What is it?
Urbanisation is a relatively recent issue where forestry, fields, greenery, and in general, the non-ecumene, are being destroyed in order to make space for buildings. It also includes the increase in population in towns and cities.
What are the effects of urbanisation?
Some effects of urbanisation include:
Deforestation
The removal of trees
Habitat loss
Destruction of animal habitats and living spaces
Decrease of biodiversity
The variety of wildlife/species in an area- decrease in species range
Increase of extinction
High energy consumption- where already dense areas gain more people and therefore use more energy than hoped.
Waste disposal problems/ increase in littering- areas becoming denser leading to more litter drop, traffic/normal congestion.
And many more!
What causes urbanisation?
Some of the reasons for urbanisation are the increase in population, rural-to-urban migration; where people move from sparse areas to big cities – usually in search of work, and immigration, where people move from one country to another permanently.
What are the solutions?
There are quite a few solutions to this problem, however, many people are unwilling to comply.
We could increase the number of jobs worldwide; people often migrate because of job interests, so if there were jobs everywhere, people wouldn’t need to move as far or perhaps not at all.
In some countries, although very unlikely to happen in the UK, is population control. Population control has been an idea in the world for a long time and involves limiting the number of children in denser areas.
Increasing flexible working where people can work from home; this would reduce pollution and mean people didn't have to migrate for work.
For further information on urbanisation, please visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwtqnbk/revision/3