3. Natural increase caused by a decrease in death rates while birth rates remain high.
Levels of urbanisation in 1950 and 1990
It is estimated that the number of people living in the urban areas will double to 5 billion between 1990 and 2025. About 90 percent of this is expected to occur in the developing world.
There are many benefits to the people of developing countries if they move into urban areas, the first being that rural living in the developing world has for the most part become too difficult and is often associated with absolute poverty and starvation, this is usually due to a lack of resources. Generally by moving into an urban area there are smaller chances of starvation and absolute poverty and even if there is a slight increase in standard of living it is a benefit moving into an urban area. Further benefits are as there are more businesses within an urban area, and this will increases the chance of finding work. Due to better infrastructure and health systems it is more likely they can live a healthier lifestyle with a longer life span.
However although these are all benefits the extent to which they are is often perceived by the migrators to be much higher than it really is and this is where the problems start to occur, most of the time the benefits are marginal and whole new set of problems start to occur. The first of which is the inherent lack of space, with such a great influx of people into an area which does not have the increased infrastructure or the money to provide it, this leads to over crowding, with many people living in tiny shelters often made out of left over materials. This overcrowding leads to an increase chance of disease often greater than if they were in a rural area. The perceived notion of jobs being easily available for the most part is not true and the situation is made worse with the continued migration of people into the urban areas. This often means people who move in are often left with no means of income and resort to rummaging through rubbish to find items which can be sold. This not only has health risks but also negates the point of migrating which is a better standard of living. The increase in the amount of people also puts a very large strain on existing resources and infrastructure causing congestion which causes pollution and making the place a much less desirable area to live in. The majority of the migration tends to go to the largest city at that time as it would have the largest perceived pull factors, this then leads to primeate cities which are disproportion ally larger than other cities within the country and this will make it harder to solve problems and leads to a concentrated area of decline and deprivation. The following are examples of cities in the developing world that have experienced mass migration into their urban areas and the problems it caused.
Bangkok Thailand
-Rapid expansion caused by an increase in population from 3-10 million in 20 years.
- Rural urban rush from the country side to Bangkok
- It suffers from one of the worlds worst traffic congestion problem
- Straining to provide basic services. Large areas have no piped water, some areas which do the water is heavily polluted
- Only 80% of solid waste is collected
- Ground collapsed due to using ground water
- 1/10 of the population lives in shanty towns
Manila:
- Very rapid growth
- 1949 (1 million population) 1970 (4 million) 1990 (8 million)
- Basic problem is poverty with almost half the population estimated to be poor
- Lack of housing
- Smokey mountain rubbish dump where up to 20,000 people live on
- Toxic waste build up is a problem
Another problem which further magnifies the main issues but is not as a direct result of the URbaniszation is the fact a lot of the cities are located in LEDC which are prone to natural disaster, examples of which are Bangladesh which suffers from flooding and hurricanes. These hazards will have much more of an effect on an urban area rather than a rural area as more people are concentrated in urban areas and there are also non natural consequences such as falling buildings
In conclusion for the most part Urbanisation in LEDC does cause more problems than it solves but this migration is often necessary for survival. The problems such as health, housing and congestion are too much for the governments of those countries to solve, but some of these countries have already begun to tackle these issues using schemes such as self help and granting tenure, this will allow the people to help themselves and therefore require minimum outlay from an already struggling government. However the underlying problem which needs to be solved first is not the urbansisation itself but the general economic situation which causes it as well as prevents governments having the resources to deal with it. While specific national policies on urban development are essential in order to deal with specific urban and settlements issues, it is critical that the issues of housing and human settlements be seen within the broad framework of the pattern and nature of economic development. Many developing countries are currently experiencing the transition from primary economies to economies based on industrial and tertiary activities. These processes are at the root of the large-scale movement of people from rural to urban areas where in most cases, the increase in population have outstripped the capacity of the urban economy to create jobs and the municipal authorities to provide adequate social infrastructure. The critical issues therefore go beyond housing, health and education to the nature of growth and development, where macro - policies are important in determining the flow of resources that are needed to effectively address the issue of housing and urban development. These policies must first be sorted out and then this will lay to the foundations which will eventually allow the LEDC to solve their problems and also lead to a more stable economy.
