One of the most pressing global issues of our times in the scientific literature is identified with the process of urbanization. For this approach there are sufficiently strong grounds.
Urbanization (from Latin urbanus is a city) is the process of increasing the role of cities in the development of society, which covers changes in the placement of productive forces, especially in the resettlement of the population its demographic and socially-professional structure, way of life and culture.
The city existed in ancient times: Thebes on the territory of modern Egypt was the largest city in the world in 1300 BC, Babylon, in 200 BC.; Rome — in 100 BC, however, the process of urbanization as a global phenomenon dates back twenty centuries later: he was the product of industrialization and capitalism. Back in 1800, lived in urban areas, only about 3% of the world's population, while today it is about half.
Urbanizirovannost? is derived from the urbanization, the percentage of urban population in a country or region. According to the degree of urbanizirovannosti in Europe are the United Kingdom (over 90%), and Sweden, Germany and some other countries (over 80%) in North America — United States and Canada (about 80%) in Russia this percentage is equal to 73% and 78% in Japan (1993), and so on.
The city sometimes turn into urban agglomeration (from LAT. agglomero, accumulate, add), absorbing the suburbs and the solid construction zone, forming a functionally closely related to the core city (daily work trips, called "pendular migrations", kul?turnobytovye communication, production of enterprises and their branches, etc.). This coalescence is driven by transport, increasing the feasibility of "anywhere in the metropolitan area.
Metropolitan areas have now become the main form of resettlement in industrialized countries. In United States urban agglomeration focusing around 284/5 of the population of the entire country. So the official population data of any of the city and the metropolitan area vary greatly. In the United States, for example, allocate the metropolitan area and in the strict sense (solid urban development zone), calling them "urbanized areas", and in a broad sense, calling them "standard metropolitan statistical areas" (CMCA). These habitats are up to 1/b the United States.
But the metropolitan area are the highest form of population concentration. In the United States, Japan and Western Europe have accumulations of agglomerations, almost rival zones of major cities-mega-cities: Bosvash (Boston-Washington) in the United States, the Tokaido, on the Pacific coast of Japan in United Europe "a megalopolis formed from the through the UK to France's Southwest side (for curved shape called" banana ").
However, in this case, the important thing is that urbanization poses a complex knot of contradictions, the totality of which serves as a strong argument for considering the perspective of dealing with global issues. You can highlight the economic, environmental, social and spatial aspects (the latter is rather arbitrary, since it combines all the previous).
Population, mln people
The economic aspect is that if the concentration of the industry gave additional effect (effect of agglomeration ") due to the combination and cooperation opportunities, use sverhkoncentracii, then later to the fore by the negative points: the transport collapse cities water supply difficulties, problems of ecology. In this connection, the industry has to "go away" from major cities, its place is taken by other functions: Science and research and development (r and d) development, finansovoupravlenceskie, etc.
Urban environmental problems (especially large ones) is that they have all kinds of pollution, providing direct and indirect impact on huge territories (for example, in the United States indirectly influences the 35% of the territory).
The social aspect of the urbanization is very mnogoplanov. It is manifested in the sharp differences in the quality of life in cities and the poor countryside in many developed countries, in the social contrasts within major cities, particularly in gettoizirovannyh areas (the shining lights of Manhattan
Under the "belt" here means referred to in the text of the European megalopolis from London to the southwest side of France ("banana"). As you can see, the regionalists Europe belongs to it, considering the rest of St. Petersburg Russia "periphery". Maybe this is another argument in favour of Eurasia?
the average income of the population in 3-4 times higher than other area New-York - Bronx).
Spatial dimension of urbanization is associated with all previous. The "Sprawling" metropolitan areas mean the spread of urban lifestyle at all the great territory, and this, in turn, leads to increased environmental problems, to the growing traffic flows ("agglomeration and places), to the marginalization of the far periphery of agricultural zones and reactionary.
Suburbanization (out-migration in the Suburban zone) is a spontaneous process that he helped some reduction in urban cores, however, and it does not lead to the decentralization of population, but rather means "creeping concentration". Suburbanization and social causes (and in the United States, racial) stratification of the population. Of the centers moved much of the wealthy that exacerbates the problems of big cities, as well as reduces the tax and financial base for their reconstruction.
Globalism of the urbanization process is particularly evident in developing countries. Urbanization here original, leads to a rapid increase in population, "psevdogorodskogo" (hence, "trusobnaa urbanization"). Millions of people in the town chases landlessness, the lack of job opportunities in rural areas. They swell the population of the areas on the periphery of large cities. UN experts have estimated that over h/w urban populations in developing countries live in slums, and their share is growing rapidly (in Bogota, it reaches 60%, in RiodeZanejro — 40% and so on). Quality of life in those cities is increasingly defined by "wild suburbs and suburbs are often more the size of the cities.
Many economic, social and environmental problems of urbanization poses and in Russia.