IGCSE Geography / Urban environments

What drives urbanisation

Edexcel International GCSE Geography (4GE1), chapter 6: Urban environments, specification point 6.1b. Free lesson.

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The rate of urbanisation is how quickly the proportion of people living in towns and cities rises. It depends on rural-urban migration and natural increase, with economic development helping to drive both.

What sets the rate of urbanisation

Urbanisation is the rise in the proportion of people living in towns and cities. Its rate is how quickly that proportion rises. Two processes increase the urban population: people moving in, and the city’s population growing through more births than deaths. Rural-urban migration is the movement of people from the countryside into towns and cities. Natural increase is when births outnumber deaths among people already living in the city. Economic development, meaning a country getting richer, helps drive both. It creates city jobs and pays for healthcare that can reduce the death…

How push and pull factors cause migration

Migration happens because of conditions in both the place people leave and the place they choose. A push factor is about the rural area people leave. A pull factor is about the city they move to. Work: rural areas may have few jobs outside farming, and machines can replace farm workers. Cities offer jobs in factories, shops and offices. Income: farm pay is often low and depends on the harvest. City wages are higher and more regular. Services: villages may have few schools or clinics and no piped water. Cities may offer schools, hospitals, piped water and electricity. **Other…

Why natural increase is high in a growing city

Natural increase follows on from migration. Many migrants are young adults, who are more able to move and find work. They often start families in the city, so births are high. Deaths can be low because there are few older people and clinics are nearby. The city can therefore keep growing even if migration stops. Link natural increase to the young migrant population: young adults have children in the city. A high birth rate and low death rate mean births greatly outnumber deaths.

Why urbanisation rates differ between countries

Urbanisation is fastest in developing and emerging countries, and slower in developed countries. The difference depends on how many people can still move to cities, the gap between rural and city life, natural increase, and movement out of cities. Starting point: developing and emerging countries may have had most people living in rural areas, so many can still move. Developed countries are already mostly urban, so fewer people are left to move. The gap: wages and services may be far better in cities than villages in poorer countries. In developed countries, rural areas also have good…

How to explain a rise in the urban share

A strong explanation uses the change in the figures, then gives a cause and explains how it leads to urbanisation. Cities in developing countries do not grow only because people move in. Natural increase is another cause, because young migrants have children and births outnumber deaths. In a made-up developing country, the urban share rose from 20% in 1990 to 45% in 2020. It more than doubled. One reason is that city factories pay higher wages than farming. People then migrate from rural areas to the city, raising the proportion of people living in urban areas.

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