Socio-economic Processes and Change Causing Urbanisation

Edexcel B GCSE Geography > Challenges of an Urbanising World > Socio-economic processes and change causing urbanisation

Urbanisation through social and economic changes

Economic growth and the creation of new jobs are two of the key drivers of urbanisation. When TNCs invest in emerging countries by building factories, this causes rapid industrialisation. Jobs are created, which leads to mass migration to the cities, causing urbanisation. Migration can be national, involving movement from rural areas to urban areas, or international, where people move from other countries to find work. These are sometimes referred to as economic migrants. Similarly, the growth of service economies and knowledge economies has led to the rapid expansion of world cities in high-income countries (HICs).

Comparing economic change in different urban populations:

Kampala – Uganda, Africa – An emerging city

With a population of 1.8 million, Kampala is the capital of Uganda, and urban growth is fuelled by rural-urban internal migration and natural increase. Many people come due to a range of push and pull factors.

New York, USA – A high-income city

The rate of population growth in New York has continued to rise, despite a general slowdown in many other high-income cities. A high level of overseas migration (343,000) and a high rate of natural increase (280,000) contributed to New York’s population exceeding 8.5 million in 2015.

The knowledge economy was the most significant cause of growth, as New York is one of the two major cities that specialise in finance. With a high demand for qualified workers with university degrees and specialised experience, businesses often have to attract workers from overseas to fill positions. There is also a high demand for unskilled workers, which is supported by international migration.

Detroit, USA – A city in decline

Once a booming industrial hub, home to General Motors (the world’s largest vehicle company) and providing thousands of jobs, Detroit was home to 1.85 million people in 1950. However, a series of changes led to the decline of the city, leaving it bankrupt in 2013.

Between 1960 and 2000, as wealthier populations moved to the suburbs, the city was left with mostly poorer populations. As a result, the city lost a significant amount of taxable income and was unable to provide basic services, including waste removal, education, healthcare, and security.
Detroit continued to face further problems when General Motors sales halved between 2000-10. This resulted in job losses, and many workers were replaced by robots and automation.
Additionally, most car parts were imported from overseas, resulting in the closure of local supply businesses. These closures led to deindustrialisation (the closure of industries) and a further spiral of decline for the city.
In 2015, unemployment stood at 15% and many people left the area to find work elsewhere.
With limited employment prospects, many people could not afford their mortgage repayments and 62,000 homes were reprocessed and resold in 2015, most for US$1 as demand for housing is so low.