Urbanisation, its problems and solutions
Across Namibia and the whole developing world, people are pouring into towns and cities — a change we call urbanisation. In this lesson we define urbanisation, then discover the push and pull factors that draw people from the countryside into cities like Windhoek. We look honestly at the problems rapid growth brings — the loss of young rural workers, shanty towns such as Havana and Katutura, poor sanitation, unsafe water, pollution and strained transport — and then at the real solutions: self-help and site-and-service schemes, upgrading informal settlements, new towns and rural development. Finally we sort out four job words that learners often confuse — unemployment and underemployment, and the formal and informal sectors, with Namibian examples like street vendors and kapana sellers.
By the end you should be able to (NSSCO Development Studies 4.2):
- Define urbanisation — the increasing share of a country's people who live in towns and cities
- Describe the causes and characteristics of urbanisation in developed and developing countries, including the push and pull factors behind rural-to-urban migration
- Describe the problems of rapid urbanisation in the developing world: effects on rural areas, shanty towns and informal settlements, poor sanitation, water supply and pollution, and strained transport and communication
- Suggest solutions to the problems of urban growth: self-help schemes, site-and-service schemes, rural development projects, new towns and upgrading informal settlements
- Differentiate between unemployment and underemployment, and between the formal and informal sectors, with Namibian examples
Miss Catherine and Mike talk through the whole topic — with the figure and working drawn live.