What Factors Affect the Urbanization Trend of Third-World Countries?

What Factors Affect the Urbanization Trend of Third-World Countries?

By 2050, it is anticipated that almost two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities, up from around 54% currently. At the same time, in the last decade, the world's population has grown by 1.2 billion, and it is expected to reach 8.3 billion in 2025. The United Nations (UN) estimates that 70 percent of this growth will occur in Asia and Africa, while most of the rest will happen in Latin America and the Caribbean (Bodo, 2019). The UN also predicts that by 2030, an estimated 90 percent of people living in urban areas will be living in developing countries. Urbanization is one of the major demographic transitions affecting developing countries today. It is a complex process that involves many economic, social, and environmental changes. While the many advantages of structured and efficient cities are generally acknowledged, it is prudent to note that fast, often unplanned urbanization poses dangers of significant social instability, threats to essential infrastructure, possible water crises, and the spread of disease (Das & Paul, 2021). These dangers will only worsen as this historic shift from rural to urban regions continues.

The quality of city governance will increasingly decide the effectiveness with which these hazards may be handled. Due to the growing concentration of people, physical assets, infrastructure, and economic activity at the city level, the risks that materialize have a far higher potential to disrupt society than ever before. Some cities are expanding at explosive rates. For example, Dhaka, Bangladesh, has grown from 600 000 to 9 million inhabitants since 1960 (Waseem & Talpur, 2021). In other cities such as Karachi or Kinshasa, urbanization has been accompanied by massive population movements from rural areas where people have been displaced by natural disasters or famine. The major factors behind this urban sprawl in developing nations are rising incomes, population growth, and labor migration from rural to

urban areas. The result is that many cities are often characterized by rapid unplanned growth, poor housing conditions, inadequate infrastructure and services, little employment opportunity, and a lack of economic opportunities.

Research Background and Significance Urbanization is a complex problem that has numerous causes. The causes of the rapid urbanization in the third world are very different from those of the developed world. In developed countries, urbanization is mainly due to people moving from rural areas to cities searching for better opportunities. But in third-world countries, urbanization is more a result of the rural population migrating to cities due to a lack of economic opportunities in their home country. The two main reasons for migration are economic opportunity, where people move from rural areas to cities to seek better job opportunities and higher wages (Waseem & Talpur, 2021).

As a result, the unemployment rate decreases in rural areas and increases in urban areas because people migrate out of rural areas and into cities looking for jobs. This creates an oversupply of labor and leads to lower wages that are insufficient for the workers to meet their basic needs or even send money back home. Further, natural disasters such as famine, floods, or droughts affect crop production in rural areas (Bodo, 2019). This leads to food shortages and famine in rural areas. People move out of rural areas and cities looking for jobs to escape famine. The trend can be seen as a positive sign of economic growth. Urbanization has been occurring for thousands of years and is a natural process when the population of an area grows larger than the local resources can support. When this happens, people begin to migrate to urban areas where they can find jobs and make a living (Waseem & Talpur, 2021). Unfortunately, this process often leads to urban sprawl, which puts pressure on the environment and degrades the quality of life in these areas. Many governments have tried to counter these negative effects by building large-scale

infrastructure projects such as dams or highways, which encourage more people to move into cities while also providing jobs and services. Researching factors affecting urbanization in thirdworld countries would help develop sustainable policies on managing urbanization. As people continue to migrate to cities, there is a need to develop strategies that prevent urban sprawl while at the same time ensuring that these cities can provide basic services and infrastructure. At the same time, studying the forces behind urbanization can help predict future trends. The findings of this study could influence how governments implement future infrastructure projects.

Research Question ● What are the key factors affecting urbanization in third-world countries? How can these factors be controlled to ensure that urbanization leads to sustainable development in third-world countries?

Current Research Status and Own Research Advantages Urbanization is a complex socio-economic process that has been the object of numerous studies.

However, research on urbanization is very recent, and many questions remain unanswered. For example, the central question of whether urbanization promotes or hinders economic growth remains controversial. The literature on this topic has grown considerably in recent years, and the debate over whether cities are engines of growth or sources of poverty persists (Hardoy & Satterthwaite, 2019). The world has experienced periods of great economic growth and stagnation. In some countries, such as Japan, Korea, or Taiwan, rapid urbanization was accompanied by economic expansion.

On the other hand, there have been cases where rapid urbanization led to economic declines, such as in Argentina or Brazil. Thus far, empirical evidence suggests that an increase in urban population size is correlated with higher per capita income. Still, it does not identify a causal relationship between the two variables (Waseem & Talpur, 2021). This association could be explained by other factors such as cultural values or historical legacies that influence both urbanization and economic growth. The research advantages of the World Bank's data set are that it covers a wide range of countries, periods, and regions. The time series is long, with an annual time interval. The data is available for many countries and regions simultaneously and allows cross-country comparisons.

Literature Review

Possible Innovation and Breakthroughs in this Research Urbanization can result in various positive effects if it happens within the appropriate limits. Examples of such positive results include improved standards of living, quality educational and medical facilities, improved transport and communication systems, infrastructural advancements, as well as the creation of employment (Timberlake, 1985).

Nonetheless, extensive urbanization in most developing or third-world countries has mostly resulted in adverse consequences. Housing problems, unemployment, slums, water and sanitation problems, and urban crime have significantly increased because of extensive urbanization in such countries (Arfanuzzaman & Dahiya, 2019).

Urbanization in third-world countries attracts people from rural or underdeveloped areas into towns in search of a better life. However, given the increase in the number of individuals living in urban areas, a continued scarcity of houses exists. Also, jobs available in urban centers

barely meet many people, thus increasing the unemployment rate. Increased unemployment, a large influx of rural immigrants to urban centers, lack of developed land for housing, fast-paced industrialization, and increased land prices have led to the growth of slums and squatters in urban areas (Abubakar & Dano, 2018). In addition, rapid population growth has resulted in a serious resource crisis that has made it difficult for municipalities and local governments to manage sewage facilities in urban centers efficiently.

Consequently, sanitation has become poor, and sewages continue to flow chaotically as they drain into neighboring seas, lakes, rivers, or streams. This has necessitated the faster spread of communicable diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, and typhoid, which have led to suffering or death (Abubakar & Dano, 2018). Further, poverty, unemployment, inadequate social services, and lack of proper education have seen drug abuse, violence, and crime increase in urban centers in third-world countries (Saghir & Santoro, 2018).

These urbanization problems in developing countries require innovative solutions that can help in the sustainable management of urbanization. Innovative solutions in this area would include; 1. Developing sustainable and environmentally-friendly cities Given that people should not live in unsafe and polluted areas, developing countries’ governments should consider passing laws that plan and offer environmentally favorable cities as well as smart growth techniques. The primary objective, in this case, is to come up with sustainable cities that feature safe habitats and improved environmental conditions for the urban population (Ochoa et al., 2018). Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the governments to promote sustainable use of urban resources and support the economy by investing in such areas

as renewable energy, pollution management, recycling, and environmental campaigns, sustainable industries, green infrastructure, and water recycling and reclamation.

Cape Town, South Africa, has been doing really well in this area and can be cited as a breakthrough. Cape Town is always in search of new and innovative technologies to build a more sustainable location (Kruger, 2015). As early as 2008, the city had started using wind farms for energy. The city now aims to obtain 25% of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2025 (Kruger, 2015). Because of the increasing technological advances, this is a possible goal.

That notwithstanding, Cape Town is also trying to promote an idealistic outdoor lifestyle. To achieve this, the city has heavily invested in the development of safe-cycle routes to enable people to get around without their cars. Most people have also embarked on using solar panels and growing their vegetables (Kruger, 2015).

2. Provision of essential services It is important for the government and the concerned urban stakeholders to see that every individual living in the urban centers has access to such essential social services as food, electricity, technology, clean water and sanitation, health care, and education. This can be achieved by offering and implementing employment opportunities and wealth creation activities to enable people to earn a living that will help them adequately pay for their bills. The government can also go ahead to provide subsidies aimed at lowering the costs of basic healthcare, public transportation, food, energy, basic education, and communication system. The high population in urban centers has stretched the available healthcare and education institutions and adversely affected the quality of services provided. Heavy investment from the government and the concerned stakeholders is required to ensure that urban residents get the essential services. While doing all these, the governments should also see that they come up with

legislation aimed at protecting the urban environment from all forms of pollution. The government should also provide quality accommodation at affordable rates to overcome housing challenges in urban settings.

3. Creation of more jobs To reduce the adverse impacts of rapid urbanization and conserve the natural ecosystems simultaneously, governments in developing countries should encourage private investments to create more job opportunities and utilize natural resources (Xiong et al., 2020). The provision of subsidies and grants to private and foreign investment in environmentally friendly development projects can also promote job creation. In addition, the government can also create more jobs for the urban population by promoting sustainable exploitation of natural resources (Buckley & Hanieh, 2014). That notwithstanding, such governments should also provide quality education to everyone and encourage entrepreneurship as well as skill acquisition programs to help deal with unemployment and poverty issues in urban areas.

A study conducted by the World Bank in some of the cities in East Asia indicates that investing in industries like light manufacturing, food processing, and tourism can significantly help to eliminate poverty and unemployment in urban areas (Gonzalez & Ijjasz-Vasquez, 2016).

The study cites Singapore as a perfect example of sustainable urban planning and urbanizationdriven growth. According to the report, infrastructure investments were changed into productive assets for economic expansion and enhanced growth in the city-state. Such investments have significantly helped ensure an average of 7.7% GDP growth in the last five decades (Gonzalez & Ijjasz-Vasquez, 2016).

4. Population control

Increased population growth is a significant problem in most urban centers in developing countries. It has resulted in poor sanitation and water issues, crime, and housing problems. Thus, key stakeholders in urban areas must ensure that they champion and offer effective medical health clinics and family planning alternatives to help control the rate of increase in population.

For example, medical health clinics that focus on providing family planning options must be easily accessible by all living in urban centers to control population growth and diseases. In addition, population control will help reduce housing problems and stretch on health care and education institutions in urban centers.

Theoretical Framework Urbanization in developing or third-world countries has resulted in a unique set of issues, which requires adequate planning in order to manage the challenges that arise. Based on various studies that have been carried out, we theorize that such factors primarily drive urbanization in third-world countries as rising incomes, population growth, and labor migration from rural to urban areas (Ochoa, 2018). The rapid growth of urbanization in these countries has resulted in increased unemployment rates, given that governments and businesses are unable to create enough jobs that match the demand of the fast-increasing population in such nations. Apart from unemployment, urban sprawl in developing countries has resulted in other problems such as lack of affordable housing, overcrowding, slum creation, inadequate infrastructure, and unplanned growth (Arfanuzzaman & Dahiya, 2019).

The study stresses the need for proper planning by the developing countries' governments and concerned authorities to ensure sustainable urbanization in developing countries. It encourages the government to look into various ways that can be used to limit the adverse impacts associated with rapid urbanization and ensure that all people living in urban areas lead

decent lives. This will call for the government to invest in job creation by supporting small businesses, providing affordable housing, and even creating employment opportunities in different parts of the country to help decongest or prevent people from moving to urban areas. In this, the governments in developing countries will be required to invest in an area like the agricultural sector and help farmers market and sell their products. The fact that one can get income from his or her farm produce will help reduce rural-urban migration drastically. There is an urgent need for the developing countries' governments to come up with sound urban road map policies to address the various challenges associated with urbanization in developing countries.

Conclusion

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