Urbanization
Introduction
Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, leading to the growth and development of urban areas. Urbanization creates relevant social, economic, political, and environmental changes that provide an opportunity for resource use and sustainability. Most of the urban centers have developed due to their good transport and communication routes, education institutions, governmental administration centers, religious centers as well as a high population of people. Therefore, this paper examines different reasons and factors for the growth of urban centers at different rates, EU’s urban regions on NUTS3 levels concerning OECD’s definition (>150 people/Km2), information on urban region development of GRP per capita since 2000 and geographical differences to their growth.
Reasons for Why Urban Centers Grew Faster Than Others Regions Since 2000
The global trend in urbanization is not the same in all parts of the world. Therefore, some urban centers have grown faster than in other regions since 2000 due to different factors. The natural increase of population in developing countries boosted a significant factor in the growth of cities. This increase in urban population as a result of rural to urban migration, whereby people moved to urban centers in search of essential services, employment opportunities, better standards of living as well as environmental changes in rural areas. Therefore, these rural to urban migration processes were influenced by both pull and push factors (Keeble et al.,p.409). Secondly, the industrial revolution and growth in the urban centers spurred their growth. Industries offered employment opportunities to many people from rural areas, which also led to urban development. Transformed transport, technological and communication systems in urban centers contributed greatly to urban growth. Electricity supply spurred industrial production and economic growth; telephone increased business control and growth while roads, railway, and air transport contributed to movements of people and goods in the urban centers.
Additionally, many social factors, such as educational institutions, medical facilities, and religious facilities, also induced people to migrate into the cities, thus resulting in their faster growth as compared to other regions. Furthermore, modernization factor characterized urban regions by better infrastructures, technology, medical, social, and economic facilities, which thereafter created the mental impression to many people who migrated from rural areas with aims of leading a comfortable life in urban centers. As a result, these people provided labor to various economic sectors, thus contributed to the growth of these urban centers. In general, all the above factors led to faster growth of urban centers since 2000 as compared to other regions.
EU’s Urban Regions on NUTS3 Level According to OECD’S Definition
The OECD is a multi-disciplinary inter-governmental organization of 36 member countries that aims at helping their governments to work together towards a stronger, cleaner, and fairer global economy. OECD defines an urban region as a set of contiguous high population density of more than 150 people/km2. Regarding the third level of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS3), the European Union (EU) has many urban regions that comply with the OED’s definition of an urban region (>150 people/Km2). These urban regions include Stuttgart, Esslingen, Goppingen, Heidenheim, Ostalbkreis, Ludwigsburg in Germany, Unitary Authorities in wales, groups of the council are in Scotland, districts in North Ireland, Counties and Unitary authorities and districts in England.
Documentation of urban region development of GRP per capita since 2000
Regarding per capita Gross Region Product (GRP), many European urban regions have developed since 2000 (Aumayr, np). The spatial distribution of urban regions in Europe was linked to its geography and history. Besides, national policies and governmental actions also played a role in determining the fortunes of an urban region through key investment decisions such as increasing the city’s attractiveness or decisions of planning to create new urban centers, satellite centers, or urban centers on reclaimed lands. These urban regions have developed into large urban centers and their GRP per capita since 2000 through their revolved industrialization and commercialization, developed transport and communication, economic pull to the urban centers, developed social and recreational facilities, and availability of surplus resources for trading purposes. Industrialization in the urban regions on the NUTS3 level led to the provision of employment to many people and the manufacturing of new products to the market, which eventually led to the expansion of urban regions. Besides, roads and railways, which were linked to urban centers, enhanced the easy transportation of goods from the industries and movement of people to and from their workplaces. Industrialization in urban regions since 2000 stimulated trade and commerce, which eventually contributed to their growth. The development of transport and communication facilities also explains the growth of these urban centers since 2000. These facilities connected different cities to other urban regions, thus enhanced the movements of industrial raw materials to the industries and products to the market.
Furthermore, NUTS3 level urban regions developed their GRP per capita since 2000 though the availability of the surplus resources. Resources in these urban centers were exploited by the use of extensive technology, which also led to the expansion of the urban regions. Surplus agricultural products from nearby areas were important trading products. Besides, economic pull to the urban center regions increased rural to urban migration. Since urban centers provided more opportunities for personal advancement than the rural areas, people moved to these urban regions in search of employment, better education, health, security, other social and economic facilities. As a result, some ended up providing needed labor in industries, and other economic sectors hence developed the urban GRP per capita. The NUTS3 urban regions had better social services in health, education, recreation, religion, and security as compared to other regions of rural areas. These services were provided by the government, private, profit, and non-profit organizations and aimed to create more effective organizations, build stronger urban society as well as promote equality. Their expansion in these urban centers greatly contributed to the growth of the centers.
Cities that grew faster than the EU average include Dublin in Ireland, Prague in the Czech Republic, Sofia in Bulgaria, Wroclaw in Poland, Bucharest in Romania, and many others. These cities have grown at a faster rate due to their metropolitan planning and large populations. Dublin, for example, is currently hailed as one of the most important destinations for investments because of its faster growth. Other than population increase, Dublin city has become a major focus point for roads, air, rail, and sea transport (Walsh et al., p.138). It also holds a major manufacturing and administration center in Ireland. Therefore, it has become a primate city with twice the population of the next largest city in Ireland. Its significant extension in administration, social, industrial, and economic considerations has boosted it to grow faster than the EU’s average growth.
Geographical Differences to Growth of Towns in Europe
Europe, as a continent, has different geographical locational features. It’s bordering to the Mediterranean Sea to the south gives an advantage to the cities alongside this sea. Besides, to northwest Europe, cities alongside the Pacific Ocean are also advantaged to water transport and trading patterns with the North American cities. On the other hand, the geographic centrality of cities in Central and Eastern Europe also forms a unique advantage to their development. Coastal urban regions of South Europe (Mediterranean Sea) and North Eastern urban regions of Europe (Pacific Ocean) are linked to coasts by navigable waterways. These regions are favored with developments concerning their hinterland. European cities such as Barcelona, Matta, Marseille, and Valencia are the most active trading centers along the Mediterranean Sea. They are supported by a transport network connecting riparian cities and beyond to their hinterland. The Mediterranean Sea has complex trade patterns and routes linking North Africa to Europe; hence promoting trade activities through shipping networks has led to faster growth of the towns along the sea. Both trades in bulk and miscellaneous products have been embraced in all these cities along the Mediterranean Sea. These two new approaches in trade between South Europe and North Africa have speeded up the process of international trades. This trade has boosted employment opportunities to a large population in Europe and thus led to the daily growth of these cities.
Additionally, the cities alongside the Mediterranean Sea have also attracted many tourists from all parts of the world. Tourists visit the towns for recreational purposes on the sea beaches as well as the exploitation of the Mediterranean Sea. To accommodate these tourists, many tourist hotels have been set up, thus leading to their expansion. Furthermore, high population density is favorable for economic development in coastal urban centers with good access to internal, regional, and international trade. On the other hand, cities located between the Mediterranean and North Europe benefit from their centrality factor, which contributed to their expansions. Landlocked countries have disadvantaged waterway economies due to their lack of access to the sea and ocean. Geneva city in Switzerland, for example, grew faster due to the presence of numerous international agencies such as the United Nations’ Red Cross. Therefore, geographical locations of different cities across Europe depict differences in the growth rates.
Also, climatic differences in Europe has affected the growth of different urban centers in Europe. Northwest European cities experience winter for a long period, while the south-east cities experience hot summer. Cities of Athens, Valencia, Seville, Lanzarote, and other south European cities are warm, thus attract many winter travelers. Their climatic conditions, therefore, attract most of the North-East European tourists during the winter season hence promoting their growth.
Conclusion
In summary, industrialization, development of social, political and economic facilities, population increase, environmental changes, and other geographical factors contribute largely to the growth of the urban centers. The NUTS3 level urban regions in Europe have developed into large cities due to rural to urban migration patterns, the industrial revolution, modernization pull factors, rural push factors, tourism as well as their geographical locations. Besides, climatic differences in different parts of Europe have also depicted differences in the growth rate of cities in Europe.