled areas

–  Changes in social organization resulting from population concentration

–  In other words, the process by which rural areas are transformed into urban areas

 

RATE OF URBANIZATION

–  The increase in the proportion of urban population over time, calculated as the rate of growth of the urban population minus that of the total population. Positive rates of urbanization result when the urban population grows at a faster rate than the total population.

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CITY PROPER

–  The population living within the administrative boundaries of a city

 

URBAN AGGLOMERATION

–  The population of a built-up or densely populated area containing the city proper, suburbs and continuously settled commuter areas or adjoining territory inhabited at urban levels or residential density

 

METROPOLITAN AREA/REGION

–  A formal local government area comprising the urban area as a whole and its primary commuter areas, typically formed around a city with a large concentration of people (i.e a population of at least 100,000)

–  In addition to the city proper, a metropolitan area includes both the surrounding territory with urban levels of residential density and some additional lower-density areas that are adjacent to and linked to the city (e.g., through frequent transport, road linkages or commuting facilities). Example of metropolitan areas include Greater London and Metro Manila.

 

URBAN SPRAWL

–  Also “horizontal spreading” or “dispersed urbanization”. The uncontrolled and disproportionate expansion of an urban area into the surrounding countryside, forming low-density, poorly planned patterns of development.

–  Common in both high-income and low-income countries, urban sprawl is characterized by a scattered population living in a separate residential areas, with long blocks and poor access, often over dependent on motorized transport and missing well defined hubs of commercial activity.

 

PERI-URBAN AREA

–  An area between consolidated urban and rural regions

 

MEGACITY

–  An urban agglomeration with a population of 10 million or more.

 

METACITY

–  A major conurbation- a megacity of more than 20 million people. As cities grow and merge, new urban configurations are formed. These include mega regions, urban corridors and city regions.

 

MEGAREGION

–  A rapidly growing urban cluster surrounded by low density hinterland, formed as a result of expansion, growth and geographical convergence of more than one metropolitan area and other agglomerations. Common in North America and Europe, mega-regions are now expanding in other parts of the world and are characterized by rapidly growing cities, great concentrations of people (including skilled workers), large markets and significant economic innovation and potential.

–  Examples include the Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou megaregion (120 million people) in China and the Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe mega-region (predicted to reach 60 million by 2015) in Japan.

 

URBAN CORRIDOR

–  A linear ‘ribbon’ system of urban organization: cities of various sizes linked through transportation and economic axes, often running between major cities. Urban corridors spark business and change the nature and function of individual towns and cities, promoting regional economic growth but also often reinforcing urban primacy and unbalanced regional development.

–  Examples include the industrial corridor developing between Mumbai and Delhi in India; the manufacturing and service industry corridor running from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to the port city of Klang; and the regional economic axis forming the greater Ibadan-Lagos-Accra urban corridor in West Africa

 

CITY-REGION

–  An urban development on a massive scale: a major city that expands beyond administrative boundaries to engulf small cities, towns and semi-urban and rural hinterlands, sometimes expanding sufficiently to merge with other cities, forming large conurbations that eventually become city-regions.

–  For example, the Cape Town city-region in South Africa extends up to 100 kilometers, including the distances that commuters travel every day. The extended Bangkok region in Thailand is expected to expand another 200 kilometers from its center by 2020, growing far beyond its current population of over 17 million.

 

References: UPOU PPT Lecture