Title: Economic development and urbanization.

POPLINE Document Number: 018171

Author(s):

Wellisz SH

Source citation:

In: Jakobson L, Prakash V, ed. Urbanization and national development. Beverly Hills, California, Sage, 1971. :39-55. (South and Southeast Asia Urban Affairs Annual Vol. 1)

Abstract:

The current rapid pace of urbanization in developing countries, and particularly in Asia, should be taken as a welcome indication of development, yet this rapid pace is regarded with alarm by many eocnomists, sociologists, and political scientists interested in the developing world as well as by political authorities in the countries involved. The search for an acceptable allocation of resources between large cities and small and between the development of urban centers and hinterland may conveniently begin with a review of arguments and theories critical of the current state of affairs, followed by an attempt to define an efficient urbanization strategy congruent with economic and social development goals. In appraising the overurbanization argument, it is necessary to separate fact from fiction. Asia's urbanization occurs under conditions of greater rural population pressure than was the case in 19th century Europe. Asia's current rate of industrial job creation barely surpasses the rate of population growth. Consequently, a large proportion of the inmigrants into urban areas goes into work in the "unorganized" industrial sector, into trade, tertiary activities, and varieties of more or less casual work. This being the case, the distinction between rural "push" and urban "pull" remains irrelevant. What causes migration is the difference between rural and urban livelihood opportunities. The fact that migration into urban areas continues shows that there is a continuing difference between levels. If restrictive measures were taken to slow down migration, the potential migrants would be condemned to a lower living standard. It is also too easy to overstate the drain of the hinterland argument. Overurbanization does not mean that the cities of the Indo Pakistani subcontinent are unduly favored. On the contrary a progressive deterioration of conditions in a number of major urban centers is all too visible. India and Pakistan face a serious problem of underinvestment in urban housing and in urban amenities. Given the limited resourcet in urban housing and in urban amenities. Given the limited resources and the rapid rate of urbanization, the problem is formidable. It is aggravated by the "urban bias" which makes for an uneconomically fast growth of cities. Were urban job creation relatively slower, and rural job creation relatively faster, the rate of urbanization and the need for urban investment would be correspondingly reduced. India and Pakistan work to defend a decent standard of urbanization in the face of growing needs and of limited means by enforcing minimum standards applicable to private and public urban construction. The long run remedy must be sought in a technological breakthrough, either in the construction field for the building of cheap permanent urban structures, or in the transportation field, to allow the suburbanization of low income poulation without an excessive burden of transport costs. An interim solution, increasingly albeit reluctantaly accepted in India, consists of the construction of "controlled slums." A rational urbanization policy requires an end to the urban bias in planning. s and the rapid rate of urbanization, the problem is formidable. It is aggravated by the "urban bias" which makes for an une

Keywords:

India
Pakistan
Urbanization
Population Dynamics
Rural-Urban Migration
Migration, Internal
Migration
Housing
Developing Countries
Development Planning
Population Growth
Development Policy
Social Problems
Population Theory
Agricultural Development
Asia, Southern
Asia
Urban Population Distribution
Population Distribution
Geographic Factors
Population
Demographic Factors
Residence Characteristics
Economic Factors
Policy
Demography
Social Sciences
Rural Development