Until a few decades ago, Brazil was a country with an agrarian economy and a mostly rural population. Today, 8 out of 10 Brazilians live in cities The concentration of people in urban centers brings a series of implications, whether social, economic or environmental.
The most common sense of urbanization is that of urban growth, that is, it refers to the physical expansion of the city, through the increase in the number of streets, squares, houses, etc. In this case, it has no limit, to the point of joining each other, in a phenomenon known as conurbation.
Another meaning attributed to urbanization involves the growth of population in cities, taking place at a higher rate than that of the rural population. It is in the expansion of the urban way of life that we can find important elements for the analysis of the urbanization process in the present moment.
The urbanization of the 20th century was marked by important characteristics, starting with the very fast pace of growth of cities and their global reach. In fact, the transformations that capitalism promoted in several national societies contributed to this process. trigger in several nations, even in those where industrialization was not representative, that is, in several areas of the world underdeveloped. Another feature refers to the motorization process. In fact, metropolises are widespread, although their presence is more marked in the US, Japan, China, Western Europe and Latin America.
Metropolises exert influence throughout practically the entire national territory, promoting the spread of new forms of life, in addition to bringing about changes in the organization of geographic space.
Currently, out of every 100 Brazilians, approximately 78 live in cities. Although the pace of urbanization is declining in our country, there is still a transfer of population from rural to urban areas. The great urban centers of Brazil live with a series of problems, both sociocultural, environmental and economic.
- kilometric traffic jams, generators of smoke and noise that interfere with quality of life;
- the massive production of garbage, which requires space for its storage and ecological care with its handling;
- the lack of green areas for people's leisure and entertainment;
- real estate speculation that leads to irregular occupations, many of them occurring in conservation areas, such as valley bottoms.
On the other hand, metropolises do not just represent problems, apparently insoluble. On the contrary, its extraordinary dynamism generates job and business offers, in addition to concentrating financial resources and consumption. In this sense, its dynamics also promote solutions to the difficulties that are part of their daily lives.
geography of Brazil - Human Geography of Brazil
geography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/brasil/urbanizacao-geral.htm