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Why are an increasing number of people living in urban areas?

Global trends and projections in urbanisation, the pattern of megacities and urban primacy, how economic change and migration drive city growth and decline, and how cities change over time in land use.

A focused answer to Edexcel GCSE Geography B Topic 3 (Challenges of an urbanising world) on global urbanisation, covering past and projected trends, the pattern of megacities and urban primacy, how economic change and migration drive city growth and decline, and how urban land use changes over time.

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  1. What this dot point is asking
  2. Global trends in urbanisation
  3. Megacities and urban primacy
  4. Why cities grow, decline and change
  5. Try this

What this dot point is asking

This is Edexcel GCSE Geography B (1GB0) Paper 1, Section C (Topic 3, Challenges of an urbanising world). Edexcel expects you to describe past (since 1980) and projected global trends in urbanisation and how they vary between regions; describe the global pattern of megacities (size, location, growth) and urban primacy; explain how economic change and migration drive the growth or decline of cities in developing, emerging and developed countries; and explain how cities change over time through urbanisation, suburbanisation, de-industrialisation, counter-urbanisation and regeneration, with changing land use. Line graphs and satellite images are common resources.

Urbanisation is the increase in the proportion of a country's population living in urban areas. Across the world this share has risen steeply: in 1980 well under half the world lived in cities, but the world passed the 50 percent mark around 2007 to 2008, and projections show continued growth towards roughly two thirds by 2050.

Megacities and urban primacy

The scale of cities has grown alongside the rate of urbanisation.

Why cities grow, decline and change

Cities grow and shrink because of economic change and the movement of people.

City growth in developing and emerging countries is driven by rural-urban migration (push factors such as rural poverty, drought and lack of services, and pull factors such as jobs, healthcare and education) plus high natural increase, as young migrants have families. Urban economies differ by development level: developing-country cities have a large informal sector (street trading, unregistered work) with poor conditions, while developed-country cities are dominated by formal tertiary and quaternary services.

Over time, cities pass through stages: urbanisation (growth of the city), suburbanisation (people and businesses move to the edge), de-industrialisation (loss of manufacturing, causing inner-city decline), counter-urbanisation (people move out to rural areas), and sometimes regeneration (renewal of run-down areas). Land use (commercial, industrial, residential) is shaped by accessibility, cost, availability of land and planning rules, which is why the Central Business District, industry and housing occupy different zones.

Try this

Q1. Define the term megacity. [1 mark]

  • Cue. An urban area with a population of more than 10 million people.

Q2. Explain why cities in developing and emerging countries are growing faster than those in developed countries. [4 marks]

  • Cue. Rapid rural-urban migration (rural poverty pushing, urban jobs and services pulling) combines with high natural increase, while developed countries urbanised long ago and now grow slowly or even decline.

Exam-style practice questions

Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.

Edexcel B 20194 marksExplain how rural-urban migration contributes to the growth of cities in developing and emerging countries. (Paper 1, Section C)
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A 4-mark "Explain" question on Paper 1 (Challenges of an urbanising world), assessing AO1 and AO2. Markers reward a chain linking push and pull factors to city growth.

Award credit for: people leave rural areas because of push factors (poverty, low farm incomes, drought, lack of services and jobs) and move to cities for pull factors (the prospect of better-paid work in factories and services, healthcare, education and a perceived better quality of life). This rural-to-urban migration adds large numbers of working-age people to the city, who then have children, so the city also grows by natural increase. The strongest answers name at least one push and one pull factor and link the migration both to direct growth and to natural increase.

Edexcel B 20224 marksUsing Figure 2, calculate the percentage increase in the world's urban population between 1980 and 2020, and describe the trend shown. (Paper 1, Section C)
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A 4-mark data-response question assessing AO4 (skills) and AO2. It needs a calculation with working, then a description.

Award credit for: a correct percentage change using the graph values. If the urban share rose from about 39 percent in 1980 to about 56 percent in 2020, the calculation is 56−3939×100=43.6%\frac{56 - 39}{39} \times 100 = 43.6\% increase. Then describe the trend: urbanisation has risen steadily, the world passed the point where most people live in cities around 2007 to 2008, and growth has been fastest in developing and emerging countries while developed countries are already highly urbanised. Markers reward accurate reading and calculation from the resource plus a clear description of the rising trend.

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