Urbanisation

5.5.3 Refugee movements to the EU - case study: Afghanistan to the UK

6.2 Urban land use in MEDCs

Urbanisation

  1. Definition

    1. Urbanisation is when there is an increasing proportion of people living in cities than in the countryside
    2. Urbanisation is a global phenomenon but rates of urbanisation vary greatly from one country to another

  2. Causes

    1. Rural-urban migration

      1. This is the initial cause of urbanisation
      2. Path: Rural urban migration diagram

      3. Migration occurs due to push factors: reasons to move away from home, and pull factors: reasons to move to new places

        Push factors Pull factors
        Unemployment
        Low wages
        Subsistence
        Economic collapse        		 Job opportunities
        Bad climate
        Natural disaster
        Crop failure        		 Prestige
        Lack of services Available services
        Civil unrest Asylum

    2. Natural increase

      1. People who migrate into towns are generally young and this increases the birth rate
      2. Improving healthcare causes a low death rate
      3. This results in a high level of natural increase