Urbanization and Economic Sustainability: Balancing Growth and Environmental Responsibility

Abstract

The connection between increasing urbanisation and economic expansion has been a source of much concern. If the change of human civilization that has taken place since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution were to be summed up in no more than three words, there are few possibilities that are more appropriate than urbanisation, industrialization, and globalisation. These three aspects are intertwined and interdependent on one another. Industrialization results in the direct output of economic growth, which, in turn, provides additional impetus to a vigorous process of urbanisation in both developed countries and newly industrialised ones. This is accomplished primarily through the specialisation of labour and the unprecedented development of non-agricultural sectors. The historical evidence and statistical data unequivocally demonstrate that the vast majority of industrialised nations have both a greater degree of urbanisation and a higher level of GDP per capita than less developed nations do.