Surely each of you has heard the term “urbanization”. What it is? The roots of this concept should be sought in ancient Latin, where the word "Urbanus", meaning "urban", existed. Nowadays, urbanization is called the increase in the percentage of urban population in the state and the decrease in rural.
Nevertheless, this designation does not fully reflect all the processes that accompany urbanization. What are these processes? First of all, we are talking about the increasing role of cities as such in the social and cultural life of society. At the same time, cities, industry, cultural and social centers,
financial flows are concentrated
. In addition, in the process of urbanization, large cities begin to absorb neighboring small villages or satellite towns, villages and other small settlements are converted into urban settlements or even individual cities.
When discussing such a phenomenon as
urbanization, it is also important
that this is a process that has different rates in different countries. Depending on its level, all the states of the planet are divided into three groups: low (less than 32%), medium (from 32 to 73%) and high (above 73%).
You should also be aware that there are various forms of urbanization. For example, urbanization of nature stands apart - a process that assumes that under the influence of large-scale development, natural landscapes are transformed into artificial ones. In many countries, particularly those located in Latin America and Southeast Asia, another interesting phenomenon is observed. It is called "false urbanization." This means that the number of urban population is growing due to high fertility. But at the same time, there is no development of the cities themselves, an increase in the number of jobs, infrastructure. As a result, the layer of economically inactive population and the emergence of disadvantaged areas on the outskirts of megacities - slums are increasing.
Nevertheless, one cannot say, discussing the phenomenon of urbanization, that this is an absolutely harmless process that does not adversely affect society. In particular, the problem of labor shortages in the food industry related to agriculture is becoming ever more acute every year. In addition, today in almost all cities unfavorable environmental conditions reign, air, water and soil are extremely polluted due to the large number of enterprises.
In fairness, it is worth saying that the examples of urbanization that are found in history have their positive consequences. In particular, the
standard of living of the urban population is constantly improving, conditions are becoming more comfortable and safe. The urban environment also provides much more opportunities for the development of the creative potential of residents, the development of new technologies.
The processes of urbanization to one degree or another affect all countries of the world and are irreversible. It is they who, in many respects, push mankind to discover new promising solutions for organizing a balanced and comfortable life for the whole society.