Geography · Year 9 · Population and Urbanisation · Summer Term

The Process of Urbanisation

Understand why towns and cities are growing so rapidly around the world, particularly in Low-Income Countries (LICs) and Newly Emerging Economies (NEEs), and learn about the rise of megacities.

TL;DR:Dive into the dynamic process of urbanisation, exploring why more than half of the world's population now lives in cities and what this rapid change means for people and the planet.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• The National Curriculum for England: Geography KS3 - Human Geography: Urbanisation

About This Topic

This topic delves into one of the most significant geographical processes of the 21st century: urbanisation. For Year 9 students, it builds upon earlier studies of population and settlement, providing a crucial foundation for GCSE Geography specifications (such as AQA's 'Urban Issues and Challenges' or Edexcel's 'Dynamic Urban Areas'). The core of the topic is understanding the distinction between urbanisation (the increasing proportion of people living in urban areas) and urban growth (the absolute increase in the number of people in urban areas). The focus is primarily on the rapid rates of change occurring in Low-Income Countries (LICs) and Newly Emerging Economies (NEEs), driven by a combination of rural-to-urban migration and high rates of natural increase.

Students will explore the complex web of 'push' factors driving people away from rural areas (e.g., poverty, lack of services, agricultural problems) and 'pull' factors attracting them to cities (e.g., perceived job opportunities, better education and healthcare). The rise of the megacity, a city with over 10 million inhabitants, serves as a powerful case study for the opportunities and immense challenges this growth presents, from informal housing and inadequate infrastructure to pollution and social inequality. By comparing these contemporary patterns with the historical urbanisation of High-Income Countries (HICs) like the UK, students can appreciate the different speeds and scales of this global phenomenon.

Key Questions

1. Explain the difference between urbanisation and urban growth.
2. Analyse the main causes of rapid urbanisation in LICs and NEEs.
3. Compare the patterns of urbanisation in Europe with those in Africa.

Learning Objectives

• Define the terms urbanisation, urban growth, and megacity.
• Explain the social, economic, and environmental push and pull factors that cause rural-to-urban migration.
• Describe how natural increase contributes to the growth of cities in LICs and NEEs.
• Compare the patterns and speed of urbanisation in different parts of the world, such as Europe and Africa.
• Analyse the challenges and opportunities created by rapid urbanisation in a named city.

Key Vocabulary

Urbanisation	The process by which an increasing proportion of a country's population lives in towns and cities.
Urban Growth	The increase in the total population of a town or city.
Megacity	A city with a population of over 10 million people.
Rural-urban migration	The movement of people from the countryside to live in cities.
Push Factors	Reasons that encourage people to leave an area.
Pull Factors	Reasons that attract people to a new area.
Natural Increase	The growth in population resulting from the birth rate being higher than the death rate.
LIC	Low-Income Country: a country with a low gross national income (GNI) per capita.
NEE	Newly Emerging Economy: a country that has begun to experience high rates of economic development, usually with rapid industrialisation.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Urbanisation is the same as a city getting bigger (urban growth).

What to Teach Instead

Urbanisation is the increase in the *proportion* or percentage of a country's population living in urban areas. Urban growth is the increase in the *absolute number* of people living in urban areas. A country's cities can grow, but if the rural population grows at a faster rate, the level of urbanisation can actually decrease.

Common Misconception

Everyone who moves to a city finds a good job and has a better life.

What to Teach Instead

While many people are drawn by the hope of opportunities, the reality can be very different. Many migrants end up in low-paid, informal jobs and live in overcrowded, poor-quality housing, such as shanty towns, with limited access to clean water, sanitation, and electricity.

Common Misconception

Urbanisation is a new phenomenon that only happens in poorer countries.

What to Teach Instead

Urbanisation has been happening for centuries. High-Income Countries like the UK experienced their most rapid period of urbanisation during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. The process is happening now at a much faster rate in LICs and NEEs.

Active Learning Ideas

Inquiry-Based Learning

Push and Pull Factor Card Sort

Students are given a set of cards, each with a reason for migration (e.g., 'more jobs', 'lack of clean water', 'better schools', 'crop failure'). In pairs, they must sort these into 'push factors' and 'pull factors', and can further categorise them as social, economic, or environmental.

20 min·Pairs

Inquiry-Based Learning

Megacity Infographic Challenge

In small groups, students research a specific megacity in an LIC or NEE (e.g., Lagos, Mumbai, Dhaka). They then create a one-page digital or physical infographic summarising its population growth, key challenges, and one innovative solution being implemented.

50 min·Small Groups

Inquiry-Based Learning

Urbanisation Patterns: Map Annotation

Provide students with a world map showing levels of urbanisation. They use different colours or symbols to annotate the map, identifying continents with high/low levels of urbanisation and arrows to show major historical and current trends of urban growth.

25 min·Individual

Real-World Connections

• Understanding the development of informal settlements (shanty towns) like those in Rio de Janeiro or Mumbai, and the efforts by governments and NGOs to improve them.
• Analysing news reports about air pollution, traffic congestion, and housing shortages in major world cities like Delhi or Mexico City.
• Connecting the concept of migration to local community stories, understanding why people may have moved to their town or city from other parts of the UK or the world.
• Evaluating urban planning decisions in their local area, such as the building of new housing estates or transport links, in the context of population growth.
• Debating the future of cities and the importance of sustainability goals in managing urban growth globally.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

An exit ticket task where students must write down two push factors and two pull factors for a named LIC city.

Quick Check

An extended writing question, such as: 'Using a named example of a city in an LIC or NEE, explain the causes of its rapid growth.'

Quick Check

Students use a 'traffic light' system to rate their confidence in defining key terms and explaining the main processes before a formal assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is urbanisation happening so much faster in Africa and Asia than in Europe?

Most European countries are already highly urbanised (typically 70-80%), so the rate of change is very slow. Many countries in Africa and Asia have traditionally been more rural, so they are now experiencing rapid industrialisation and economic development, creating strong pull factors to their growing cities.

What is a megacity?

A megacity is an urban area with a total population of more than 10 million people. Examples include Tokyo, Delhi, and Lagos. The number of megacities is growing rapidly, especially in LICs and NEEs.

What is 'natural increase'?

Natural increase is when the birth rate is higher than the death rate, causing a population to grow. In the cities of many LICs and NEEs, a large proportion of the population are young adults who have migrated there, who then have children. This leads to high rates of natural increase, contributing significantly to urban growth.