Urbanization and its Impacts
Our society is evidently a dynamic entity experiencing changes since time immemorial. These changes have told us that nothing can stay still, not even the values, beliefs, and patterns.
Amidst all these changes, there were two major changes that impacted society a lot. These changes were urbanization and globalization. Here in this article, we will be discussing urbanization and the impact it has left on the world.
Since urbanization is a topic adhering to changes in society thus it is a vast field of study in sociology. Therefore, students pursuing sociology may sometimes require assignment help with the same sense in any way this is a vast concept that needs a lot of research to get a proper understanding of societal developments.
The term urbanization means the conversion of the rural areas into proper towns and urban bodies that expose the majority of the population to a lot of opportunities in every field- be it health, education, employment, and the like.
An urban area differs from the rural one in terms of occupation, environment, the size of the community, the density of population, the social differentiation and social stratification., social mobility, system of interaction, the high level of technology in urban areas, and the impersonality of social relations in the urban areas.
Several research paper writings have stated different processes of urbanization:
- The first process is the economic process wherein people move from rural areas to urban areas in hunt of employment and a better standard of living. Cities have since long become the focal point of all the development happening around us. Therefore, people rush here to get a better standing in society. And that is how urbanization takes place through this process.
- The next process is the socio-cultural one. In this case, people from different walks of life intermingled and settled into an area. For example, if we consider India, the Aryan period witnessed lots of urban towns and cities where people lived, then the Islamic domination too influenced the settlement of people into the urban areas since many new cities were being formed and in the end, the major development in the country was brought by the western domination, that is, the British rule in India, that led to the development of major cities, influenced by their own country.
- The Political and Administrative process again brought urbanization in various countries. In each country, there was a rise and fall off several rules as well as the rulers. The demolition of the old and formation of the new gave birth to several new cities which gradually became hubs of all the major economic activities (commercial as well as industrial).
- The geographical process involved the migration of people from rural to urban areas, the conversion of small towns into larger cities, and the spatial overflow of the metropolitan population to the periphery.
If we try to understand how urbanization has impacted us, then we may say that urbanization is a way of our life. It has different structures, different social organizations, different patterns of interaction among people, and different sets of ideas and attitudes among individuals. This topic is so diverse and complex that it has become a widely chosen topic for research paper writing.
Urbanization may happen along different lines. It may be the requirement of the government to set up such cities in order to provide for the livelihood of many of these areas that may grow automatically as a result of the industrial development taking place.
In America, the process of urbanization took place by the time the British stayed in the place and at times even after that. America’s development was a rapid one.
Industrialization became a major factor responsible for urbanization in Britain and even other countries of Europe. In India, urbanization took place in several different stages. Indus Valley Civilization was one such reason.
The town planning done was a clear reflection of more than modern cities. As already mentioned, Aryans too developed towns and cities during their rule. After they came several ancient Indian empires that contributed in the same manner to the development of cities.
These cities became hubs of all social, political, and economic activities. The early phase of British rule brought the decline of the already established cities because the British did not focus on the Indian economy, the latter phase saw the development of new cities and towns.
And in this process 3 metropolitan cities, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were set up, hill stations, civil lines, cantonments, new industrial towns were set up and there were improvements in urban amenities and administration.
In the post-independence era, there was a lot of influx of refugees, the building of new cities took place as a result and there was a large-scale stagnation of the smaller towns with the massive growth of slums in the urban areas.
Urbanization has a huge impact on the lives of individuals, which may be as follows:
- There are changes in the functions of the family.
- Therefore, there is an impact on the relations of the family-internal or external.
- The migrants sometimes face problems in replacing the old relations with the new ones.
- Even the size of a family shrinks- joint families become nuclear ones.
- Caste becomes a less important aspect in urban areas.
- Women migrants too faced multiple issues. It becomes difficult for them to balance their work and family life.
- Certain white-collar jobs are reserved for people of a particular social standing which leaves an impact on others.
- Obviously, the status of urban women has always been considered higher than that of rural women.
The process of urbanization may result in overcrowding of a particular city. The city may face problems with the distribution of resources, transportation and traffic, and the like. Also, there may be environmental pollution in the area.
Thus, this process comes with both pros and cons. Thus, these points are sufficient enough to provide assignment help to students of sociology.
Read More On The Mashtun
