Megacities are cities with populations exceeding 10 million inhabitants. According to estimates, by 2015 at least four of the five largest urban centers in the world will belong to poor countries.
This is evident when we observe important metropolises belonging to developed countries that have been surpassed population by large urban centers located in poor countries such as Lagos, Nigeria, and Dhaka, in Bangladesh. Despite this, the rich nations will continue with high economic, industrial and technological development, the cities of these nations encompass relevant financial centers, international institutions, research centers, headquarters of transnational companies and are the stage for the main decisions global.
The accelerated urbanization process has recently promoted an increase of the urban population in relation to the rural one, that is, by the For the first time in history, the number of people living in cities surpassed that of individuals from rural areas, in countries poor.
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Urbanization implemented in an unstructured way causes not only a concentration of people, but also an agglomeration of poverty, misery and other social problems.
The main cause of the problem is the difficulty in keeping up with urban population growth with the implementation of infrastructure (basic sanitation, health, transport, water, housing, etc.), thus, megacities are unable to meet the demand of the high number of people, fleeing the control of authorities.
One of the common features among megacities is the growing widening of income disparities between individuals.
According to researchers linked to urbanization, one of the proposals to prevent and alleviate such inconveniences is planning, based on a master plan that includes the participation of various segments of the society.
By Eduardo de Freitas
Graduated in Geography
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FREITAS, Eduardo de. "The megacities of poor countries"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/as-megacidades-dos-paises-pobres.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.