Urbanization is the process of moving away from the rural characteristics of a place or region, for urban characteristics. It is usually associated with the development of civilization and technology.
Demographically, the term means the redistribution of populations from rural areas to urban settlements, but it can also designate the action of provide an area with urban infrastructure and equipment, such as water, sewage, gas, electricity and urban services such as transport, education and health.
Urbanization is studied by various sciences, such as sociology, geography and anthropology. The disciplines that seek to understand, regulate, design and plan urbanization processes are the urbanism, urban planning, landscape planning, urban design, geography, among others.
The urbanization process gave rise to large cities, which lost the precise boundaries between them.
Urbanization can also be the proportional increase in the urban population in relation to the rural population, and urbanization only occurs when urban population growth exceeds population growth rural.
Most of the Brazilian population, for example, lives in cities.
Brazilian urbanization
Urbanization consists of a process of growth of cities in the industrial age, with a shift from the center of social life from the countryside to the cities and the penetration of reforms in rural areas.
In Brazil, urbanization occurred in a fast and disorganized way. The urbanization of an area depended a lot on the resources that could be found there, for example, sugarcane and gold.
In the 20th century, urbanization gained strength in Brazil thanks to industrialization, and only after the middle of that century did Brazil come to be considered an urban country.
This industrialization brought a lot of technical progress, such as the introduction of the hydraulic system, lighting and basic sanitation. Plans also emerged to build public spaces with green areas.
world urbanization
The concept of urbanization exists in all countries, and it gained strength especially after World War I.
In a global context, urbanization aimed to provide housing areas with green spaces, cultural and sports centers.
Urban planning
Urban planning is a project of urban development and organization of a territorial portion. It aims to promote the greatest social benefit and convenience for the inhabitants, through the observance of aesthetic, hygiene and infrastructure standards.
They translate into limitations on the uncontrolled exercise of property rights, conditioning the occupation of the land and disciplining the faculty of building.
Urbanization and industrialization
The industrialization of the 19th century caused a rapid growth of cities, resulting in large agglomerations of housing in poor condition, supply problems, unhealthy areas and difficulty of traffic.
The increase in traffic and the installation of industries thus cause an increasing contamination of the environment.
Urbanization and environment
The uncontrolled urbanization process has brought serious problems to the environment and the species of fauna and flora that inhabit it.
For example, the removal of vegetation, river diversions, construction of dams and hydroelectric plants for supplying energy to cities and other actions of urbanized man contribute to the imbalance of ecosystem.
See too:
- City
- Rural exodus
- Metropolis
