Booming cities
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For
the first time in history there wil be more people living
in the city than in rural areas, as evidenced by the
figures of the United Nations Population Division (UNPD). |
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Urbanization,
a new trend
The urbanization of the world occurs in an unprecedented
pace. Each week the number of city dwellers grows
with one million - about 180,000 per day. A growth
which is, according to the UN, irreversible.
Today almost 3.3
billion people are already living in urban areas.
By 2030, according to the predictions of the UNPD, as much
as 5 billion people will be living in cities. That is about
60% of the total global population.
Today South America
is the most urbanized continent in the world. Almost
80% of the population lives in urban areas.
Predictions of the UN state that by 2030 this proportion
will even increase to 88%, rising from 394 to 566 million.
The attractiveness of the
city
The industrialized world for a long time was the most
urbanized area in the world. The urbanization of the West
was started during the first great wave of urbanization,
which lasted from 1750 to 1950 and was inspired by the
Industrial Revolution.
Urbanization in the eighteenth
century originated in the mechanization of the countryside,
making fewer and fewer workers were needed, and in a rapidly
increasing industrialization in the cities. Seasonal workers,
who had less work because of this evolution, were driven
to the city looking for work.
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Source: Population
Databases - UNEP
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Urbanization in South America
The second great wave of urbanization
that is taking place in the Third World now is radically different
from the western urbanization that rose in late eighteenth century.
The growth is much more massive and much faster. Elsewhere in the
world this growth can be found primarily in smaller cities –
cities with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants – but in South
America the opposite occurs. There a handful of metropoles
is growing at an explosive rate, while the growth in smaller
cities is much less significant. Buenos Aires,
for example, represents with its 13 million inhabitants one
third of the total population of Argentina.
In South America, the rural exodus has
other causes than the Western urbanization. Often people were displaced
to the city because of armed conflicts and insecurity, failed harvests
and climate change effects such as drought and floods. Most newcomers
are literally on the edge of society: in slums and shanty
towns. There they are often worse off than their compatriots
in the countryside. In slums one or more of the basic needs is missing:
clean drinking water, proper housing, sanitation, education and
health.
Rocinha Favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Source: Travel
Blog
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Population growth of Santiago, Chile.
Source: Wikipedia
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On the image you can see the slums of
Rio de Janeiro. In 1950 only 7% of the population of the city lived
in the so-called favelas, today that percentage has climbed to 19%.
The massive influx of immigrants in a few cities makes it impossible
for the government to address the immigrants in a responsible way,
with urban sprawl and poor living conditions as a result.
Sources
EarthTrends
- World Resources Institute
State
of the world population - United Nations Population Fund
United
Nations population Division
Verstedelijking:
de feiten - NOS.nl
World
Regional Geography - Harper
College
Links
Earth
from Space: Buenos Aires
Slumdog
Millionaire, official movie site
World
Population Resources
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