Urbanization is the expansion of a city or metropolitan area, where the proportion of total population or area in urban localities or areas, increases over a period of time. Urbanization takes place when people migrate from rural area to the cities in search of jobs and better living conditions.
The process of Urbanization is important because, this process can centralize better amenities at a specific place and a large population can get maximum benefit out of it. There has been various factors which acted as catalyst from time-to-time, such as setting up brick kilns, sugar ills, jute mills ,oil refineries, automobile industries, telecom industries and so on .The latest item on the list is the Information Technology.
Urbanization is not always attributed to high density. In Manila, the cost of living has forced residents to live in low quality slums and shanty towns.
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Urbanization occurs naturally from individual and corporate efforts to reduce expense in commuting and transportation while improving opportunities for jobs, education, housing, and transportation. Living in cities permits individuals and families to take advantage of the opportunities of proximity, diversity, and marketplace competition.
People move into cities to seek economic opportunities. In rural areas, often on small family farms, it is difficult to improve one’s standard of living beyond basic sustenance. Farm living is dependent on unpredictable environmental conditions, and in times of drought, flood or pestilence, survival becomes extremely problematic.
Cities, in contrast, are known to be places where money and wealth are centralized. Cities are where fortunes are made and where social mobility is possible. Businesses, which generate jobs and capital, are usually located in urban areas.
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Whether the source is trade or tourism, it is also through the cities that foreign money flows into a country. It is easy to see why someone living on a farm might wish to take their chance moving to the city and trying to make enough money to send back home to their struggling family.
These conditions are heightened during times of change from a pre-industrial society to an industrial one. It is at this time that many new commercial enterprises are made possible, thus creating new jobs in cities. It is also a result of industrialization that farms become more mechanized, putting many labourers out of work.