Urban Planning: History,

Theory and Systems

URBANIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON PLANNING

PL6101
Master of Planning
School of Architecture and Planning
Government Engineering College, Thrissur
HISTORY OF URBANIZATION

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Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner) urbanization
HISTORY OF URBANIZATION

https://ourworldindata.org/
Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)
urbanization
CURRENT LEVEL OF URBANIZATION

• According to United
Nations, ‘World
Urbanization Prospects’-
Globally more people
live in urban areas than
in rural area,
• It is estimated that 55%
of the total population is
urban 2018.
• By 2050, it is expected
that 68% of the total
World Urban Prospects, 2018
population will be living
in urban areas
Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)
CURRENT LEVEL OF URBANIZATION

• The total urban population is 4.2 billion in 2018.

• Share of urbanized regions: North America (82%), Europe (74%), and Asia
(50%)
• Share of urban population: Asia (54%), Europe and Africa (13% Each)
• Three countries, India, China & Nigeria are expected to account for 35% of
the world’s total urban population between 2018 and 2050
• Tokyo is the world’s largest city with an estimated population of 37 million,
followed by Delhi with 29 million. Shanghai(26 million), Mexico and Sao
Paulo(22 million), Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing, Dhaka (20 million)

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)

GLOBAL DEFINITION OF URBANIZATION

• To facilitate comparisons, following global organizations joined to develop a

new people-based, global definition.
• The European Union,
• The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO),
• The International Labour Office (ILO),
• The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
• UN-Habitat and
• The World Bank
• The 51st Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission endorsed this
new definition called “Degree of Urbanization” to delineate cities, towns, and
rural areas for international statistical comparison.
• The project, Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL), combines high-
resolution satellite imagery with national census data to derive its estimates
of cities, towns and semi-dense areas, and rural areas.

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)

GLOBAL DEFINITION OF URBANIZATION

• The European Commission applied a definition of settlements across all

countries:
• Urban centers (cities): must have a minimum of 50,000 inhabitants plus a
population density of at least 1500 people per square kilometer (km2) or
density of build-up area greater than 50%.
• Urban clusters (towns and semi-dense areas): must have a minimum of 5,000
inhabitants plus a population density of at least 300 people per square
kilometer (km2).
• Rural areas: fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.
• Using these definitions, GHSL estimates that around 45% of people live in a city
and a further 35% live in towns and semi-dense areas. The remaining 20% live
in rural areas. This means that the total urban share was around 80% in
2020(more than 6.2 billion)
Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)
URBANIZATION PATTERNS

Kundu & Pande (2020)

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)

URBANIZATION TRENDS

• Urbanization is virtually coming to an end in the developed world

• Since 1950, urbanization slowed down in most of the world’s developed
countries

• Suburbanization
• Spreading of urban population and employment from central areas to low
density suburban areas

• Rapid Urbanization in the Developing World

• By the year 2030, almost 60% of the developing world population lives in cities

• Different growth patterns in the developing world in developing and

developed worlds
• Developed countries witnessed balanced growth of population in large cities
and small and medium towns. In developing countries, population growth is
majorly absorbed by large cities
Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)
ADVANTAGES OF URBANIZATION
• Urbanization driving economic development
• Level of urbanization is a very strong indicator of productivity

• The advantages of cities in promoting economic development

1. Cities, as locations of concentrated economic activities offer large and
diversified labor pools, and are near to customers and suppliers
2. Increased opportunities for division of labor and make intra-industry
specialization more likely
3. Firms are able to respond to market demands more effectively
4. Relatively cheaper transport combines with the proximity to customers and
suppliers to reduce the cost of trade
5. Aggregating educated, skilled and creative people in one place, cities incubate
new ideas and technologies leading to efficient growth
Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)
ADVANTAGES OF URBANIZATION
• Higher Productivity
• Cities generate more than 80% of the global GDP today, generating
disproportionally higher rate of economic growth than rural areas
• Mumbai with 2% of the population account for 6.3% of the national GDP
• Cities in India accommodate one third of the national population, but generate
two third of the national GDP, 90% of the tax population and majority of the jobs
• Cites as nodes of circuits in the global economy
• A vast number of highly particular global circuits are connecting specific group
of economic activities.
• Eg- Mumbai is a part of global circuit of real estate development with London and
Bogota
• Coffee is produced mostly in Brazil, Kenya and Indonesia, but the main trading place
is New York
• Production circuits, trading circuits, and Financial Cicuits
Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)
Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)
ADVANTAGES OF URBANIZATION
• Cites as nodes of circuits in the global economy
• Three kinds of cities are driving the global economy:
1. Global Hubs
2. Mega Cities, and
3. Gateway Cities
• Global cities are also global capitals, into and out of which majority of the world’s
wealth and talent flows, Eg- New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo
• Mega-cities hugely populous magnets in the region, Eg: Sao Paulo, Mumbai,
Jakarta, Cairo
• Gateway Cities regional clusters that facilitates access to frontier markets Eg:
Dubai, Kulalumpur

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)

CHALLENGES OF URBANIZATION

• Urban Sprawl
• The lack of clear boundaries led to the creation of urban sprawl encroaching
upon environmentally sensitive areas and major agricultural areas
• Landuse conflicts, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, depletion of
green areas and degradation in the quality of urban living
• Urbanization of Poverty
• Concentration of urban poverty, share of poor increased from 19-25% in 2002.
• Higher Cost of Living
• Housing, Travel, Education and Water and Sanitation services are costlier
• Lack of adequate housing investment
• It is estimated that around 28.25 million housing units are required to address
the housing shortage
• Housing Affordability
• Housing affordability decreases with the level of severity of landuse controls

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)

CHALLENGES OF URBANIZATION

• Shortage of Infrastructure Investment

• It is estimated that the infrastructure investment gap is around USD 180 billion
a year for Asia Pacific Region
• Weak financial capital of cities
• Lack of financial capacities, due to the low share of revenues to local bodies
• Poor Urban Governance
• Involvement of multiple agencies and departments, diverse goals and interests
of the community
• Urban Inequality and Gender Inequality
• About one third of the global urban population lives in slums, lack of health care
to vulnerable sections
• Crime and Human Security
• Environmental Impacts
• Disproportionately large ecological footprints than rural areas.

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)

STRATEGIES FOR FUTURE

• Urbanization and Urban Management

• Optimization of urbanization, urban functions and infrastructure
• Planning and Management
• Traditional zoning techniques can lead to spatial segregation of urban functions,
compared to multi-functional and mixed-use urban settlements
• Significance of market forces
• Policy responses to local circumstances
• From the urban sprawl perspective, poly centric urban patterns promote
distribution of urban densities

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)

Key Take Aways

• Urbanization Current Status, Trends & Patterns

• Advantages of Urbanization
• Challenges of Urbanization
• Future Strategies

Prof. Ambily P (Architect, Environmental Planner)