Urbanization Case

Urbanization

The movement of people from rural areas to cities is known as urbanization.

People usually leave rural areas for more plentiful and better paying jobs in towns and cities. In developed countries, urbanization slowed in the second half of the 20th century. In 1960, 70 percent of the U.S. population was classified as urban. By 1980, this percentage had increased only slightly to 75 percent. As urban populations have grown, many small towns have grown together and formed larger urban areas. The U.S. Census Bureau calls these complexes metropolitan areas. Some examples are Denver-Greeley-Boulder in Colorado and Boston-Worcester-Lawrence in Massachusetts.

Urban areas that have grown slowly are often relatively pleasant places to live. Roads and public transportation in these areas have been built to handle the growth, so that traffic flows freely. Buildings, roads, and parking lots are mixed in with green spaces and recreational areas. These green spaces may provide these urban areas with much needed ecosystem services such as moderation of temperature, infiltration of rainwater runoff, and aesthetic value.

When urban areas grow rapidly, they often run into trouble. A rapidly growing population can overwhelm the infrastructure and lead to traffic jams, substandard housing, and polluted air and water. Infrastructure is all of the things that a society builds for public use. Infrastructure includes roads, sewers, railroads, bridges, canals, fire and police stations, schools, libraries, hospitals, water mains, and power lines. When more people live in a city than its infrastructure can support, the living conditions deteriorate. This growth problem has become so widespread throughout the world that the term urban crisis was coined to describe the problem.

Rapid expansion of a city into the countryside around the city is called urban sprawl. Much of this growth results in the building of suburbs, or housing and associated commercial buildings on the boundary of a larger town. People living in the suburbs generally commute to work in the city by car. Many of these suburbs are built on land that was previously used for food production.

Land-use planners have sophisticated methods and tools available to them today. The most important technological tools for land-use planning involve using the geographic information system.