THE PROCESS OF URBANIZATION AND ITS CAUSES.
DR. Sujit Narayan Chattopadhyay
&
Surjasnata Chattopadhyay
Regarding
Urbanization:-
There
are number of theories which have tried to explain the occurrence of
urbanization. There are some authors like Childe or Harvey etc. who emphasized
on the process of self-generated and endogenous urbanization. But in late
eighteenth Century we have witnessed the rise of urban sectors in Great Britain
through the wake of industrial capitalism. In a demographic sense, this theory
focuses on the rural-urban population shift as the foundation of urbanization,
but it identifies industrialization as he basic driver behind the movement of
rural population to urban areas for factory work.
Before
industrialization in the Great Britain, no society could be described as urban
or urbanized. All countries primarily in West, that began to industrialize
rapidly after Great Britain became highly urbanized by the mid-twentieth
century which was followed by accelerated industrialization and then
urbanization.
What
are the basic causes of Urbanization?
Among
others, following four causes are important, which have led to the growing of
Cities.
1.
Industrialization is one of the basic
cause of urbanization. Industrialization at the initial stage expanded the
employment opportunities to both skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled labour.
Rural people started migrating from their native place to the cities in search
of better employment and income opportunities.
2.
Social Factor also played a major role
for attacking the rural people to the cities. The rural people were attracted
to come to the cities for better standard of living, better educational
facilities. They, in fact, wanted to raise the status of their life pattern and
status of family.
3.
In rural sector people generally lived
on agriculture, and they carried out a traditional family life pattern. Indian
agriculture is heavily depending on monsoon. Apart
from that the village cultivators also suffer during the time of drought
situation or any other natural calamities. These naturally provoke the rural
people to migrate to the cities.
4.
Urbanization is characterized by
sophisticated technology better infrastructure, communication medical
facilities etc. People feel that they can lead a comfortable life in cities and
migrate to cities.
How rural community is absorbing the
urban characteristics, and what are the consequences of this transformation on
rural culture?
It
is an important aspect that with the growing urbanization, the rural society is
transforming its internal aboriginal pattern of life and other social
tradition. Thus the interesting aspect of urbanization is that the cities are
not only increasing in number in view of growing industrialization, but the
rural community is also keen to adopt the urban culture, partially leaving out
their unique aboriginal tradition of rural culture. As a consequence of their
urban proximity, they start to follow the material culture of urban people,
leaving their own traditional social character and own-ness. Here briefly we
can discuss the consequences of Urbanization on the Rural with help of the
available information.
The
impact of urbanization can be taken into account with the help of many
variables. Generally the person whose geographical or locational proximity with
the cities is firmly established,
whether he or she may reside in cities or the hinterland , the effect of
economic political or occupational organisation fall on him or her family more
convincingly. Even he enjoy the benefit of taking the advantage of health,
educational or general welfare provided by the state or by any individual
initiative or entrepreneurship. In spite of this, it must also be kept in mind,
that the social and cultural system of urban and rural societies differ and
that these differences invariably have a direct or indirect bearing on the
interaction between a city and its hinterland.
Initially,
the impact of urbanization on the rural society, can be seen as societies
become increasingly urbanized, the social emphasis is placed on achievement
rather than on ascription. There are number of aspects where urbanization has
brought about many changes in the life of its dwellers. Some of them are
physical, social, psychological and cultural aspects.
I) Physical
Aspects: - Industrialization has resulted in an
increase in urban population which creates further pressure on urban land. As a
result there is dearth of space, and consequently congestion and overcrowding
occur. The situation may go to that extent where municipality finds difficult
to provide the basic amenities to the migrated as well as existing population.
The amenities include consumer goods (food and water) shelter and protection
from infectious disease. Another consequence of an increase in population is
the imbalance created between demand and supply of goods and commodities. The
prices rise exorbitantly due to inflation and lack of adequate supply.
II) Social
Aspects: - Increasing number of inhabitants in a
settlement beyond a certain limit affect the relationship between them and
character of the city. The greater the number of individuals participating in a
process of interaction, the greater is the potential of differentiation between
them whereby the personal trails, the occupation, the cultural life and the
ideas, and belief and values get widely separated. These variations give rise
to the spatial segregation of individuals. The bonds of kinship, neighborliness
and sentiments of living together for generations are absent among these people
due to such diverse origin and background. In such circumstances, competition
and formal control mechanism substitute for the bonds of solidarity that hold a
folk or a village society together. Another important outcome of an increase in
population and the consequent increase in density is that personal mutual
acquaintanceship between inhabitants, which ordinarily involve an increase in a
neighborhood feeling, is lacking. Thus, the increase in number involves changed
the character of the social relationship, the absence of anonymity and
segmentalization of human relationship.
The
high mobility in the urban life enables an individuals to assume diverse roes.
This in turns leads to instability and insecurity in the society at large. The
city dweller thus in a transitory habitat, does not generate binding tradition
and sentiments and only rarely is found to be neighborly. All these have led to
the growth of a number of social problems.
III)
Psychological: - The level of assimilation in the urban areas is concerned
with the psychological aspects of adjustment acquiring the values, meaning,
sentiments, prejudice or ideologies of that particular community. The problem
of assimilation is more for migrants as they usually come from different
backgrounds and struggle to settle down in the migrated cities. The rapid
changed through globalization and liberalization in the economic sphere have
brought many changes influencing the life of people residing in urban areas
also.
Take for instance, India only after 1991; many business
processing outsourcing (BPO) companies have started functioning in almost all
the major urban centres. The result is that many young people have shifted to
these organizations because they pay better and also the working conditions in
these organizations are better, but the problem here is these organizations
expect their employees to work for longer hours and sometimes in night shifts.
Such changes are affecting the individual’s social life, including his/her
family life.
IV)
Cultural: - Urban impact may occur at
different parts of a region or sub-region, and in many different ways, as urban
culture becomes diffused beyond a city’s political boundary. The cultural
content may be disseminated by human carriers, who transmit their ideas,
techniques, skills and modes of behavior through interpersonal contacts or by
mass transportation and communication. A villager, who has lived or worked in a
city and returns to his/her village, is a carrier capable of transmitting to
his village kin or friends some of the culture he/she has acquired through
urban residence.
This process of diffusion is reversed through the flow of
culture into the city from the outside. As a rural hinterland becomes urbanized
in a cultural and social sense, so do urban communities become realized, partly
by the presence in the city of rural or village folk who take with them their
values and behavior patterns when they visit or take up residence in an urban
community. But the outflow of urban culture is generally greater in volume and
the impact is more penetrating, at least more dramatic and apparent, than the
impact of rural culture on urban people and their social life. This process
remains reciprocal.
V)
Economic: - Economic impact of
urbanization on villages can be seen in two ways: economic impact caused due to
industrialization and economic impact due to migration of inhabitants in search
of livelihood.
a)
Industrialization: -The explosion in
urban growth or the rapid urbanization process that gave rise to the modern
industrial city depended on the process of industrialization. Thus, one finds
that urbanization was closely tied to industrialization as cities developed
adjacent to the sources of cheap energy, based first on water, power and then
on coal and at sites where rivers, lakes or canals permitted the assembly and
dispersal of bulky raw materials and finished products, a transportation
pattern later reinforced by the rail roads.
So close was the relationship between industrial
production and urbanization that in a review of the 19th century American city,
Goheen noted, ‘Industrialization is almost synonymous with the growth of the
modem city.’ This assessment was shared by the 19th century American
commentators such as Frederick Engels, ‘Industry and Commerce attain their
highest stage of development in the big towns, so that it is here that the
effects of industrialization on the wage earners can be more clearly seen.’
The explosive urbanization, which is the result of
industrialization, has also affected the agricultural technology. It has
affected fanning by changing the ways that the crops and livestock are raised.
Farmers with these modern methods are now able to grow enough food for the
large densely populated cities also, apart from satisfying their own needs.
Thus, one reason for rapid urbanization was increase in productivity.
Another is the development of transport and
communication systems, which are also the result of industrialization. Thirdly,
the new building materials such as steel and reinforced concrete, plus the
invention of the elevator, have enabled the architects to design much taller
and bigger buildings that can accommodate the increasing population.
The improvements in the public health and hygiene
have not only cut the rate of mortality, but also increased the rate of migration
to the cities. Thus, one can find a strong correlation between
industrialization and urbanization. Industrialization has brought about
efficiency in every field due to mechanization processes. As a consequence,
the cities are attracting more and more number of people leading to the growth
of urban areas and rapid urbanization all over the world.
b) Migration: -Geographical mobility or migration of people
within a country is a demographic response to disparities in the regional
levels of socioeconomic development. Regions of higher economic development
with higher incomes and wages tend to attract people and particularly
economically active population from regions with relatively lower levels of
development and consequently lower rates of wages and incomes. Migration
constitutes the very foundation of the process of urbanization and is
recognized as the chief mechanism by which urban areas continue to grow.
Migration has led to a massive movement of people
from areas of low economic opportunities, concentrated in rural areas and in
smaller sized urban settlements to the centres of high economic opportunities,
which are hyper-concentrated in the metropolitan cities with population
exceeding 1 million. Sometimes, this uncontrolled influx of migrants into the
metropolitan cities is fraught with disastrous consequences. It has resulted in
a number of jobless or underemployed people, which is one reason why a number
of people are living in slums or as squatter settlements or on pavements as
houseless population and decline in providing the basic amenities like water
supply, sanitation and health.
The consequences of migration can be seen in the
rural areas also. The impact is more if one male or female member of the family
has migrated. These working males or females send money to their families
living in rural areas and also visit them often. This results not only in the
flow of wealth from urban centres to rural areas, but also the flow of urban
culture to rural areas and vice versa.
If a person has migrated with his/her nuclear family
to the city, but the extended members of his/her family are still residing in
rural areas, then the migrated family may not visit their rural relatives so
often, but the impact of urbanization is felt on such facilities also. In such
cases, usually money is sent to the rural relatives once in a month or when it
is needed. Along with money, the urban way of living is also transferred to the
rural relatives whenever the family visits the rural centres. Thus, migration
will not only bring about changes in urban centres, but will also bring about
changes in rural areas.
VI) Political: - In urban areas, one can find many new
immigrants. These new comers do not have the same social connections as the
original inhabitants, so they increasingly resort to developing informal social
networks for their survival. In the process, some rural traditional forms of
organizations are forms of organizations are formed. Various forces try to
exploit these organizations for personal or political gain.
Once the members of the organizations start understanding
their importance, they start exercising authority collectively. In course of
time, these organizations may take the form of political parties. Sometimes,
the urban people may only influence the existing political party’s future in a
democratic country.
VII) Environment: -Today’s urban environment is not a natural
environment. It is an artificial environment created by man. The high density
of population and rapid industrialization have polluted the urban environment
to a great extent. The problem of environmental pollution has become a serious
threat to the urban environment. The unhygienic conditions in which majority of
the urban people are living because of the high cost of installing pollution
control devices are expected to bring the paradoxical trap of poverty and
pollution in the long run.
