The Mega City

1. The Mega City Chapter 14

2. The Mega City • Shift to living in urban centers was not gradual process but sudden shift • Over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban centers

3. Why have urban centers grown? • Improved Food Availability • cities can only grown as big as their food supply can handle • Traditional methods of transportation and food preservation did not allow food to be transported long distances • Improvements in technologies have allowed food to be transported longer distances therefore allowing cities to be larger

4. Movement of Jobs • Used to have jobs working on the land • Increase in industries lead to less people working land • Industries tended to be built near cities and drew workers there • Elimination of Health Risks • Early days people would get sick from living close to one another in cities • With increase technology cities became a cleaner place to live, leading more people to migrate there

5. Mass Transit • Before transit existed people had to live near the places they work. This restricted the sizes of cities • Transit systems allowed cities to expand allowing more people to live in them

6. MDC vs. LDC • MDC’s have had a large urbanization rate since the industrial revolution • Has risen from 50% in 1950 to 75% in present day • LDC’s has a much smaller rate of urbanization due to lack of technology • 19% in 1950 to 40% in present day • LDC’s are catching up to MDC’s now due to multinational corporations bringing in technology and employment

7. Mega- Cities • Cities with more than 8-10 million people • Rare until quite recently, new additions are coming from LDC’s • Very powerful in world economics

8. Sources of Urban Growth • 2 sources: natural growth (births) and migration • LDC = ½ of growth comes from births (high birth rates), ½ from rural to urban migration for employment • MDC = immigration levels (natives tend to move out of the cities)

9. Why? • Push factors = poverty and living conditions in rural LDC’s, not many push factors for rural MDC to move to urban MDC • Pull Factors = excitement of city life in both MDC and LDC

10. City life in an LDC • Population had grown rapidly and the governments do not have the financial capabilities to keep up with it • Therefore half the people living in a city are homeless or live in slums • These areas do not have proper shelter, water or sewage therefore life expectancy is low

11. People who cannot find regular employment work in the informal economy (begging, shining shoes, busking, etc.) • Crime and prostitution are common • People in these situations have three options: • Life on the streets • Life in a slum • Life in a shantytown

12. Life on the Streets • Migrants arrive with no money and no job prospects • Find a place on sidewalk to live • Best sites are near business districts which will provide potential clients for the services they want to provide for money • Usually have health problems • May loose their possessions b/c no where to store them

13. Life in the Slums • Provides better shelter than living on streets • Pay a monthly rent for shelter therefore the poorest people can not live here • Usually have business people renting • Located close to business district so they can walk to work • Very crowded living conditions

14. Life in Shantytowns • Find land that no one else is using and begin building with whatever materials are available (eg. concrete blocks, cloth, cardboard) • Do not own land and do not pay rent • Usually develop in areas outside of cities and on undesirable land • Hard to make a living as they can not travel into the city

15. Near garbage dumps are prime locations as residents can search through debris for goods they can sell • Lack adequate infrastructure (eg. schools, electricity, roads)

16. City Life in MDC’s • People think of excitement and nightlife • Homes to power and money • Good jobs available • Surface images but not always the case when you look deeper at a city

17. Urban Poverty • Almost every cities in Canada and America have homelessness and living in slum like conditions • Not always visible to visitors • Have food banks so people rarely starve but encounter other problems like ill health, malnutrition and illiteracy

18. Urban Sprawl • Many problems that cities face today are due to their inability to deal with their own growth • Many citizens choose to move into the suburbs with long commutes instead of living in the middle of cities • Spreading of people away from cities = urban sprawl

19. Problems with Urban Sprawl • Land use conflicts- disputes b/w farming land vs land to live on • Social conflicts- urban people may want to improve the rural setting which increases taxes, rural people may not want to pay • Inefficient land use- insufficient land by-laws allow land to be used for purposes such as shopping malls or condo development

20. Increased energy consumption and air pollution – people who work in cities often live in suburbs, their traveling causes pollution • Increased tax burden – people living in city center has decreased therefore fewer people paying taxes. People who move out of city but work in downtown are still using city services but not paying taxes for it. City can have problems paying for these services