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The Urban Context

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Urbanisation and Inequalities in a Post-Malthusian Context

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Population Studies ((BRIEFSPOPULAT))

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Abstract

Urbanisation is not a new phenomenon, although its impacts have recently been paid increased attention. During Malthus’ times, England witnessed significant growth in industry, which cumulated in what was to become the industrial revolution. The development of industry triggered a need for cheap labour and hence resulted in huge migration flows into the cities. In the 20th century, the urbanisation process accelerated rapidly and emerged as a major phenomenon with a significant impact on food and water security. Similarly to the historical context, the geneses of more recent urbanisation are not uniform and differ depending on regional and country-specific circumstances. This chapter analyses the trends and dynamics of urban growth during the Malthusian era and the origins of urbanisation using selected country examples. Finally, the chapter proposes a novel definition and typology of urbanisation, and discusses the differences in the national classification of urban areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Sylvia Szabo

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  1. Sylvia Szabo
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Szabo, S. (2016). The Urban Context. In: Urbanisation and Inequalities in a Post-Malthusian Context. SpringerBriefs in Population Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26571-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26571-1_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26569-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26571-1

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