Definition
Urbanization is the process whereby a society changes from a rural to an urban way of life. It also refers to a gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas.
Urbanization Background
Industrialization took place in the middle of the eighteenth century and the start of the nineteenth century, leading to a transformation in geographical areas, economic growth, and the abandonment of agrarian society. Since industrialization started, cities have continued to develop and have become the urbanized areas that we know today. Cities’ growth can be attributed to two phenomena; (1) the migration of rural populations to urban areas in a search for a better quality of life and employment opportunities, and (2) the expansion to areas surrounding cities (Nnebue et al. 2014).
Urbanization has been linked with economic and technological developments; with these advances, populations in rural and urban areas aspire for job opportunities, cultural diversity, technology,...
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Salgado Canseco, M.J. (2019). Urban Development and Human Health. In: Leal Filho, W., Wall, T., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P. (eds) Good Health and Well-Being. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_103-1
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