Essay on Urbanisation
Urbanisation is not about simply increasing the number of urban residents or expanding the area of cities. More importantly, it’s about a complete change from rural to urban style in terms of industry structure, employment, living environment and social security.” -Li Keqiang
Urbanisation is basically defined as the increase in the proportion of population in the urban areas which results in the development of cities and towns. It is also a process through which rural areas are transformed into urban areas. It can be seen in almost every part of the world where humans reside. It is a result of increasing industrialisation and implied employment in big cities and towns.
Better standard of living and other factors like modernisation and better infrastructure attract rural people to the urban areas. People in rural areas are mostly dependent on agriculture for their income and other necessities which is further dependent on seasonal changes. Thus, for major part of the year the rural people are unemployed.
During the 20th century, only about 15% of the world population lived in cities and later it was found by the UN in the year 2007 that more than 50% of the world population were living in cities, for the first time in human history.
Urbanisation is a two-way process because it includes not only movement from village to cities and change from agricultural occupation to business, trade, service and profession but it also involves change in the attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviour patterns of migrants.
The process of urbanisation takes two forms: demographic and sociological. Demographical urbanisation is defined as growth in the proportion of urban population whereas sociological urbanisation refers to the behaviour, institutions and other materialistic things that are identified as urban and leads to changes in the standard of living of the people. Thus, urbanisation includes migration of people, occupational shift, and land use shift from agricultural to non agricultural, from rural to urban areas.
Urbanisation leads to population explosion, pressure on the environment, etc. in the urban areas. Rural people majorly migrate to urban areas in search of better health facilities, schools, employment and career opportunities because villages lack proper infrastructure and job opportunities.
Thus, it is very important for the government to realise the worth of rural sector and develop it in every possible way. Proper hospitals, schools, colleges and industries must be built in the villages in order to foster employment opportunities leading to development and growth of backward areas.
Essay on Urbanisation PDF
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