Urbanization is a process of social change affecting what Romans called urbanus or a city; it has occurred in most civilizations in many historical periods. Broadly speaking, the urbanization process includes the movement of people from rural to urban areas, the transformation of geographical spaces, and changes in social and economic organizations in cities.

Definitions

One way to define the process of urbanization is the movement of population from rural to urban areas. Based on this definition, urbanization can be expressed as the proportion of a given population that dwells in urban localities (whatever that definition) at a specific time or the increase in this proportion over time.

Sociologists and geographers also define urbanization as the transformation of geographical areas from rural to urban in nature. According ...

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