The Urban World, 9th Ed.

J. John Palen

Chapter 14: Developing Countries

• Introduction: The Urban Explosion• Developing-Country Increases• Rich Countries and Poor Countries• Global Cities• Characteristics of Third World Cities• The 21st Century• Summary

Introduction: The Urban Explosion• Roughly 90 percent of world population

growth is taking place in cities• Megacities– Designated urban agglomerations with a

population of 8 million or more– In the 1990s the threshold was raised to 10 million– Currently the United Nations lists 21 megacities

and projects an additional 13 megacities by 2015– Of the 414 million-plus cities, three-quarters are in

the developing world

• Plan of Organization– Particular cities may differ from the general pattern of

urbanization

• Common or Divergent Paths?– The ecology-modernization approach implies that there

is a general pattern and that developing countries will in time follow the western model

– Contemporary urbanizaton in less-developed countries differs from that of North America and western Europe• The pace of change has accelerated• Industrialization often trails behind the rate of urban growth• Having continued high rates of growth by natural increase

(births) as well as in-migration• Still reflect the legacy of colonialism

Developing-Country Increases• Roughly 70 percent of the world’s urban population of

3.5 billion live in developing countries• The Population Reference Bureau projects that the world

population in 2025 will be 8 billion people• The combined population of the various developing

countries is currently increasing by 73 million a year• This population increase greatly exacerbates already

serious problems, including those of economic development

• Exposure to alternatives and nontraditional ways of life create more demands

Figure 14.1Population age of Developed Countries vs. Less Developed Countries, 2010

Rich Countries and Poor Countries• Classification as a developing country,

modernizing country, less-developed country, and third world country are polite ways of saying “poor country”

• The major distinction is that one category includes the “haves” and the other the “have-nots”

• Less-developed country (LDC) status is not necessarily permanent since some former “developing” nations have moved to the developed category

Global Cities• Until roughly 50 years ago cities largely

operated each within their own national market, rather than an international market

• Urban based multinational corporations now dominate the world economy

• This is the era of global cities; cities that wherever they are located, are oriented more to the needs of multinational corporations than to the needs of the city’s inhabitants

Characteristics of Third World Cities• Youthful Age Structure– LDCs had young age structures with between 30 to 40

percent of the population age 15 or younger– The consequence is that their fewer resources have to be

stretched to cover double the proportion of young dependents

• Multinationals– In developing countries workers flood into the cities, not so

much because of the availability of jobs, but because of the lack of opportunity in the rural areas and small villages

– Urban unemployment rates commonly exceed one-quarter of the workforce

• The Informal Economy– Refers to the small enterprises without access to credit,

banks, or formally trained personnel– Provides a safety net for workers when times are tough

• Squatter Settlements– Decaying central-city slums and new squatter settlements

often house one-third of the entire urban population– Shanty towns that are “illegally” occupying the land on

which they are built cannot demand city services– Demolishing settlements and relocating the urban poor in

new fringe settlements is often disastrous for the poor

• Primate Cities– A primate city is a principal city overwhelmingly large

in comparison with all other cities in the country– Most primate cities owe their development to

European colonialism– A primate city dominates the rest of its nation

economically, educationally, politically, and socially

• Overurbanization?– A loaded term that suggests that, for the nation’s level

of economic development, there is too large a portion of the nation’s population residing in cities

– It can be argued that the rapid growth of cities is a positive sign of the social and economic development of an area

The 21st Century

• Cities in the developing world are going to continue to grow

• Squatter settlements are unavoidable• Urban infrastructure will remain inadequate• Political instability may be a serious problem

in some countries