Causes of Urbanisation
Geography: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 2.3.2
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:
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.
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.
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.
Test yourself on Causes of Urbanisation
What are the pull factors affecting migration?
Which of the following are push factors affecting migration?
Which of the following is a pull factor affecting migration?