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Causes of urbanization in africa
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Urbanization is the movement from a rural society to an urban society, and involves a growth in the number of people in urban areas. Urban growth is increasing in both the developed but mostly in the developing countries. Urbanization is associated with the problems of unemployment, poverty, bad health, poor cleanliness, urban slums environmental deprivation. This causes a very big problem for these developing countries and who are some of poorest countries. Africa urbanization is not as big as most developing countries but is on the rise for it outbursts in city growth lately. (Saundry, 2008).
In Africa, one important feature of the urbanization process is that a lot of the growth is taking place in the industrial increase. Urbanization also finds expression in external expansion of the built-up area and the changing of prime agricultural lands into residential and industrial uses (Saundry, 2008). An alternate to the present expansion of the urban population across a wide area of the country in order to save crucial land for agriculture is to construct high-rise buildings and support commercial development in specific zones, which would depend on efficiency, and the right technology and resources (Hanson, 2011). In Africa, the urbanization processes are largely driven by market forces and government policies. This will lead to methods at the same time of change in incomes, land use, health and natural resources management including water, soil and forests and often reactive changes in local governments (The Economist, 2010). So this is saying that government development policies and budget divisions, in which urban residents are often favorites over rural areas and will tend to pull more people into the urban areas. I...
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...population distribution designed to reduce the rate of rural-urban migration appears to have had limited success in many developing countries. Policies must be directed at altering the rural economy in order to slow the rate of urban sprawl. Broad land use planning and changing of planning standards and governmental procedures would go a long way to reduce many of the problems that face urban populations in the developing areas, especially Africa. Urbanization can cause a lot of problems for a city or even a country. It can cause cities to become overpopulated which are known as mega-cites, and cause problems with living arrangements and finding a job. Urbanization can also cause health problems. Urbanization is supposed to be good for developing countries on the rise but with this rapid growth in Africa, these problems can become a major concern in the future.
The discourse provides questions around what is existing, how it came to be and how do we move forward from this. However, some argue that this urban sprawl we see today is due to rapid influx of people moving toward the city for work opportunities, also commonly known as, urbanisation. Other people argue that the “poor” make a decision and choice to live in informality but it is usually not a choice, it is usually a sacrifice people make in order to live and acquire work in the city. On the other hand, developments such as Wescape, 40kms from Cape Town for 800,000 people with 25 % of housing being subsidized cements the idea that the city is reserved for the higher income group. Excluding the poorer communities to peripheral communes only isolates them further from economic, social and sustainable networks that will not help increasing the density of the city of Cape Town, but only spread it further and wider.
The concept of urbanization means the growth of the cities when compared to the rural areas. On the one hand, urbanization is perceived as a positive development that contributes to the increase of the level of life of people since urban areas are usually regarded as higher developed. In addition to this, urbanization is also usually encouraged through the media and by some social factors. On the other hand, the constant flow of people to the cities has a negative effect as far as it the growth of the population in the cities causes numerous problems in the urban environment, including the overpopulation and the unequal possibilities for everyone to build his or her
In Africa, there were achievements in the empires or kingdoms and their cities before the Europeans arrived and took control. In the Kingdom (Empire) of Axum they developed a trade route. In the Kingdom of Ghana they had characteristics of powerful nations today. In the city of Timbuktu they had great morals and developed the center of Islamic Art. There are many other things that Africa achieved in.
The numerous regions included in this film extend from all corners of the world to show just how relevant and important urbanization is. Gary and his team visited countries such as South Africa, China and Brazil while speaking with law makers, political officials and architects in an attempts to understand the logic
Most of the countries in this region have a strong presence of primate cities, where one disproportionately larger city dominates overall country influence and activity. Primate cities bring with them a load of additional problems to a region. The pulling factor of these cities creates a lack of resources in the outer areas around these metropolises. When a primate city draws all of an area’s resources it causes rural-to-urban migration, which is when people deliberately choose to come to a city because of the lack of opportunity in revolving rural areas. Their sheer size and activity becomes a strong pull factor, bringing additional residents to the city, and overall continuing the issue of size disproportion with nearby cities. This regions colonial past has not only affected agriculture, but also impacted their road to urban primacy, ...
Congo’s population is estimated at 4.04 million, over half of which live in the two major cities of Brazzaville and Pointe- Noire. In this area since the 20th century three fourth of the population lives in urban areas, making the Congo one of Africa’s most urbanized countries. Almost all Congolese are Bantu, a name that refers to the people living in Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. The Bantu originated from Nigeria and Cameroon and migrated to Southern Africa 2,000 years ago. In present day Congo, non-Bantu tribes account for only 3% of the population. The Bantu include 74 peoples belonging to different ethnic groups such as the Kongo, the Teke, the Mbochi and the Sangha.
Cossou, E. (2010 ). Lagos aims to be Africa's model megacity.Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8473001.stm. Last accessed 18th January 2014.
Poorly planned rapid urbanization carries with it grave consequences in the form of urban environmental hazards which include flash floods, mudslides and the like. These hazards increase as urbanization increases. Thus there is need to plan and properly manage the process rapid urbanization (Nyambod,
The Negative Effects of Urbanization on People and their Environment As our world becomes increasingly globalized, numerous people travel to urban areas in search of economic prosperity. As a consequence of this, cities in periphery countries expand at rates of 4 to 7 percent annually. Many cities offer entrepreneurs the potential for resources, labor, and resources. With prosperity, cities also allow the freedom of a diversity of ways of life and manners (Knox & Marston, 2012). However, in the quest to be prosperous, increasing burdens are placed on our health and the condition of our environment.
ABSTRACT African economy is discussed greatly in today’s world. The African continent is rich in resources but the most of the population is poor. Decade after decade, politicians and international organizations have failed to reduce poverty. Nor have they been able to help Africa generate growth or build basic infrastructure.
...ing a more sustainable environment. A call upon local and national government to provide adequate policy relating to urban agriculture has been made. According to Rogerson, (in Liebenberg 2005:40-43) in many parts of Africa, urban agriculture is still frowned upon by authorities but in the face of Africa’s growing poverty problem it is being reconsidered (collective solution).
There are many differences surrounding the urbanization in the Third World versus urbanization in the First World. Although many of these developing countries are highly urbanized they all share a pattern of uneven development that is much more extreme than that found in the older, developed nations (Gottdiener & Hutchison, 2011, p. 283). According to Smith and Timberlake (1993), the main differences between developed and developing nations are factors such as: elite power, state policies, integration into the global economy, and the effects of class structure.
The combination of both population growth and social economic indicators tend to draw attention to concerned demographers. Although the region is experiencing rapid growth of roughly 910.4 million people, Africa south of the Sahara is not densely populated as a whole (The World Bank). However, in certain areas, condensed civilization will cause many problems in the near future if it is not fixed. For instance, an over populace country within Sub Saharan could encounter problems providing for their own community, which will ultimately become inevitable. Othe...
Easterly, William Russell., and Ross Levine. Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard U, 1996. Print.
The changes in land use and land cover are likely to affect both the natural environment (natural resources) and also the man-made environment in complex ways. To determine the effects of landuse and landcover changes, we need to study and understand past landuse and landcover patterns, current landuse and landcover patterns, compare both past and present patterns and then make future projections about landuse and landcover. We also need to study and understand how these practices affect anthropogenic activities, population, economic development, technology and other anthropogenic characteristics. This paper attempts to review the landuse changes in eight Nigerian cities; these cities are Ibadan, Jos, Port-Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna, Owerri, Calabar and Suleja