The trend of urbanisation
FoundationUrbanisation is the movement of people from countryside to city, raising the urban share. Since about 2008 more than half of humanity lives in cities, and the UN expects 68% by 2050 — led by developing countries and driven by rural push and urban pull factors.
- Urbanisation is countryside-to-city concentration, measured as an urban percentage
- Majority-urban since about 2008; 68% projected by 2050 — fastest in developing countries
- China: urban share from 18% (1978) to over 65%; Shenzhen from town to metropolis
文體小知識：數據解讀課：記住「2008年城市人口首次過半、2050年將達68%」兩組數字，再學會用推拉因素解釋人口遷移。
§Text Passage
1Urbanisation is the movement and concentration of people from countryside to city, raising the urban share of population. It is the largest migration in human history: around 2008, for the first time, more than half of humanity lived in cities, and the UN projects about 68% by 2050. Developed countries urbanised long ago (over 80% in the USA and Japan); the fastest growth now is in developing Asia and Africa.
2China is the most spectacular case: when reform began in 1978, under 20% of its people lived in towns; today the share tops 65%, with hundreds of millions moving to cities in four decades and Shenzhen growing from a border town into a metropolis of over ten million. Urbanisation powered the economic miracle — and brought housing, traffic and environmental strain.
3Why do people flock to cities? Geographers explain with push and pull factors. Push factors drive people out of the countryside: too little farmland, low farm incomes, few schools and clinics, natural hazards. Pull factors draw them to cities: more jobs and higher wages, education and health care, utilities and infrastructure, and the appeal of urban life. Real migration mixes both — a young farmer takes a factory job in the city (pull) while the family plot can no longer feed everyone (push).
4Urbanisation is not bad in itself: cities produce most wealth, innovation and jobs, and use resources more efficiently per person. The problem is pace versus capacity — when people arrive faster than housing, infrastructure and jobs can grow, slums, congestion and pollution follow. Next lesson: the troubles of the megacity.
1Summary 重點摘要
Urbanisation is the movement of people from countryside to city, raising the urban share. Since about 2008 more than half of humanity lives in cities, and the UN expects 68% by 2050 — led by developing countries and driven by rural push and urban pull factors.
2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary
The process by which people concentrate in cities and the urban share of population keeps rising.
The percentage of a population living in urban areas — the main measure of urbanisation.
Movement of people from countryside to city — the main engine of urbanisation.
Negative factors driving people from the countryside: land shortage, low incomes, poor services, hazards.
Positive factors drawing people to cities: jobs, wages, schooling, health care and infrastructure.
Lower-income, less industrialised countries; late to urbanise but now urbanising fastest, e.g. in Africa and South Asia.
Early-industrialised, high-income countries with high urban shares (over 80%) but slow growth.
The Chinese city that grew from a border town into a metropolis of over ten million — the icon of China's urban boom.
People who leave farms to work in cities; China has nearly 300 million, powering manufacturing and construction.
3Step by step Steps
- Para 1: definition and measureUrbanisation is the process by which people move from countryside to city and urban ways of life spread, measured by one formula: urban population divided by total population times 100%. Hong Kong, where almost everyone lives in urban areas, scores nearly 100%; China's urban share was only about 18% in 1978 and tops 65% today — a scale of change rarely seen in human history and a handy contrast for answers.
- Para 1: the global numbersGlobal urbanisation keeps accelerating: in 1950 only about 30% of people lived in cities, and London and New York were already rare giants; around 2008 the world's urban population passed half for the first time, a historic watershed; the UN projects about 68% by 2050. Notably, most of the new city dwellers come from developing countries in Asia and Africa.
- Para 2: the China caseChina offers the most spectacular case of recent decades. Shenzhen was a town of about 30,000 people in 1980 and now holds more than ten million; nearly 300 million migrant workers have moved to cities nationwide. Push factors include tiny per-person plots and low farm incomes; pull factors are plentiful factory jobs paying several times farm wages. Between push and pull, hundreds of millions changed where and how they live, reshaping the national economy.
- Para 3: the push-pull checklistExplain rural-urban migration with the push-pull framework. Push factors drive people out of the countryside: land shortage, machinery releasing surplus labour, frequent natural hazards and missing schools and clinics. Pull factors draw them to cities: jobs, higher wages, concentrated schools and hospitals, reliable utilities and wide opportunity. Flood-prone Bangladeshi villages push people out while Dhaka's garment jobs pull them in, swelling the capital.
- Para 3: migration needs push and pullMigration always results from push and pull working together; neither suffices alone. With pull alone and a settled village life, people may never leave home; with push alone and no room in the city, people stay trapped in rural hardship. An answer that says only 'city wages are high and life is good' while ignoring rural pushes loses marks for incompleteness — list both sides, each with a concrete example.
- Para 4: judging urbanisationUrbanisation carries both gains and costs. Cities create wealth and innovation, and density gives public transport and shared infrastructure real economies of scale — urban per-capita transport carbon can even beat the suburbs'. But when growth outruns the arrival of people, slums, congestion and pollution follow. The key to evaluation questions: the problem lies not in urbanisation itself but in whether growth speed matches management capacity.
4Diagrams Diagrams
5Worked example Example
Example: using China, explain the push and pull factors behind mass rural-urban migration since the 1980s.
- Push: tiny plots per family and farm incomes far below urban wages; thin rural schooling and health care; erosion and hazards in some regions
- Pull: coastal factories hiring in droves at several times farm pay; urban schools, hospitals and business opportunities; infrastructure and lifestyle for the young
- Policy: reform and opening allowed movement, and Special Economic Zones such as Shenzhen created millions of jobs
- Result: the urban share rose from about 18% in 1978 to over 65%; Shenzhen grew from 30,000 to over ten million — while left-behind children and urban villages emerged
- Answer: Push and pull worked together: land and income shortfalls plus thin services pushed people out; jobs, wages and services pulled them in; opening-up let them move — hundreds of millions in all. Tip: list three factors on each side and close with one city's story (Shenzhen or Dongguan).
6Common mistakes Mistakes
7Quick check Quick check
Q1What is the urbanisation level?
Q2When did the world first become majority-urban, and what is the 2050 projection?
Q3Give two push factors and two pull factors.
Q4What does Shenzhen's transformation illustrate?
Q5What are the benefits of urbanisation?
8Recap Recap
- Urbanisation is countryside-to-city concentration, measured as an urban percentage
- Majority-urban since about 2008; 68% projected by 2050 — fastest in developing countries
- China: urban share from 18% (1978) to over 65%; Shenzhen from town to metropolis
- Push (land, income, services, hazards) plus pull (jobs, wages, education, infrastructure)
- Benefits lie in efficiency and wealth; problems come when growth outruns infrastructure