Human Geography (GEOG 1101)
Chapter 11: Urbanization and the Global Urban
System
What do you think of when you think of a city?
● Density of the built environment
● People, jobs, industries, companies inside the tall building
● Lots of people moving on the sidewalks, using transit driving
● Traffic (auto-centric) mostly North American => lots of congestion
● Cultural sites (museum, theater, etc)
● Parks
● Experience deinvestment and reinvestment (levels of economic development, wealth,
social services)
● Highly uneven economic development
Urbanization
Urban areas
● Shanghai China: 24 million residents
● New York: 8 million residents
● Atlanta metro: 5.7 million residents
● Atlanta city: 500,000
● Athens, GA: 124,000 residents
=> Cities can vary in their forms, density, range from a few hundred thousands to million
people
=> There are sets of principles and processes that we can identify and associate with
urbanization.
Definition
● "The increasing concentration of population into growing metropolitan areas"
(Knox and Marston)
=> This is a process associated with the making and growth of urban areas
● Changes to physical environment (Ex: remove trees, clear lands to build buildings,
build roads)
● and social systems (the interactions between people are shifting and changing in
cities compared to rural areas, more shared resources, competition)
● Movement (mobility) of people (from rural settings to urban settings) and
materials (bring materials from other places, concrete woods, metals): move around
and between cities to help contribute to the patterns of unevenness of various things.
, ● Diverse causes and effects (how many people live where and configurations)
Ex: the period of suburbanization where people were moving out of central cities into
suburbs (less dense, more residential areas) + reurbanization where there is a
movement of people moving back to the cities
A brief history (and future) of urbanization
● Human has been on this planet incredibly recent and the growth of modern cities
today are rapid => shift from hunter gathering to settled agriculture
● The importance of technological advancements and industrial revolution => set the
foundation of urban form and function
● How urbanization takes place in the developed versus developing world. Challenges
facing by the developing world where urbanization is rapidly happening and the
developed world is already urbanized
● Although the rates of urbanization is different, the presence of very large cities
throughout the world => urbanization is one of the most important elements in the
spatial organization of the world
● The population in the cities is highly growing and this organizes where and how
people live and how goods and services are provided
● Specific trends of urbanization (share of people living in urban areas):
+ The highly urbanized (60% or more) : North America, Europe, North Africa, Australia
+ Slightly less urbanized areas: Asia
+ Very rural areas: Central Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia
=> Some places are not urbanized but are experiencing high rates of urbanization
=> Whether you are already urbanized (how many people already live in cities and how
urbanized are you) vs rates of urbanization are different (how rapidly people move to cities
that are urbanized)
● How rapidly cities in the developing world are growing
Chapter 11: Urbanization and the Global Urban
System
What do you think of when you think of a city?
● Density of the built environment
● People, jobs, industries, companies inside the tall building
● Lots of people moving on the sidewalks, using transit driving
● Traffic (auto-centric) mostly North American => lots of congestion
● Cultural sites (museum, theater, etc)
● Parks
● Experience deinvestment and reinvestment (levels of economic development, wealth,
social services)
● Highly uneven economic development
Urbanization
Urban areas
● Shanghai China: 24 million residents
● New York: 8 million residents
● Atlanta metro: 5.7 million residents
● Atlanta city: 500,000
● Athens, GA: 124,000 residents
=> Cities can vary in their forms, density, range from a few hundred thousands to million
people
=> There are sets of principles and processes that we can identify and associate with
urbanization.
Definition
● "The increasing concentration of population into growing metropolitan areas"
(Knox and Marston)
=> This is a process associated with the making and growth of urban areas
● Changes to physical environment (Ex: remove trees, clear lands to build buildings,
build roads)
● and social systems (the interactions between people are shifting and changing in
cities compared to rural areas, more shared resources, competition)
● Movement (mobility) of people (from rural settings to urban settings) and
materials (bring materials from other places, concrete woods, metals): move around
and between cities to help contribute to the patterns of unevenness of various things.
, ● Diverse causes and effects (how many people live where and configurations)
Ex: the period of suburbanization where people were moving out of central cities into
suburbs (less dense, more residential areas) + reurbanization where there is a
movement of people moving back to the cities
A brief history (and future) of urbanization
● Human has been on this planet incredibly recent and the growth of modern cities
today are rapid => shift from hunter gathering to settled agriculture
● The importance of technological advancements and industrial revolution => set the
foundation of urban form and function
● How urbanization takes place in the developed versus developing world. Challenges
facing by the developing world where urbanization is rapidly happening and the
developed world is already urbanized
● Although the rates of urbanization is different, the presence of very large cities
throughout the world => urbanization is one of the most important elements in the
spatial organization of the world
● The population in the cities is highly growing and this organizes where and how
people live and how goods and services are provided
● Specific trends of urbanization (share of people living in urban areas):
+ The highly urbanized (60% or more) : North America, Europe, North Africa, Australia
+ Slightly less urbanized areas: Asia
+ Very rural areas: Central Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia
=> Some places are not urbanized but are experiencing high rates of urbanization
=> Whether you are already urbanized (how many people already live in cities and how
urbanized are you) vs rates of urbanization are different (how rapidly people move to cities
that are urbanized)
● How rapidly cities in the developing world are growing
