Urbanisation Provides Potential Socio-Economic Benefits for Developing Countries Essay

Urbanisation can be discussed as one of the main characteristics of the modern world influenced by the global forces and by the governments’ policies. If the role of urbanisation for developed countries is rather obvious, the effect of urbanisation on developing countries is the controversial question that needs to be discussed in detail. Thus, the essay aims to discuss potential socio-economic effects of urbanisation on the situation in developing countries.

Urbanisation can be defined as the significant growth of towns and cities in a certain country, which leads to changing the socio-economic situation within it. Although many researchers state that urbanisation does not provide the obvious positive effect on developing countries, the process of urbanisation can guarantee many potential socio-economic benefits for these countries because of changing the direction of the socio-economic development.

Rural territories do not provide the necessary resources for the significant economic development. That is why the developed countries characterised by the economic growth depend on the idea of urbanisation^[1]. As a result, to achieve the definite level of the economic development, it is necessary to accentuate the role of urbanisation in the process. Towns and cities in developing countries become the centres of the social and economic progress because of the concentration of the maximum of the necessary forces in urban territories.

Furthermore, urbanisation is the way to the further productive development of rural territories. The economic interactions between the urban and rural territories are a kind of investing into the progress of the rural areas. Thus, the interaction between “rural and urban areas is likely to increase over time and should be supported”^[2]. Rural territories traditionally develop depending on the progress of cities. That is why, the increase in cities can stimulate the positive changes in the rural areas of developing countries.

Nevertheless, developing countries are characterised by the uncontrolled urbanisation, which prevents cities from the economic growth and contributes to the urban poverty^[3]. However, poverty in cities can be overcome easier than in rural areas, and the perspectives for the economic development and for increasing incomes are greater in cities. The problem is only in the effectiveness of governing urban territories in the developing countries^[4].

Thus, urbanisation can be discussed as the first step to the economic growth of developing countries. In spite of the developed biases, there are many potential socio-economic advantages of urbanisation for developing countries because of the process’s orientation to the progress and positive changes in economy.

Bibliography

Hammond, R., The positive potential of urbanization, World Urbanization Prospects, USA, 2007.

Nelson, A., Urbanisation, World Urbanization Prospects, USA, 2006.

Footnotes

1. R. Hammond, The positive potential of urbanization, World Urbanization Prospects, USA, 2007, par. 2-3.
2. Hammond, par. 4.
3. A. Nelson, Urbanisation, World Urbanization Prospects, USA, 2006, par. 3.
4. Hammond, par. 6.