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a) The
percentage of a nation's urban population is
frequently used as a measure of the country's
development, as an agricultural base remains
indicative of a country's poverty.
Document 1 , presenting the « urbanisation in
selected countries of the world », shows that the
principal MEDCs, namely North America, Britain,
France and Japan, have an urban population of
approximately 75%, confirming the link between
development and urbanisation/industrialisation.
Other than the industrialisation revolution which
attracted people to towns a century ago, the
important factor of wealth and developed
countries today is trade. Indeed, the situation
of MEDC populations in cities emphasises the
polarisation of the economy, and the importance
of communication axes and concentration around
technopoles and services which characterises
today's economy.
The figures of less developed countries originate
from a number of factors. Countries such as
Mexico and Brazil show an urbanisation equal to
that of MEDCs. This can be traced to the fact
that an increasing amount of LEDCs have
recognised industrialisation as a leading factor
of development and have followed that path.
Moreover, being placed in the United States'
sphere of influence, these countries have been
encouraged to trade and therefore begun to fit
the pattern of a commerce and communication based
spatial organisation.
Other LEDCs show a much smaller percentage of
urbanisation, such as India or Indonesia. These
nations are primarily still agricultural
societies who yet rely on it to pass eventually
to a more industrial base, through the export of
primary products.
The document therefore shows the diversity of
urbanisation throughout the world, a diversity
frequently reflecting a country's level of
development.
b) Just as a nation's urbanisation suggests its
level of development, so do
the urban growth rates indicate the speed of a
nation's industrialisation and growth.
The urban growth rates of MEDCs, as shown by
document1, are the lowest of the map. Indeed ,
these nations' industrialisation/urbanisation
having taken place many decades ago , the process
is at its final stage. Moreover, many of these,
such as London, seek to decentralise the cities
and hinder their overcrowding. Japan's growth can
equally be explained by the nation's small and
narrow territory, where few plains has led to the
concentration of the population along the Western
coast a necessity and explains the lack of any
real spatial change. The United States' higher
growth rate may reflect the marked mobility of
this nation and its people which encourage
mutations and migrations inside the country .
The growth rates of LEDCs are, expectedly,
considerably larger . The large number of these
nations are experiencing a rural-urban exodus and
migration which characterises developing nations,
as LEDCs pass from agricultural to industrial
base. Moreover, as MEDCs encourage trade in these
nations, manufacturing products play an
increasingly large role and explain the growing
need for industrialisation, inevitably followed
by urbanisation. In addition to this, LEDC
populations and their movements are influenced by
push and pull factors, as increasing unemployment
in the agricultural sector due to its restriction
and poor living standards drive the people to
towns where they believe they will be better
employed and given the use of infrastructures .
The much larger growth rate of LEDCs as concerns
urbanisation is therefore a reflection of these
nations ' emergence and attempts to develop and
enter the world market.
c) Rapid urbanisation in LEDCs has led to a
number of problems which hinder the nation's
development and create many serious threats,
notably the lack of infrastucture, waste and
pollution as well as the issue of housing.
The overcrowding of LEDC cities may be
illustrated by Cairo, a megacity confronted with
the above problems. Indeed, the overcrowding of
Cairo has expectedly resulted on a large pressure
made on the city's infrastructures, whether of
health or transport. The huge amount of traffic
impedes on the communication rates as well as
damaging the population's health through
pollution. Effects to provide a metro system have
proved expensive as well as ineffective.
Waste equally constitutes a threat as the use of
« squats » and overcrowding makes it particularly
hard to control. Whilst the top-down solution of
an expensive sewage system has proved
ineffective, a bottom-up solution has met with
much more success, in the form of collection and
recycling organised by the Zabbaleen, recognised
by international organisations and providing a
cheap and efficient solution.
Finally, housing constitutes perhaps the biggest
threat. Whilst some are forced to resort to
accommodating roof tops (whilst possessing no
tenancy rights and living under a constant
threat), other « squats » in the City of the
Dead, making use of empty buildings and though
helped by the government with certain
infrastructures, are forced to use illegal and
often polluted water. The little housing
available is often for the expensive migrants in
search of employment, and the construction of
dangerously high buildings has equally diminished
precious fertile land. Attempts to remove the
pressure from the megacity to the outskirts such
as with the 10th of Ramadan have met with mixed
success as, despite certain migrations,
inhabitants deplore the lack of culture and
community of the constructions, to which they
prefer the city of Cairo. Similar efforts were
equally made in China through the creation
special coastal towns but again cities such as
Beijing or Shanghai were preferred to these.
Urbanisation therefore creates a number of
serious and urgent threats in LEDCs as
illusionary pull factors drive migrants to cities
weakened by unemployment, overcrowding, lack of
housing and infrastructures. |
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