Why are cities getting overcrowded?
The fact that the world’s cities are getting more and more crowded is a well-documented demographical fact. Cities such as Tokyo, Sao Paolo, Bombay and Shanghai are now considered ‘mega-cities’, reflecting their enormous size and huge populations, which in many cases is around the twenty million-mark. There are two main reasons why these and other cities are becoming so crowded: one economic and the other socio-cultural.
Undoubtedly, the primary cause for cities becoming so crowded is economic. As a country develops, its cities become the engines of development. Therefore, many jobs are available in these areas. Frankfurt, Istanbul, Bombay and Sao Paolo, to name but a few, are all the economic centres of their countries. Tokyo, for example, was the motor for Japan’s rapid economic development in the 1960’s and 70’s; as a result, its population increased rapidly, as shown in Graph 1. People moved to Tokyo so that they could find jobs and establish economic security for themselves and their families.
A further factor in the huge increase in urban populations is the socio-cultural factor. Thousands of people migrate to the cities not only for jobs but also for educational and personal reasons. The better universities are always located in big cities and this attracts tens of thousands of students every year. These students usually stay on and work in the city after they graduate. Moreover, young people will move to the city as the villages and rural areas are often governed by custom and tradition, which they believe is an obstacle to their personal freedom.
In conclusion, we can say that amongst the many causes behind urban population density, the economic and cultural are the most significant. People always move to the areas which provide opportunity and the freedom they desire. It is now the responsibility of municipal councils to make sure these people are housed, clothed, fed and educated