Explain the Economic and Social Effects of Urbanisation

Urbanisation

As per recent surveys, the urban population of India constitutes an estimate of 461 million people. This number is subject to growth by 2.3 percent each year. Cities have been accounted to provide 75 percent of India’s national income by 2031. Economic growth is not one of the major causes of urbanisation but rather an integral part of it. Urbanism is a concept that revolves around the organisation and lifestyle of a society which includes the use of technology, division of labour, high mobility, social relations’ impersonality, and interdependence of the society’s members upon the fulfilment of economic functions. 

Economic and Social Effects of Urbanisation

The economic and social effects of urbanisation are as follows: 

Better Access To Facilities

One of the main reasons why urban areas are crowded and why many people prefer moving to cities is due to the better access to facilities such as better schools, better medical facilities, and basically to lead a more convenient and comfortable life. 

Increased Employment Opportunities

In urban areas, new business companies are continually emerging and to progres, they require Human Resources which can yield employment opportunities.

Economic Growth

When people move to urban areas, they need to buy clothes, food, and the like which will bring more consumers to the businesses and this can thereby lead to economic growth.

Cultural Interaction

In urban areas, people of different races, culture, castes, and the like reside together which gives them a chance to interact with one another and get to know each other’s cultural practices. 

Social Assistance

In urban areas, the access to social welfare programs is more accessible and offered as compared to rural areas which can decrease the crime rate and offer security to those who are in need of the same. 

Thompson Warren defines urbanisation as,

“the movement of people from communities concerned chiefly or solely with agriculture to other communities, gen­erally larger whose activities are primarily centred in government, trade, manufacture, or allied interests.”

Anderson on the other hand believes,

“urbanisation is not a one-way process but it is a two-way process.”

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