2.3.2

Causes of Urbanisation

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Factors Causing Migration

Migration to cities can be national (migration of people to a city in the same country) or international (migration of people to a city in a different country). The causes of migration can be split into push and pull factors:

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Push factors

  • Push factors force people to leave a place. Some examples are:
    • People's homes and jobs destroyed by a natural disaster.
    • Automation (things like combine harvesters) cause people to lose their jobs in rural agriculture.
    • Land becomes uninhabitable because of processes like desertification.
    • Government mandate (Singapore under Lee Kuan-Yew forced people to move from farms into apartments in cities).
    • Civil wars, like the Syrian Civil War, can force people to leave a place.
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Pull factors

  • Pull factors attract people to a place. Some examples are:
    • Like in the UK in the Industrial Revolution, there may be more jobs and higher paid jobs in cities.
    • Cities usually have more doctors, nurses, teachers, and other wellbeing infrastructure.
    • If the trend is that more people are moving to cities, people may just move to live closer to their family and friends.
    • Cities usually have more cinemas, shops and fun things to do. Flight Club Darts and Junkyard Mini Golf in the UK open sites in major cities, but not in rural areas.
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Natural increase

  • Natural increase happens when the number of people dying is smaller than the number of people being born.
  • People living in cities usually have a lower average age than people living in rural areas, so birth rates are usually higher in cities.

Factors Influencing Urbanisation

The two main causes of urbanisation are rural-urban migration and natural increase.

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Rural-urban migration - push factors

  • People can't afford to repair damage caused by natural disasters.
  • Mechanisation of farming equipment means fewer jobs are available.
  • Desertification can make it hard for people to support themselves as the land becomes less productive.
  • People might be forced to flee their homes because of conflict.
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Rural-urban migration - pull factors

  • Urban areas provide more jobs, and jobs which are often better paid.
  • Health care and education are more easily accessible in urban areas.
  • The thought of joining other family members that have already moved.
  • There is a perception that urban areas provide a better quality of life.
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Natural increase

  • Natural increase happens when the birth rate is greater than the death rate.

Jump to other topics

1Physical Geography

1.1River Environments

1.2Coastal Environments

1.3Hazardous Environments - Tropical Cyclones

1.4Hazardous Environments - Earthquakes & Volcanoes

2Human Geography

3Global Issues

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