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Unit 5 Social Change
Section 3
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The Urban Transition
Section
Defining a City
hen does a village become
a city? In Denmark and Sweden, an area with 200 inhabitants officially qualifies as a city. Populous Japan uses a much higher number— 30,000. The cutoff point used by the U.S. Census Bureau to define a city is a population of 2,500. This number was set at a time when urbanization had just begun and population con- centrations were small. It is obvi-
ously low for modern times.
A city is more than just a reason- ably large number of people, how- ever. Cities are also long-lasting. The periodic Woodstock rock festivals gather a large number of people in one place, but only for short periods of time. Clearly, large gatherings alone do not make a city. Cities also have a centralized economic focus. That is, they provide people with a chance to work in commerce, industry, or ser- vice. In summary, a city is a dense and permanent concentration of peo- ple living in a limited geographic area who earn their living primarily
through nonagricultural activities.
Urbanization
The world has been greatly changed by urbanization—the process by which an increasingly larger portion of the world’s population lives in or very near to cities. Urbanization has been so common that it is now taken for granted in many parts of the world. Today, almost as many people live in urban areas as in rural areas. This is a fairly recent development in human history.
Section
Key Terms
• city
• urbanization
• overurbanization • suburbanization
• central-city dilemma • gentrification
• edge city
he first preindustrial cities
developed in fertile areas where surplus food could be grown. With the Industrial Revolution came a major in- crease in the rate of urbaniza- tion. The development of factories was an especially important influence on the lo- cation of cities. Urbanization in developed and developing nations has occurred at differ- ent speeds. The United States is now primarily a sub- urban nation.
city
dense and permanent concentration of people living in a specific area and working primarily in nonagricultural jobs
urbanization
process by which an increasingly larger portion of the world’s population lives in cities
W
Crowded inner cities and sprawling suburbs appear in all American cities.