Urbanisation – The process by which an increasing percentage of a country's population comes to live in towns and cities. Rapid urbanisation is a feature of many LIC's and NEE's

We know that urban means town or city.

To remember the meaning of the term Urbanisation, use the following mnemonic:

Urban (city) areas rise within the nation (urbanisation) and you can see that they grow over time.

Urbanisation means an increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas compared with rural areas. It happens when the chances of getting a job in rural areas reduce, and people have to move to cities, where there are usually more jobs, in order to survive.

For instance, when machinery takes over agricultural work, the result is often movement of people from countryside to city.

Urbanisation occurs mainly in developing countries but was experienced in developed countries in the past, for instance during the Industrial Revolution.

The process of urbanisation can bring many problems, including a shortage of housing, increased pressure on urban services, and the unauthorised construction of squatter settlements, or shanty towns.