Benefits Of Urbanization

Benefits of Urbanization

Urbanization is defined as the movement of people to urban areas which results to growth of urban centers. Although urbanization has numerous social and economic benefits, it also has its share of disadvantages as well.

1. Increases food production

Food consumption may change due to high demand as a result of urbanization. When more people move from urban areas in search of better job opportunities, food production significantly increases to feed the population. However, urbanization can affect environmental changes which in turn affect food production.

2. Rise in fertility rates

Urbanization substantially increases fertility rates which in turn cause population increase. Contrary to common perception, nevertheless, it reduces mortality rates, despite the appalling living conditions in most states, for example in the developing cities.

3. Efficiency

Cities are tremendously efficient in a way. For instance, imagine 50 families living in 50 separate apartments spread out evenly over a large piece of land. If the families were to stay in single flats, it would require less effort to supply social amenities like water and energy. Additionally, waste removal is efficient in urban areas.

4. Convenience

You can have access to almost everything in a city. Access to health, social services, cultural events and education is readily accessible in urban areas. Because everything is connected, cities definitely make vehicle use pointless since urban cities have public transportation in place, which is not feasible in rural areas.

5. Access to resources

Because of increase in population, many institutions have been created to cater for the population, which would be unrealistic if resources where spread out. Basically, when people come together, they come up with new ideas on how to change their lives – political, commercial, and cultural activities. For instance, universities would never have been created if there were no cities.

Urbanization often leads to traffic congestion and increase in crime due to lack of employment opportunities.

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