Theories On Urbanization And The Theory Of Urbanisation

Theories on urbanisation have been developed for such a long period of time that they have been blended into and intersect with theories that also pertain to cities, industrialization and more recently globalization. The prominent theories:

The theory on endogenous urbanization: This theory suggests that urbanization requires two distinct prerequisites, the generation or surplus products that sustain people in non-agricultural activities( Childe 1950, Harvey 1973 cited in Peng X. et al 2005) and the achievement of a level of social development that allows large communities to be socially viable and stable ( Lampard 1965 cited in Peng X. et al 2005).

In a demographic sense, this theory focuses on rural urban population shift as the foundation of urbanisation but it identifies the movement of rural population to urban areas for factory jobs.

The second theory on urbanisation actually emerged from a broader theoretical school known as the Modernisation theory that became prevalent and influential from the 1950s through the 1970s. Looking at urbanisation through the lens of modernisation. Firstly, the present state

This optimistic prospective view was very developmental in highlighting the more positive outcomes of accelerated urbanization in the developing world, but only to be challenged by the more depressing reality of economic and spatial inequalities, as well as other social problems from urbanization in poor countries (Smith, 1996 cited in Peng X. 2005). As modernization theory failed to account for both the conditions and consequences of urbanization in developing countries, it opened the door to a compelling theoretical alternative—the dependency/world-system perspective on