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102 Urbanization Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Urbanization is a growing trend around the world, with more and more people moving from rural areas to cities in search of better opportunities and a higher standard of living. As this trend continues, it is important to understand the various effects and implications of urbanization on society, the economy, and the environment.

To help you explore this topic further, here are 102 urbanization essay topic ideas and examples:

The impact of urbanization on economic growth
Urbanization and poverty alleviation
The role of urban planning in sustainable urbanization
Urbanization and income inequality
Urbanization and social mobility
Urbanization and public health
Urbanization and crime rates
The effects of urbanization on rural communities
Urbanization and food security
Urbanization and transportation infrastructure
The challenges of urbanization in developing countries
Urbanization and access to education
Urbanization and gender equality
Urbanization and cultural diversity
The impact of urbanization on natural resources
Urbanization and water scarcity
Urbanization and air pollution
Urbanization and climate change
The role of technology in urbanization
Urbanization and housing affordability
Urbanization and gentrification
Urbanization and social cohesion
Urbanization and community development
The effects of urbanization on wildlife habitats
Urbanization and mental health
Urbanization and public spaces
Urbanization and urban sprawl
The impact of urbanization on traditional industries
Urbanization and job creation
Urbanization and entrepreneurship
Urbanization and access to healthcare
Urbanization and aging populations
Urbanization and disaster resilience
Urbanization and energy consumption
Urbanization and waste management
The role of government in managing urbanization
Urbanization and social services
Urbanization and urban poverty
Urbanization and informal settlements
Urbanization and urban agriculture
Urbanization and smart cities
Urbanization and digital divide
Urbanization and public transportation
Urbanization and urban renewal
The effects of urbanization on wildlife conservation
Urbanization and cultural preservation
Urbanization and urban green spaces
Urbanization and community engagement
Urbanization and disaster preparedness
Urbanization and urban water management
Urbanization and urban heat islands
Urbanization and urban biodiversity
Urbanization and urban governance
Urbanization and urban poverty reduction
Urbanization and urban planning policies
Urbanization and urban infrastructure development
Urbanization and urban land use planning
Urbanization and urban transportation planning
Urbanization and urban waste management
Urbanization and urban environmental management
Urbanization and urban housing policies
Urbanization and urban social services
Urbanization and urban public health policies
Urbanization and urban education policies
Urbanization and urban economic development
Urbanization and urban social cohesion
Urbanization and urban community development
Urbanization and urban disaster resilience
Urbanization and urban energy management
Urbanization and urban sanitation
Urbanization and urban air pollution
Urbanization and urban noise pollution
Urbanization and urban traffic congestion
Urbanization and urban parks
Urbanization and urban recreational facilities
Urbanization and urban cultural facilities
Urbanization and urban public transportation
Urbanization and urban cycling infrastructure
Urbanization and urban pedestrian infrastructure
Urbanization and urban public spaces
Urbanization and urban community centers
Urbanization and urban libraries
Urbanization and urban sports facilities
Urbanization and urban arts facilities
Urbanization and urban entertainment facilities
Urbanization and urban shopping facilities
Urbanization and urban dining facilities
Urbanization and urban nightlife
Urbanization and urban festivals
Urbanization and urban events
Urbanization and urban tourism
Urbanization and urban hospitality
Urbanization and urban recreation
Urbanization and urban leisure
Urbanization and urban wellness
Urbanization and urban fitness
Urbanization and urban health
Urbanization and urban safety
Urbanization and urban security
Urbanization and urban emergency services

These essay topics provide a wide range of ideas for exploring the complex and multifaceted phenomenon of urbanization. Whether you are interested in the social, economic, environmental, or cultural aspects of urbanization, there is a topic here for you to delve into and analyze. By studying and understanding the various effects and implications of urbanization, we can better prepare for the future and work towards creating more sustainable and livable cities for all.

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Essay on Urbanization for Students and Children

500 words essay on urbanization.

Urbanization refers to the movement of the population from rural areas to urban areas. It is essentially the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas. Furthermore, urbanization is quite a popular trend in the contemporary world. Moreover, people mostly undertake urbanization due to more work opportunities and a better standard of living. According to the expert prediction, by 2050, 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized.

Causes of Urbanization

First of all, political causes play a big role in urbanization. Many people get forced to leave rural areas for urban areas due to political unrest. Therefore, many families go to urban areas in search of food, shelter, and employment .

Another important cause of urbanization is an economic cause. Furthermore, poverty is a widespread phenomenon in rural areas. Moreover, farmers are finding it very hard to earn enough money and make a living. Consequently, rural people move to urban areas in search of better job opportunities.

Education is a strong cause of urbanization. Urban areas offer opportunities for seeking high-quality education. Moreover, urbanization offers opportunities for studying at universities and technical colleges. Such handsome education opportunities attract many young people in rural areas to move to urban areas.

Environmental degradation also plays a part in contributing to urbanization. Deforestation destroys the natural habitat of many farming families. Furthermore, mining and industrial expansion also harm the natural habitat of farming families.

The social cause is another notable reason for urbanization. Many young rural people migrate to urban areas in order to seek a better lifestyle. Moreover, many young people want to escape the conservative culture of rural areas. Most noteworthy, urban areas offer a more easy-going liberal lifestyle. Furthermore, cities have clubs to attract youth.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Benefits of Urbanization

First of all, urban areas are much more efficient in providing resources than rural areas. Important and basic amenities like housing, clean water, and electricity are easily available in urban areas.

People in urban areas find it quite easy to access to various important services. Most noteworthy, these services are high-quality education, expert health care, convenient transportation, entertainment, etc. Furthermore, some or all of the services are unavailable in rural areas.

Urban areas offer better employment opportunities. Furthermore, these employment opportunities are the result of industrialization and commercialization.

Urban areas play a critical role as creators and disseminators of knowledge. This is because of the highly connected urbanized world. Most noteworthy, the geographical proximity of people in urban areas helps in the propagation of ideas.

Urban areas enjoy the benefits of technological development. Furthermore, many types of technologies get implemented in urban areas. Moreover, urban people quickly get in touch with the latest technology. In contrast, many rural individuals remain ignorant of many types of technologies.

To sum it up, urbanization is a process which is on a continuous rise. Furthermore, urbanization ensures the transformation of rural culture into urban culture. Moreover, the government must be vigilant to the rapidly increasing urbanization. A fully urbanized world looks like the ultimate destiny of our world.

FAQs on Urbanization

Q1 State any two causes for urbanization?

A1 Any two causes for urbanization are high-quality education and good job opportunities in urban areas.

Q2 Why urban areas offer better employment opportunities?

A2 Urban areas offer better employment opportunities due to high industrialization and commercialization.

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Essay Samples on Urbanization

Benefits of living in the city: an overview of the opportunities and experiences.

Choosing a place to call home is a significant decision that impacts various aspects of our lives. For many, the allure of city living is undeniable, offering a vibrant and dynamic lifestyle that appeals to individuals of all ages. This essay explores the benefits of...

Urbanization

Tower of Silence and Isolation in the City

Life inside the concrete city was the most terrifying and mind torturing experience I’ve ever had. Keeno; a city unknown to most, where staying off the grid is top priority. Its location isolated, deep inside a desert surrounded by natural dull mountains of sand. The...

Living in the City and Cambodia’s Future Development

Phnom Penh city is where I grow up. Living in the city, I have never lacked any support. I have such opportunities as being able to consume good education, having more health facilities, and spending time in various social environments. In terms of educations and...

Justification in the Urban Environments

Urbanization is increasing in both the developed and developing countries. Over three-quarter of the population of the industrialized countries now reside in urban areas due to massive movement from rural to urban areas. Nigeria is not left out of this. The growth experienced by the...

Justification
New Urbanism

Urban Growth And Urban Sprawl In Urbanization

Urban growth or “sprawl” is a common affliction of many modern American cities; a collection of single-use low-density zoning that is spread out from each other and connected by highways. Driving through Metro Detroit suburbs I see examples everywhere, separated collections of subdivisions, office parks,...

Urban Sprawl

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Literature Review On Researches About Urban Sprawl

Though there is controversy about the precise description of urban sprawl, the common consensus is that urban expansion is categorized by unplanned and irregular growth patterns, which are determined by various practices, resulting in disorganized use of resources. The straight effect of this extent is...

Urban Sprawl And Other Effects Of Urbanization

Shifting population from rural to urban area is called urbanization and during six last decades, urbanization has proceeded rapidly. In 2017, 55 % of the world’s population lived in urban areas. The urbanization will increase to more than 66% in 2050; while in 1950, more...

Reasons Of Causing Urban Sprawl And Its Effect On Daily Life

Abstract Urban population is increasing rapidly day by day. Due to this rapid increase of population and urbanization urban sprawl takes place especially in the cities of developing world. It has been found that in developed world sub-urbanization is a major cause of sprawl. Mostly...

The Process Of Urbanization Of Rural Life To The City Life In India

In India, a spot, district or region is a town or a provincial region with respect to the populace thickness if the populace is more than 400 individuals in a square kilometer region. Clear outline by limits without city board and furthermore when 75 percent...

The Comparison Of Benefits Of Living In The City Versus The Village

Mabel Osgood Wright once said, “In the city at best one lives the life of others, the life of the shop, the street, the crowd, while in the country one must live one’s own life. “To live among others in the city, or to live...

Health Impacts of Urban Heat Island Effects and Adaptation Measures

Introduction The financial and social possibilities available in the city areas are the drivers for the continuously growing price of improvement of urbanized areas at some point of the last centuries. United Nations, reports suggest that round 54% of the worldwide populace has been dwelling...

Institutions' Explanation of the Wealth and Poverty of Nations

Institutions are the foundations of some of the most successful civilisations in history. We will examine whether the institutions of the Western world were the contributing factor as to why those nations grew so rich and powerful. In Guns, Germs and Steel; Jared Diamond argues...

Wealth of Nation
Western Civilization

The Representations of Urban in Fallen Angels of Hong Kong

Wong Kar-Wai’s Fallen Angels (1995) is one of the quintessential cinematic visions of turn of the century Hong Kong. A companion piece to his international breakthrough Chungking Express (1994), Fallen Angels is its more melancholic and morose twin. With stunning cinematography by Christopher Doyle, Wong...

Fallen Angels

Slumdog Millionaire: The Power of Urbanization and Its Impact on Poverty

Slumdog Millionaire takes place in India. It is about a young man who is on a game show and has flashbacks of why he got all the answers right. The young man, Jamal Malik, is accused of cheating. In his flashbacks, you see glimpses of...

Slumdog Millionaire

The Impact of Conservation in the Urban Development

In order to carry out my report, I was required to use my primary data in use to support my field study. I decided to take my photographs to support the effect of conservation laws on urban development in Hunters Hill and followed a methodology...

Conservation

Matthew Arnold and T.S. Elliot’s Assessment of the Repressed Self

Matthew Arnold’s poem The Buried Life and T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, offer an interpretation of the modern world that has caused people to repress their feelings as they are forced to a state of the divided self. The Buried...

Matthew Arnold

A White Heron: Rejecting City Values

Within 'A White Heron,' Jewett provides her readers with a set of conflicting values that can all be included in the country versus the city theme. Jewett points out her preference by having Sylvia choose nature over civilization, while recognizing the cost of making that...

A White Heron
Protagonist

Las Vegas' Influence on the Modern Architecture

Popular modern architecture all over the world has been influenced by Las Vegas in one way or another. Whether it’s the bright neon lights, astonishing design, or eye catching signage, the evolution of popular architecture can be traced back to early Las Vegas. Before all...

Modern Architecture

The Impact of Urbanization and Significance of Air Pollution

“One hundred and fifty years ago, the monster began.” by Patrick Ness. Ness described how our life changed after the growth of technology in this quote of his novel 'The Monster Cells'. The world has become more and more industrialized over the past century and...

Air Pollution

Development of Gentrification and Its Impact On Society

When cities began using urban renewal, it was aimed to make better living conditions in the urban, low-income areas. However, the revitalization of such neighborhoods attracted wealthier investors seeking capital gain. These revitalization projects led to the destruction of the homes of the poor. These...

Gentrification
Housing Market

Cleanliness Assessment Of Urban Streets With Mec And Dl

Abstract During the process of smart city construction, city managers always spend a lot of energy and money for cleaning street garbage due to the vast appearances of street garbage. Consequently, visual street cleanliness assessment is particularly important. However, the existing assessment approaches have some...

Cleanliness

The Importance of Cleanliness and Its Contribution to Student's Mental State

Abstract Freshness, purity and neatness are called cleanliness. The present study will contribute new learning on states of mind of students towards cleanliness practices. The aim of research is to explore the attitude of students about cleanliness. The purpose of the research is to study...

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in the Urban Living Conditions

Introduction Due to exponential population rise, Lebbeus Woods states that the 21st century will be one marked by instant cities, a term Woods re-purposes from Archigram to describe informal settlements. Where, dramatic population increase, urban migration, and displaced peoples will be increasingly forced into the...

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Causes and Effects of Urbanization in the World

Introduction Nowadays, people who live in central areas are increasing sharply over the world. There are more than 50 percentages the world’s population living in the big cities, and by 2030 it is predicted that this number will reach to about 5 billion. Quite a...

Globalization

The Consequences of Urbanization in China

Introduction This essay will examine urbanization in China by starting with a brief background of urbanization in Asia, specifically comparing it with Western countries. Then, we will focus on three specific issues - air pollution, public transit and “left-behind” children and elderly people - that...

The Development of Urbanization Process in Asia

Urbanization process has been relatively rapid in some less developed regions since 1950, such as sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern and Western Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Among all, Eastern Asia region had experienced the most striking urbanization increase, especially during the last 20 years (“The...

The Discourse Of Contemporary Urbanization

The idea of development has been changed over the years while it’s discourse help to shape the discourse of contemporary urbanization (Miraftab & Kudva, 2015). Two questions as the main focus of development and urbanization have been asked: "whose development?" and "whose cities?" (Miraftab &...

The Effects Of Urban Culture On Environment

Overview Urbanization is closely linked to modernization, industrialization, and the sociological process of rationalization. It is most often the urban societies as well as the industries that take most from our natural resources. Urbanisation is not just a modern phenomenon, but also a large global...

Natural Environment

Challenges Of Urban Design And The Role Of Development Practitioners

When Charles Montgomery discussed what really makes our cities good places for us to live in through his book “Happy City: Transforming our lives through urban design” he discussed the connection between every day’s patterns and experiences of the city dwellers to their health, happiness,...

Best topics on Urbanization

1. Benefits of Living in the City: an Overview of the Opportunities and Experiences

2. Tower of Silence and Isolation in the City

3. Living in the City and Cambodia’s Future Development

4. Justification in the Urban Environments

5. Urban Growth And Urban Sprawl In Urbanization

6. Literature Review On Researches About Urban Sprawl

7. Urban Sprawl And Other Effects Of Urbanization

8. Reasons Of Causing Urban Sprawl And Its Effect On Daily Life

9. The Process Of Urbanization Of Rural Life To The City Life In India

10. The Comparison Of Benefits Of Living In The City Versus The Village

11. Health Impacts of Urban Heat Island Effects and Adaptation Measures

12. Institutions’ Explanation of the Wealth and Poverty of Nations

13. The Representations of Urban in Fallen Angels of Hong Kong

14. Slumdog Millionaire: The Power of Urbanization and Its Impact on Poverty

15. The Impact of Conservation in the Urban Development

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Urbanisation Essay

500+ words urbanisation essay.

Urbanisation is an integral part of development. It is an index of transformation from traditional rural economies to modern industrial ones. The process of urbanisation started with the industrial revolution and resulted in economic development. Urban areas are an integral part of India’s development and growth. It accounts for two-thirds of India’s GDP. India’s urban population has increased rapidly over the past decade and this rapid urbanisation is set to continue in the future. This urbanisation essay discusses the opportunities that urban areas have and the major challenges faced by them. So, students must go through this essay to gather the information and then try to write the essay in their own words. They can also get the list of CBSE Essays on different topics to practise essays on various topics.

Meaning of Urbanisation

When people move from village or rural areas to towns/cities or urban areas for better job opportunities where they can get involved in non-agricultural occupations such as manufacturing industry, trade, management etc. is known as urbanisation. People mainly migrate to cities in search of jobs, new opportunities and to have a better lifestyle.

Urbanisation in India – History and Present Situation

Urbanisation in India is said to have begun somewhere around 600 B.C. culminating in the formation of early historical cities. During ancient and medieval periods of Indian history, the kings established various capital regions, which developed into towns. For example, Pataliputra (now Patna) and Vaishali developed as towns during the Magadh rule. Kanauj was the capital town of Harshavardhana in Uttar Pradesh. The establishment of the East India Company and the onset of British colonial control of India from the seventeenth century led to the growth of the urban centres of Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. These cities (except Delhi) developed along the seacoast in the respective regions where the British had established administrative systems in various provinces.

In the present scenario, the urban population is growing rapidly. Because of this, opportunities are also increasing. Urbanisation in India is mainly due to the expansion of cities and the migration of people. Investments are made in housing, urban transport, road network, water supply, smart cities, power-related infrastructure and other forms of urban management.

Consequences of Rapid Urbanisation

Rapid urbanisation often leads to both healthy and unhealthy consequences and aspects.

Positive Aspect of Urbanisation

Urbanisation resulted in the development and setting up of many industries in the cities. Manufacturing units and the service sector started to grow in the urban areas. This has created employment opportunities for the people. This has resulted in rural-urban migration and caused the “industrialisation urbanisation process” to set in. The growth of cities has given rise to external economies. Urbanisation results in changes in the attitudes and mindset of the urban people resulting in modernisation in behaviour. This indirectly helped the country to attain faster economic development.

Negative Aspect of Urbanisation

Growing urbanisation has increased the congestion in urban areas, which has resulted in problems like traffic jams and too much concentration of population. Too much population is another unhealthy aspect of urbanisation. It has created urban chaos related to housing, education, sanitation, pollution, medical facilities, growth of slums, unemployment, violence, inadequate water supply, overcrowding etc. All these resulted in deteriorating the quality of human life.

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Counselling

Introductory essay

Written by the educators who created Ecofying Cities, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in their field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material.

Right now, our economy operates as Paul Hawken said, "by stealing the future, selling it in the present and calling it GDP." And if we have another eight billion or seven billion people, living on a planet where their cities also steal the future, we're going to run out of future really fast. But if we think differently, I think that, in fact, we can have cities that are not only zero emissions, but have unlimited possibilities as well. Alex Steffen

The urgency of urban planning today

Within a few decades' time, we can expect the planet to become more crowded, resources more precious, and innovative urban planners increasingly important. By midcentury, the global population will likely top nine billion, and more than half will live in cities. What will these cities look like? Will we have the resources to power them and comfortably provide for their residents? Will global urbanization harmonize with efforts to curb climate change and secure a sustainable future, or are these forces hurtling towards a head-on collision?

The TED speakers featured in Ecofying Cities underscore the urgency, but also suggest that some optimism's in order as they outline the issues and offer imaginative solutions.

There's no single reason for or response to the complex environmental, economic and social challenges that are part of our future in cities. They call for multiple approaches, originating from different sources — individuals, communities, governments, businesses — and deployed at different levels — in the home, the neighborhood, the city, region, nation and across the globe — to respond to the challenges at hand. As Alex Steffen reminds the urban planners, architects, designers, elected leaders and others involved in the effort, "All those cities are opportunities."

Urbanism and the environment: A brief history

For centuries, successful city-building has required careful attention to the environmental consequences of urban development. Without this, as Jared Diamond demonstrated in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed , a city inevitably ended up fouling its nest, thus entering a spiral of epidemics, economic hardship, decline and, ultimately, oblivion. Civilizations evolved different ways of dealing with environmental considerations — some with more success than others. For example, thanks to elaborate aqueducts and sewer systems, the Romans were able to build and sustain for centuries large cities that featured a reliable public water supply and state-of-the-art public health conditions.

In other civilizations, however, residents simply abandoned cities when they could no longer rely on their environment to supply the resources they needed. Often this was a direct result of their own activities: for example, deforestation and the attendant erosion of fertile soil, epidemics due to contaminated water and, with the advent of coal-fired industrialization, air pollution.

Urban planning got its start as a profession largely dedicated to averting different types of crises arising from urban growth and providing conditions for public health. This was particularly true in the many 19th century European and North American cities transformed by industrialization and unprecedented rates of population growth. Rapidly deteriorating air and water quality made it necessary to introduce regulations to protect the health of the residents of these cities.

The planners' first-generation improvements included sewers, water treatment and distribution, and improved air quality through building codes and increased urban green space. It's especially remarkable today to think that these interventions were adopted in response to observable health consequences, but without knowledge of the contamination mechanisms at work: germ theory didn't arrive on the scene until Louis Pasteur published his work in the 1860s. From the late 19th century onward Pasteur's findings bolstered the case for even more urban sanitation improvements, particularly those designed to improve water quality.

Starting in the 1950s, however, planners no longer narrowly targeted immediate health effects on urban residents as their chief environmental concern. Their work also absorbed and reflected Western society's deeper understanding of, and respect for, natural processes and growing awareness of the long-term environmental impacts of cities from the local to the planetary scale.

Rachel Carson is often credited as the first to popularize environmentalism. Published in 1962, her landmark book Silent Spring sounded a warning call about how pesticides endanger birds and entire ecological systems. Soon after, air pollution became a rallying point for environmentalists, as did the loss of large tracks of rural and natural land to accelerated, sprawling development. Today, sustainable development and smart growth, which largely overlap and address multiple environmental considerations, enjoy wide currency; most urban planning is now based on these principles.

Today, as we reckon with population growth, advancing rates of urbanization, and widespread recognition of climate change, we know that the cities of the future share a common destiny. The choices we make about how we build, inhabit and maintain these cities will have global and long-term effects.

Sustainable development: Two schools of thought

In modern urban planning, there are two general categories of sustainable development. The first doesn't challenge the present dynamics of the city, allowing them to remain largely low-density and automobile-oriented, but still makes them the object of measures aimed to reduce their environmental load (for example, green construction practices). Ian McHarg spearheaded this approach as a way to develop urban areas in harmony with natural systems; the planning principles he formulated gave special care to the preservation of water and green space. His lasting influence is visible in many of the more enlightened suburban developments of recent decades which respect the integrity of natural systems. Today, the Landscape Urbanism movement promotes these same ideas.

A second school of urban development focuses on increasing urban density and reducing reliance on the automobile. This approach advocates transit-oriented and mixed-use development along pedestrian-friendly "complete streets." On a regional scale, it aims to reduce sprawl by creating a network of higher-density multifunctional centers interconnected by public transit. Today, it's common for plans with a metropolitan scope to follow this approach.

Studying the city: About these materials

Cities are arguably the most complex human creation (with the possible exception of language) so it's not surprising that we study them at multiple scales and from diverse perspectives. We can approach cities through a narrow focus on an individual building or a neighborhood, expand the investigation to consider a metropolitan region in its entirety, or study the global system of cities and its interconnections. What's more, we can think about cities as built environments, social networks, modified ecologies, economic systems and political entities. Aware of the multiple ways that we engage with cities, the Romans had two words to refer to them: urbs referred to the physical city with its wall and buildings, and civitas , the city as a collection of residents.

Ecofying Cities explores urban areas at different scales. In some cases, the TED speaker focuses on a neighborhood project, like The High Line in Manhattan; others describe city-wide transformation, as in Curitiba, Brazil, or a regional or national initiative like China's plan for a network of eco-cities to house its growing urban population. Likewise, the talks explore cities from different disciplinary perspectives including urban planning, urban design, transportation planning, architecture, community organization and environmental science. What unites them all? A commitment to sustainability and a belief that sustainability is more about creating positive effects rather than reducing negative impacts.

The message emanating from Ecofying Cities is one of complexity, optimism and uncertainty. We can't be sure that the changes these speakers suggest will be enough to help us balance supply and demand in the sustainability equation. But we can expect that their ideas and efforts will improve the built environment — as well as quality of life — in cities, thereby providing hopeful perspectives for a sustainable future.

Let´s begin with writer and futurist Alex Steffen´s TEDTalk "The Sharable Future of Cities" for a look at the interplay between increasing urban density and energy consumption.

Alex Steffen

The shareable future of cities, relevant talks.

Jaime Lerner

A song of the city.

Majora Carter

Greening the ghetto.

Robert Hammond

Building a park in the sky.

Michael Pawlyn

Using nature's genius in architecture.

William McDonough

Cradle to cradle design.

James Howard Kunstler

The ghastly tragedy of the suburbs.

Ellen Dunham-Jones

Retrofitting suburbia.

Letter to the Editor
Open access
Published: 02 January 2020

Urbanization: a problem for the rich and the poor?

Md Abdul Kuddus 1 , 2 , 4 ,
Elizabeth Tynan 3 &
Emma McBryde 1 , 2

Public Health Reviews volume 41 , Article number: 1 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Urbanization has long been associated with human development and progress, but recent studies have shown that urban settings can also lead to significant inequalities and health problems. This paper is concerned with the adverse impact of urbanization on both developed and developing nations and both wealthy and poor populations within those nations, addressing issues associated with public health problems in urban areas. The discussion in this paper will be of interest to policy makers. The paper advocates policies that improve the socio-economic conditions of the urban poor and promote their better health. Further, this discussion encourages wealthy people and nations to become better informed about the challenges that may arise when urbanization occurs in their regions without the required social supports and infrastructure.

Urbanization refers to the mass movement of populations from rural to urban settings and the consequent physical changes to urban settings. In 2019, the United Nations estimated that more than half the world’s population (4.2 billion people) now live in urban area and by 2041, this figure will increase to 6 billion people [ 1 ].

Cities are known to play multifaceted functions in all societies. They are the heart of technological development and economic growth of many nations, while at the same time serving as a breeding ground for poverty, inequality, environmental hazards, and communicable diseases [ 2 ]. When large numbers of people congregate in cities, many problems result, particularly for the poor. For example, many rural migrants who settle in an urban slum area bring their families and their domesticated animals—both pets and livestock—with them. This influx of humans and animals leads to vulnerability of all migrants to circulating communicable diseases and the potential to establish an urban transmission cycle. Further, most urban poor live in slums that are unregulated, have congested conditions, are overcrowded, are positioned near open sewers, and restricted to geographically dangerous areas such as hillsides, riverbanks, and water basins subject to landslides, flooding, or industrial hazards. All of these factors lead to the spread of communicable and non-communicable diseases, pollution, poor nutrition, road traffic, and so on [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. The problems faced by the poor spill over to other city dwellers. As the trend to urbanization continues, this spillover effect increases and takes on a global dimension as more and more of the world’s populations are affected [ 3 ].

Some of the major health problems resulting from urbanization include poor nutrition, pollution-related health conditions and communicable diseases, poor sanitation and housing conditions, and related health conditions. These have direct impacts on individual quality of life, while straining public health systems and resources [ 6 ].

Urbanization has a major negative impact on the nutritional health of poor populations. Because they have limited financial resources and the cost of food is higher in cities, the urban poor lack nutritious diets and this leads to illness, which contributes to loss of appetite and poor absorption of nutrients among those affected. Furthermore, environmental contamination also contributes to undernutrition; street food is often prepared in unhygienic conditions, leading to outbreaks of food-borne illnesses (e.g., botulism, salmonellosis, and shigellosis) [ 6 ]. Urban dwellers also suffer from overnutrition and obesity, a growing global public health problem. Obesity and other lifestyle conditions contribute to chronic diseases (such as cancers, diabetes, and heart diseases). Although obesity is most common among the wealthy, international agencies have noted the emergence of increased weight among the middle class and poor in recent years [ 7 ].

Populations in poor nations that suffer from protein-energy malnutrition [ 8 ] have increased susceptibility to infection [ 9 ] through the impact of micronutrient deficiency on immune system development and function [ 10 ]. Around 168 million children under 5 are estimated to be malnourished and 76% of these children live in Asia [ 11 ]. At the same time, the World Health Organization is concerned that there is an emerging pandemic of obesity in poor countries that leads to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, and stroke [ 12 ].

Obesity is caused by increased caloric intake and decreased physical activity [ 13 ], something historically associated with wealth. However, people in urbanized areas of developing countries are also now vulnerable to obesity due to lack of physical space, continually sitting in workplaces, and excessive energy intake and low energy expenditure. In these areas, infrastructure is often lacking, including sufficient space for recreational activities. Further, in developing countries, as in developed countries, large employers frequently place head offices in urban capitals and work is increasingly sedentary in nature [ 14 ]. Another culprit associated with the risk of developing obesity is the change in food intake that has led to the so-called nutrition transition (increased the consumption of animal-source foods, sugar, fats and oils, refined grains, and processed foods) in urban areas. For instance, in China, dietary patterns have changed concomitantly with urbanization in the past 30 years, leading to increased obesity [ 15 ]. In 2003, the World Health Organization estimated that more than 300 million adults were affected, the majority in developed and highly urbanized countries [ 16 ]. Since then, the prevalence of obesity has increased. For example, in Australia, around 28% of adults were obese in 2014–2015 [ 17 ].

Pollution is another major contributor to poor health in urban environments. For instance, the World Health Organization estimated that 6.5 million people died (11.6% of all global deaths) as a consequence of indoor and outdoor air pollution and nearly 90% of air-pollution-related deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries [ 18 ]. Poor nutrition and pollution both contribute to a third major challenge for urban populations: communicable diseases. The poor live in congested conditions, near open sewers and stagnant water, and are therefore constantly exposed to unhealthy waste [ 6 ]. Inadequate sanitation can lead to the transmission of helminths and other intestinal parasites. Pollution (e.g., from CO 2 emission) from congested urban areas contributes to localized and global climate change and direct health problems, such as respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer for both the rich and the poor.

In addition to human-to-human transmission, animals and insects serve as efficient vectors for diseases within urban settings and do not discriminate between the rich and poor. The prevalence and impact of communicable diseases in urban settings, such as tuberculosis (TB), malaria, cholera, dengue, and others, is well established and of global concern.

National and international researchers and policy makers have explored various strategies to address such problems, yet the problems remain. For example, research on solutions for megacities has been ongoing since the early 1990s [ 19 , 20 ]. These studies have concluded that pollution, unreliable electricity, and non-functioning infrastructure are priority initiatives; nevertheless, air pollution, quality of water in cities, congestion, disaster management issues, and infrastructure are not being systematically addressed [ 19 , 20 ].

The impact of inner city transportation on health, such as road traffic, is emerging as a serious problem. Statistics show that a minimum of 10 people die every day on the railways in the city of Mumbai, India [ 21 ]. Vietnam is another example of a country that has seen a remarkable increase in road traffic accidents [ 22 ]. Improvements to the country’s infrastructure have not been able to meet the increasing growth of vehicular and human traffic on the street. Vietnam reportedly has a population of 95 million and more than 18 million motorbikes on its roads. A deliberate policy is needed to reduce accidents [ 21 ].

Although urbanization has become an irreversible phenomenon, some have argued that to resolve the problems of the city, we must tackle the root causes of the problem, such as improving the socio-economic situation of the urban poor.

Until the conditions in rural areas improve, populations will continue to migrate to urban settings. Given the challenges that rural development poses, the root causes are unlikely to be addressed in the near future. Therefore, governments and development agencies should concentrate on adapting to the challenges of urbanization, while seeking to reduce unplanned urbanization.

Some examples of policies and practices that should be considered include (i) policies that consider whole-of-life journeys, incorporating accessible employment, community participation, mobility/migration and social transition, to break generational poverty cycles; (ii) policies addressing urban environmental issues, such as planned urban space and taxes on the use of vehicles to reduce use or to encourage vehicles that use less fuel as well as encourage bicycle use, walking, and other forms of human transportation; (iii) greater cooperative planning between rural and urban regions to improve food security (e.g., subsidies for farmers providing locally produced, unprocessed and low cost food to urban centers); (iv) social protection and universal health coverage to reduce wealth disparity among urban dwellers; including introduction of programs and services for health, for example by establishing primary healthcare clinics accessible and affordable for all including those living in urban slums [ 23 ].

Availability of data and materials

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The authors would like to thank the editor for his/her thoughtful comments and efforts towards improving the manuscript.

This work was conducted as a part of a PhD programme of the first authors and funded by the College of Medicine and Dentistry at the James Cook University, Australia (JCU-QLD-933347).

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Kuddus, M.A., Tynan, E. & McBryde, E. Urbanization: a problem for the rich and the poor?. Public Health Rev 41 , 1 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-019-0116-0

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