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Resource Key
Resource Level
We have graded each source in this Research Guide according to the following levels.
Level 1
Brief, easy to read information which may be basic and use informal language. Newspaper articles are generally this level.
Level 2
Generally includes subject-specific language, provides additional reading and may provide additional background information.
Level 3
Typically, these will be longer in length, detailed and contain technical information.
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Urbanisation
Urbanisation | Research Starter
Urbanization is the emergence of cities as settled living spaces for an increasing number of people, generally migrating from rural locales. The process of becoming urbanized entails not only the physical movement of the population and the construction of cities but also the rise of a distinctive society, culture, and economy. Read more ...
General Resources
General Resources
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
"The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) contained in the document entitled “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015. The new agenda seeks to leave no one behind and aspires to transform the world in which we live ... " - Children's Rights and the Crisis of Rapid Urbanisation"Within a rapidly urbanising world, many governments, particularly those in developing nations, will struggle over the next 30 years to support children. There were many key issues and challenges for children in cities identified over a decade ago as countries embarked on the task of addressing and monitoring progress through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) ... "
- On the Nexus of the Spatial Dynamics of Global Urbanization and the Age of the City."A number of concepts exist regarding how urbanization can be described as a process. Understanding this process that affects billions of people and its future development in a spatial manner is imperative to address related issues such as human quality of life ... "
- These will be the most important cities by 2035
"Cities are the engines of the modern economy. Over half of the world now lives in urban areas, and urbanization continues to shape the trajectory of global growth in unprecedented ways ... " - OECD: Urban Development"Urban issues are increasingly prominent on national policy agendas. Cities and metropolitan areas are major contributors to national economies and play a key role as nodes in global markets. Moreover, at a time of deepening globalisation and increasing international competition for investment, metropolitan regions have become the targets of a wide range of public interventions. As a result, throughout the OECD, urban development policies seek to address a range of issues – from managing urban expansion and congestion to fostering competitiveness, innovation, social inclusion and environmental sustainability ... "
- BBC Country Profiles"Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions. They also include audio and video clips from BBC archives. Select a country, territory or international organisation from the menus"
- CIA Country Profiles"The World Factbook provides information on the history, people and society, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities ... "
Sustainable Communitires
Sustainable Communities
- The Center for Sustainability and the Global EnvironmentThe Center examines the connections between natural resources, technology, policy, human health, security, and changes in the global environment.
- Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and WaterInvestigate the Government's position and plans regarding a range of topics; including, Biodiversity, Environmental Protection, Marine, Water, Climate Change, Heritage and National Parks.
- Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable EnergyThis site provides access to the latest developments in improving energy efficiency, including renewables and transport.
- Sustainable DevelopmentThis ABC Sustainable Development link provides access to a variety of useful resources relevant to sustainable development. It also supplies information on a variety of different current sustainable development issues and solutions.
tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
- Five lessons from Tokyo, a city of 38m people, for Australia, a nation of 24m"The release of 2016 Census data provides a good opportunity to reflect on the future growth of Australian cities. And what better example of the future to use than Tokyo? Frequently the subject of futuristic visions, the city went through one of the world’s most rapid post-war population growth periods. The Greater Tokyo area has a population of 38 million – almost 60% more than the population of Australia. Yet Tokyo remains one of the world’s most liveable metropolises ... "
- Case Study on Managing Urban Expansion in Tokyo"Tokyo, with a population of 38 million (2017) has been the world’s largest mega city for the past sixty years in terms of economic scale and population agglomeration. Through Japan’s drastic economic and social changes, this enormous city has been performing a difficult balancing act of managing urban growth at the national, prefectural, and municipal levels ... "
- Examining Tokyo and Lagos: How Urbanization Looks in Megacities"In 2018, nearly seven percent of the global population lived in megacities, or cities with more than ten million residents. As global population continues to grow and people continue to migrate to urban areas, megacities’ significance will only increase in the coming decades ... "
- The Value of Grey
"Modern urban planning, initiated in Western Europe and North America at the dawn of the twentieth century, framed the concept of “city” as an area where no agricultural land uses should be included. In Japan, however, the demarcation between the city and countryside was ambiguously “grey” in comparison to that of Western cities. This ambiguous mixture of urban and rural land uses characterized both the fringe and the interior of Japanese cities as well ... "
Delhi
Delhi, India
- Urbanisation and greening of Indian cities: Problems, practices, and policies"Progress of the Indian economy is threatened by the impact of climate change. Generation of urban heat islands (UHIs), waning of urban green cover, increase in carbon emissions and air pollution deteriorate the living environment. Rise in urban temperatures and heat stress induced mortality remain major concerns. Although the National Action Plan on Climate Change emphasises the national missions of 'enhanced energy efficiency', and 'green India', little research has been devoted to explore the passive cooling potential of urban greenery in India, thus lending uniqueness to this study ... "
- The Challenges of Urbanisation and City Governance."Urbanisation is taking place at a tremendous pace in several States, but many cities are struggling to cope with it. With an influx of people invading cities in the hope of better lives and opportunities there is a huge strain on available resources like housing, water, sanitation, health and hygiene ... "
- The digital turn in postcolonial urbanism: Smart citizenship in the making of India's 100 smart cities."The smart city as a “digital turn” in critical urban geography has gone largely unnoticed in postcolonial urbanism. This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the emergence of new forms of postcolonial citizenship at the intersection of digital and urban publics ... "
- Urbanisation and greening of Indian cities: Problems, practices, and policies."... The manifestations of unplanned urban development (UHIs, escalated carbon emissions, air pollution) are discussed and corroborated with identification of contributory factors. Contemporary greening practices and bye-laws in four major Indian cities (New Delhi, Pune, Chennai, and Visakhapatnam) are analysed and compared with global best practices ... "
- Monitoring urbanization and its implications in a mega city from space: Spatiotemporal patterns and its indicators"Rapid and invasive urbanization has been associated with depletion of natural resources (vegetation and water resources), which in turn deteriorates the landscape structure and conditions in the local environment. Rapid increase in population due to the migration from rural areas is one of the critical issues of the urban growth. Urbanisation in India is drastically changing the land cover and often resulting in the sprawl ... "
shanghai
Shanghai, China
- Growth and development in prefecture-level cities in China"Nowhere has the scale and scope ofc urbanization been larger than in China over the last few decades. We analyze Chinese city development between the years 1996 and 2014 using data for the urbanized components of prefecture-level cities ... "
- Squatting to end domicide? Resisting bulldozer urbanismin contemporary Shanghai"In May 2012, a family displaced by the World Expo 2010 broke into an empty apartment in Sanlin Expo Home-land, a planned resettlement neighbourhood to rehouse the Expo-induced displacees in Pudong District, Shang-hai. Well aware of their trespassing, the couple, how-ever, was determined to squat in this apartment and make it their new home. Unsurprisingly, they were soon harassed and evicted by the police force and grassroots organisations in alliance with the developers ... "
- China’s Urban Crisis"China stands as the primary exhibit of twenty-first-century urbanism. At a time when elite cities in the West barely manage to grow in population, Chinese cities have emerged out of virtually nothing, as hundreds of millions of people have moved from farm to city ... "
Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Characterization of Spatial Planning in Brazil: The Right to the City in Theory and Practice"This article characterizes spatial planning in Brazil from a normative point of view. Because of Brazil’s vast geography and uneven development, it is not possible to describe how spatial planning is carried out in all quarters of the country. We explore key aspects of spatial planning in the country using policy goals, the legal and administrative structures where planning operates and the attributes of governance in the Brazilian planning system ... "
- Sao Paulo statement on urban sustainability"Cities generate 80% of global GDP, and urbanization is a key driver of economic transformation. As centers of knowledge production and culture, cities play a decisive role in driving national prosperity. However, cities also concentrate resource use, consuming two-thirds of global energy and accounting for more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, despite being home to 55% of the world’s population ... "
- An Environmental Health Typology as a Contributor to Sustainable Regional Urban Planning: The Case of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo"The recognition of metropolitan regions and their growth as a necessary scale of analysis for their integrated management has become a central characteristic of urban planning. The current metropolitan landscape warrants the use of instruments beyond the municipal scale, especially since the economic integration of cities and their development are accentuating urban problems that a ect the sustainability of cities. The São Paulo Metropolitan Region (MRSP), one of the world’s megacities, is used as a case study to identify how typologies can contribute to integrated sustainable urban planning and
management at the metropolitan level.
Mexico City
Mexico City, Mexico
- Climatic risk in the Mexico city metropolitan area due to urbanization"The Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) had a rapid demographic and urban growth during the second half of the twentieth century that led to development of an intense Urban Heat Island (UHI). In the urbanized zone, the mean maximum and minimum temperatures have had significant increases of the order of 3 and 4°C during the last one hundred years ... "
- Infographics: Urbanisation and Urban Development in Mexico"It is well-known that Mexico City counts among the five largest cities in the world. Yet, the history of urbanisation in the country has more interesting facts to offer. Learn more in URBANET’s latest series of infographics ... "
- Mexico City Is Proposing to Build One of the World’s Largest Urban Parks"More than twice the size of Manhattan, the park could restore the water systems of the region and serve as a model for cities around the world ... "
- Mexico City Needs To Address Its Urban Mobility Problems"There are no easy solutions for Mexico City’s congestion nightmare. Now the largest city in North America, Mexico City’s metro area population is nearly double the size of the L.A. metro area. Mexico City saw its population grow from 13 million in 1980 to nearly 22 million in 2019 ... "
dhaka
Dhaka, Bangladesh
- The dysfunctional megacity: why Dhaka is bursting at the sewers"After decades cleaning the sewers of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s crowded capital, Sujon Lal Routh has seen plenty of misery. But the tragedy of 2008 was the worst. After a day of heavy rainfall left the streets flooded – as usual – seven workers were assigned to clear a blocked manhole in Rampura, in the centre of the city ... "
- Sick Cities: A Scenario for Dhaka City"Urbanisation is one of the leading global trends having a significant impact on health. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by the middle of this century. Unfortunately, these transformations are happening too quickly but in unplanned way and thus many municipalities are unable to find the proper balance necessary for preventing a range of symptoms from developing, which can leave a city rather sick and in turn impact the well-being of residents ... "
- Urban environment and major challenges in sustainable development: Experience from Dhaka City in Bangladesh"Sustainable development is one of the most discussed and desired issues for the last few decades in Bangladesh and also throughout the world. But due to various challenges it is really tough to prepare and execute a proper plan for achieving sustainable development ... "
mumbai
Mumbai, India
- Consequences of Urbanisation in Contrasting Cities"A problem of rapid rural to urban migration is the development of squatter settlements. In Mumbai the squatter settlement of Dharavi is now home to more than 1 million people. Dharavi lies between two railway lines and is one of the biggest squatter settlements in the world. The squatter settlement is unplanned and has these characteristics ... "
- India’s urban challenges: Recommendations for the new government (2019-2024)"In the past, urbanisation and its concomitant challenges commanded low priority in national political discourse. Recently, however, the economic and demographic rise of cities in many parts of the country, especially Southern and Western India, and the National Capital Region, are drawing greater attention. This is likely to rise further in the coming years as urbanisation mounts. This special report is a compendium of brief papers on the country’s urban challenges ... "
- Mumbai: A case study of the challenges, and potential solutions, of providing housing and basic services in a megacity of the developing world."The article discusses how the site and situation of Mumbai, India have impacted its growth and also contribute to the challenges that the megacity faces ... "
- The Majority-Minority Divide in Attitudes toward Internal Migration: Evidence from Mumbai."Rapid urbanization is among the major processes affecting the developing world. The influx of migrants to cities frequently provokes antagonism on the part of long-term residents, manifested in labor market discrimination, political nativism, and violence ... "
Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria
- Africa Sustainable Development Report"The Africa Sustainable Development Report 2018 reviews Africa’s performance on five goals, and related targets and indicators of the 2030 Agenda ... "
- Africa's urban infrastructure challenge: Africa is struggling to cope with rapid urbanisation, but solutions are emerging to the problems of its cities"Rapid urbanisation is at the heart of most of Africa's difficulties but also its opportunities. Most of the academic evidence suggests that the process promotes economic growth, while the challenge is to ensure that cities become inclusive, safe and sustainable ... "
- Meeting Ghana's ever widening housing supply challenge driven by the country's urbanization."Ghana's urban housing deficit is wide and growing. Urban housing in Ghana is informal, overcrowded and predominantly rental or rent-free without any financial collateral. About 90% of housing in urban Ghana is built without local authority control; almost 60% of households occupy single rooms, and only 25% of households own their housing (UNHabitat 2012) ... "
- Debates about African urbanisation, migration and economic growth: what can we learn from Zimbabwe and Zambia?"There has been much debate about whether patterns of urbanisation in sub- Saharan Africa defy the usually accepted links between migration flows and economic geographies. In the 1980s and 1990s African urban economies were weak and increasingly informalised ... "
- Examining Tokyo and Lagos: How Urbanization Looks in Megacities"In 2018, nearly seven percent of the global population lived in megacities, or cities with more than ten million residents. As global population continues to grow and people continue to migrate to urban areas, megacities’ significance will only increase in the coming decades ... "