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The Impact of Urbanization
Effects of urbanization
Effects of urbanization
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Urbanization (or urbanisation) is the increasing number of people that live in urban areas. Urbanization has been the result of economic growth for most countries. In fact, every developed nation in the world has gone through urbanization and this is no news to Chinese leaders. To turn the nation of China from being a developing nation to a developed nation, China encouraged the migration of citizens from the countryside to move to large cities and fuel the industrializing nation. Though urbanization has been a process many countries have gone through, China’s urbanization plans are very distinct compared to western examples. The main reason for China’s urbanization distinctions is its sheer magnitude and pace. In this paper, we will review this mass migration, the economic growth, China’s environmental concerns (specifically air pollution) due the urbanization and the focus on industrialization, and we will briefly see China’s newest seven year urbanization plan. In 1950, only 13% of China’s population lived in cities (Seto, n.d.). Post 30 years, one hundred-million people moved to large cities from rural areas in China. This migration was considered the largest migration in human history. To compare this migration to western cities, the example of Shenzhen is used. For a Western city to have a population of three million to increase to ten million, it takes about a hundred years. 30-year old city, Shenzhen on the other hand made this population increase in just a decade (qtd. Caughey and Dawn). Today, over 53.7% of its population lives in cities; by 2020 it is projected that a whole 60% of the population will live in cities (Xinhuanet, 2014). It seems every developed country is also urbanized and Chinese leaders know this. Chi... ... middle of paper ... ...gtonpost.com/2014/03/09/china-pollution-rules_n_4927591.html>. Xinhuanet. "China unveils landmark urbanization plan - Xinhua | English.news.cn." China unveils landmark urbanization plan - Xinhua | English.news.cn. N.p., 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. . "Yale Insights." What Should We Understand about Urbanization in China?. Yale School of Management , n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. . Yifan, Ding Yifan. "CHINA US Focus - Exclusive Analysis of the Politics, Economics, Military and Culture of China-US Relations.." CHINA US Focus Urbanization Chinas New Driving Force Comments. N.p., 30 Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. .
With the largest population of any country in the world, much attention has been focused on China's ability to handle the overwhelming crowds in such a dense area. China bolsters a population of 1.38 billion citizens, many of whom are unable to live in under proper conditions. Overpopulation has led to unhealthy living conditions that can lead to severe health problems. It is easy to look at the positives of having many people to form a workforce and build the country’s infrastructure. However, the simple question of where does everyone fit has become a great crisis in recent decades. It has become clear to Chinese government that being the most-populated country in the world can lead to many issues that require different policies to be put in place.
The Consulate General of The People's Republic of China. (2003). Fast Facts about China. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from The consulate general of the people's republic of china in los angeles : http://losangeles.china-consulate.org/eng/culture/acc/t80661.htm
Immanuel C.Y. Hsu, 1995. The Rise of Modern China.5Rev Ed Edition. Oxford University Press, USA.
citizens in the west half of China have a desire to live in a more urban life
In addition to the growth of the proportion of urban population, the increase in the number of cities also reflects the urbanization process from a different perspective. After reform, cities began to regain attention from the government. In China, administrative force has always been an assignable factor which significantly affected the fluctuation of number of cities. The formation of Chinese city hierarchy has its origin in the ancient times. For a very long period in Chinese history “cities were predominantly administrative centers and their political functions were more significant than their commercial functions in organizing urban social life.”
A mere 200 years ago, the amount of people that lived in urbanized areas accounted for less than 5% of the world’s population. Today, as many as 50 percent of the world’s population has followed the trend of urbanization, and moved from agriculture to the industrial world. Urbanization can be seen as a global challenge that has advantages and disadvantages to the world and humanity. These aspects can be explored through multiple perspectives: including its effects on international security, the political/ economical aspect, the repercussions to the environment, and even its impact on culture itself.
Shanghai is a developing city and a transportation hub in one of the fast-growing country in the world. In 1978, the nation adopted open-door policies and the establishment of Pudong new district in 1993, which have promoted growth of the city. The role of transport hub was enhanced. The city situated in a developing country, which GDP per capita falling on developing country’s standard though the city is very much developed (World Bank, 2010). This city is a gather place of different m...
University of Michigan, ‘Urbanization and Global Change’ April 1, 2006. Retrieved on March 9, 2011 from http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/urban_gc/
Shenzhen has been acknowledged as a four pillar industrial city due to its advances in the technological industry as well as information...
As population has doubled over the past 50 years, China's agriculture, energy supplies, urban infrastructure, education, a...
The People’s Republic of China has been one of the key growers of the global middle class throughout the past decades. It houses a middle class population of approximately 300 million people. A massive shift is occurring to increase marketing and increasing urban middle class populations in China. Millions of people are being encouraged to move to the cities which will springboard economic growth through domestic consumption. In addition to urbanization and consumption, the PRC is investing in programs designed to boost infrastructure, healthcare and education. This includes new transportation technology, designed to make domes...
While urbanization levels and trends closely mirror global patterns of industrialization and economic development, this is still a remarkable transformation when compared with the situation at the beginning of the 20th Century, when only 13 per cent of the population lived in urban areas and there were just sixteen cities in the world that contained at least a million people. Today, there are almost 400 cities around the world that contain more than a million residents and about seventy percent of these are in less developed countries. Rural–urban migration as a result of employment opportunities and social amenities in cities have been important determinants of rapid urban growth but there has also been a general convergence in lifestyles between urban and rural areas as advances in transportation and telecommunication have caused distance and time to collapse. Urban functions are being spread over larger and larger geographic areas so that the traditional distinction between urban and rural areas is becoming increasingly redundant for many purposes.
On contrary, urban transition is usually thought of as beneficial for the country. Citizens have high expectations out of it. However, urban transition is solely to blame for the increasi...
... the number of people from the countries exceeded that from the cities for the first time. Shanxi News Web. December 1, 2004
Our environment is harmed drastically with the coming of this rapid urbanization. There is an estimated 18 million acres of forestland that is lost every year due to rapid changes in our environment caused by Urbanization. Not only are we causing large amounts of deforestation, but also the consumption in these metropolitan cities are very high, and in some cases too high for the population to continue growing which is an example of china’s one (now two) child