I figured I would open with a very intellectual quote from a classic movie. Globalization isn’t quite the topic of this blog but it is very much related. Urbanization is essentially an extension of globalization and is one of the primary ways we are able to directly “view” globalization and the changes it brings upon our world. That statement might produce some degree of contention, but most anyone reading this blog (in all likelihood) can certainly agree that it is one of, if not the, most primary way(s) we interact with globalization-related issues on a daily basis.
Urbanization brings higher population density, and – hopefully, but not necessarily always, in the case of some of the world’s big slums – better/improved infrastructure. It also brings larger markets for many products, most of them consumer-related.
Urbanization essentially, if indirectly, breeds greater consumerist habits:
- Greater population density leads to decreased practicality of agricultural practices (assuming that the predecessor of urbanization is a more rural setting)
- Lessened agro-ecological self-sustainability leads to the export and rise of a agricultural practice as its own enterprise
- As infrastructure and development increases, the general complexity of life does as well. There grows increased (or a perceived increase, at least) in need for products typically considered to be consumer goods. In our society (in America), two examples of this include computers (for/in response to the increased prominence of communication) and cars (for dealing with commuting most effectively in a commute-heavy environment typical of urbanized locales).
--Nate
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