urbanization causes /conseq?

Question

urbanization:
Causes and consequences related to…
Economic development

what would one of each be?

Answer 1

William is so close, but has it completely backwards.

Urban areas create the improved agricultural practices that allow for the surpluses he mentions. But it is true that adoption of those practices by more rural areas does cause a major inflow of rural labor to the (pre-existing) cities looking for work.

The best source on the economics of urban areas is the books of Jane Jacobs: The Economy of Cities, and Cities and the Wealth of Nations.

The idea that urbanization has a "cause" is, in and of itself, an oversimplification.

Cities almost always start small and grow (when they do), in a series of cycles, with each cycle consisting of a period of explosive growth, followed by a period of integration and "digestion".

The heart of the economic cycle is trade: what the city imports and what it exports. A major factor of its growth is replacement of imports by goods produced locally, which frees up funds for new imports, while, at the same time, increasing local demand for the resources and labor needed to produce the goods locally.

It is also the case that cities are generally the source of just about all innovation in a society, including innovation in agriculture. Whether it is agricultural equipment (machinery, etc.) or practices (contour farming, use of fertilizers, etc.), the source has been the cities.

Even rural factories are an export from a city. A factory in a city can take advantage of all the other local producers, so it does not have to operate as independently as a factory in a rural area. Thus it is cheaper to start in an urban area and only move to the boondocks after the factory size is large enough and the experience great enough to survive "out of the nest".

One of the natural consequences is that the phases of explosive growth are never well controlled; growth creates new problems; and these problems have to be addressed before the next cycle can begin.

Answer 2

Urbanization is caused by improved agricultural practices and industrialization. Without higher yields per acre and greater output per unit of labor in agriculture, everyone would have to concentrate on food production to support themselves. Once the issue of adequate food supply is addressed, the excess labor gets drawn into other uses, including working in industry. Industrialization works best when there is a large capital base supported by an adequate workforce, and it is inefficient to have all your workers living in small isolated hamlets. Therefore, most of the labor moves to be closer to the site of the industry.
Prior to the industrial revolution, most urban centers were simply administrative and trade centers, and were quite small by modern standards.

There are many consequences of urban development, one of these being an increase in trade. As industrial output rises there are more products available, and larger markets to absorb them. Also going hand in hand with industrialization, there is the rise of banking, as capital intensive industries need a more complex financial infrastructure to support them.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of the causes, and certainly not the consequences, of urbanization, but simply some examples. Hope it helps.

Answer 3

urbanization causes changes in land use (and as a result deforestation) due to the need of more space eg. urbanization usually means more people living per km squared therefore more agricultural areas need to be made to feed the larger numbers of people. therefore forests get cut to make fields where this food can be produced. Especially cows, which take up larger amounts of space than agriculture, and feed less people, are responsible for the deforestation.