Page 55 - The World About Us

Paris at night
1.1.1
2.2.4

What do we mean by urbanisation?

The human species has become an in Wales is officially a city but has a
Megalopolis
urban creature. For the first me in our Se lements popula on of just 1,841. Reading,
history, around 2008, the majority of increase in size Conurba on Northampton and Luton, each with
human beings on the planet lived in but reduce in popula ons over 200,000 remain as
urban areas. This has been a remarkably frequency. City towns.
large change in a rela vely short period In Australia, Sydney is a city of five
of me. Large Town
million people, with 20% of the en re
In 1800, just 3% of the global country’s popula on. Meanwhile the
Small Town
popula on lived in ci es. One hundred city of Devonport, Tasmania is home to
years later this had risen to 14% and by Village just 0.13% of Australia's popula on with
1950 30% of humanity were urban just over 30,000 inhabitants.
dwellers. Humanity passed the 50% Hamlet
mark for urban dwelling in 2007/8. By Where are ci es found?
2050 an es mated 7 out of every 10 Isolated dwelling or farm
people will be urban. That amounts to Ci es tend to grow in places with
Fig.149 A se lement hierarchy. natural advantages for se lement. This
another 2.5 billion people living in ci es
usually includes a river or rivers for
compared to 2015. Who defines a city? water and waste disposal and fer le,
What makes a city? Different countries have varying arable land on the flood plains. Other
criteria for defining a city. Some factors may then come into play such as
A city is a large se lement with a sheltered, natural harbour for a port
countries define their ci es simply by
mul ple func ons and can provide a (Tokyo, Sydney), crossing points for
the popula on size.
wide variety of services to its large rivers (London) or islands for easy
popula on. Ci es sit high on the The UK has very par cular rules defence (Paris, New York). Other ci es
se lement hierarchy (see fig.149). which require the monarch to bestow grow as they are strategically located on
city status upon a se lement. St David's trading routes (Cadiz, Singapore).
At the bo om of the hierarchy are
isolated dwellings and farms. As
se lements grow larger they move Ancient and modern Baghdad one thousand years later.
through hamlets to villages to towns Hangzhan in China reached 1.5 million
and then ci es. Each stage of growth The first ci es developed between inhabitants by 1300, but the first city
requires more people, an increasing the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (in to exceed 2 million was London in the
number of func ons and an increasingly modern-day Iraq) around 10,000 years 1840s. In just 50 years London's
complex economic structure. ago. However, the ci es remained popula on more than tripled to reach
Ci es may expand so that they small by modern standards, with 6.5 million by 1900.
engulf surrounding towns and even usually just a few thousand inhabitants The city's growth was powered by
other ci es. These then become known or less. Over the next few thousand the Industrial Revolu on and London's
as conurba ons. If several conurba ons years ci es rose and fell and grew in posi on as a vital port linking Britain to
merge together an urban belt may be size. The city of Ur reached 100,000 by its vast and expanding empire. In the
created. Night- me satellite 2100 BC. 2,000 years later the Egyp an post-WWI era New York surpassed
photographs of the Taiheiyō Belt in city of Pi-Rameses and the Chinese city London, reaching 10 million in 1960,
Japan, or the North-East ‘megalopolis’ of Hasling had grown to rival Ur at its only to be itself surpassed by Tokyo in
in the USA (fig.150), show that several height. 1965. Today, Tokyo remains the world's
ci es have joined together.
By the early Chris an era, Rome largest city with a metropolitan
Fig.150 North-East USA at night. and Alexandria had grown to over 1 popula on exceeding 37 million.
million people only to be overtaken by
Fig.152 Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo.
Fig.151 The remains of Ur, Iraq.

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Many factors contribute to a country’s economic development.The majority of the world’s population now live in urban areas.