Describe the growth of cities and the process of Urbanization

Cities provide numerous opportunities for their residents and offer significant benefits including access to goods to numerous job opportunities. At the same time, high population areas can lead to tensions between demographic groups, as well as environmental strain. While the population of urban dwellers is continuing to rise, sources of social strain are rising along with it. The ultimate challenge for today’s urbanites is finding an equitable way to share the city’s resources while reducing the pollution and energy use that negatively impacts the environment.

What you’ll learn to do:

• Describe the process of urbanization in the United States and the growth of urban populations worldwide
• Understand the function of suburbs, exurbs, and concentric zones
• Discuss urbanization from various sociological perspectives

Learning Activities

The learning activities for this section include:

• Reading: Urbanization on the Rise
• Reading: Theoretical Perspectives on Urbanization
• Self-Check: Urbanization