Urbanization

The Nature of Urbanization

Urbanization is the process whereby large numbers of people congregate and settle in an area, eventually developingsocial institutions, such as businesses and government, to support themselves. Urban areas, or those pockets of people and institutions thereby created, are generally characterized as relatively dense settlements of people. Furthermore, it is claimed, they sometimes originate from the effort by authorities to consciously concentrate power, capital, or both at a particular site.

The process of urbanization has gone on throughout history. Large congregations of people have existed across the world, from ancient China to ancient Rome and Greece. Although the numbers of residents of such cities pale by comparison with urban areas today, the relatively large and dense congregations of people still helped to foster new ...