The global trend of urban population has been rising rapidly for the last five decades. Estimates indicate that in the mid-1990s, 43 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas. This figure is projected to become three-fifth of the world’s population by 2025 (United Nations, 1993). In 1990, the world’s urban population was 2.4 billion, two thirds of who lived in the developing countries. By the year 2025, a United Nations study estimates that these figures will more than double, to 5.5 billion.
Throughout Africa, urbanization is increasing. Urban areas have expanded enormously in population and size and there is growing concentration of population in a few large cities especially in the national capitals. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the least urbanized but most rapidly urbanizing part of the world, the United Nations projects that nearly one-half (49%) of the population will be urban by 2025 (UN, b1996).
Ghana is no different from the ongoing trend. Consistent with observed trends in the rest of Africa, Ghana’s population is becoming increasingly urbanized. The census or statistical definition of an urban center in Ghana is any settlement with a population of 5,000 or more persons. Today more than four out of every ten Ghanaians live in a city or town of more than 5,000 people.`` If current trends continue, by the year 2020 more than half of all Ghanaians will live in urban areas” (Nabila, 1988, p. 1).
It must be acknowledged that urbanization is not isolated in one sense. It has a holistic definition and varies from nation to nation. For instance in Sweden a settlement with more than 200 inhabitants is classified as urban, whilst in Switzerland the number is 10,000 and in Ghana, a population of 5000 is considered as urban. Places can be viewed as urban if less than half of its workers are engaged in agriculture. For example in India a settlement which has more than 75 percent of adults engaged in non-agricultural activities are classified as urban. Urbanization according to Davis 1965 is “the total proportion of the total population concentrated in an urban settlement or else to a rise in this proportion”. It therefore refers to the changes in the proportion of a population of a nation living in urban areas, thus the process of people moving to cities or other densely populated settlements. Urbanization simply put is the process by which rural areas transform into urban settlements. Demographically, it involves to elements; multiplication of points of concentration and increase in size of individual concentration. Urbanization according to Lewis Writh, 1938 is a relatively large dense and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals.
The main (underlying) causes of urbanization in Ghana include rural-urban migration, high natural rate of increase and urban bias development strategies. (K. Nsiah, 2003)
Several factors accounts for urbanization, among which some are discussed below; Economic factor; generally, the commonest activity in rural areas is predominantly agriculture and it is rain-fed. These therefore compel the rural folk to move to the urban areas during the dry season to pursue a livelihood which constitute urbanization.
Coupled with the above is the monetization of the urban economy. Abotchie 2001 has observed that, the monetization of the urban economy has largely accounted for the exodus; from rural to urban. Rural Ghana is characteristic of low money exchange for labor as well as other activities. Labor is usually exchanged on casual grounds conforming to tradition and values. The city on the other hand is known for its paid labor. As a result, there is a pull on the rural folk to move to the city where his labor will be rewarded with physical money, thus an increase in size of individual concentration.
Medical factor; Medical personnel are limited to rural areas in terms of adequacy. The presence of Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHIPS) has helped to improve the health of the rural population. With this improvement in health facility, less people are dying and fertility is increasing. As a result of this increasing rural population, people move to the urban areas.
Cultural factor; Culture engineer urbanization on two diverging lenses; push and pull factors. First, people are pushed out of rural area to urban areas as a result of unfavorable cultural conditions such as female genital mutilation (FGM), Trokosi system and early marriage. On the other hand the urban areas are dominated by western cultures that pull people to urban areas. For instance, urban dressing style serves as a pull factor on rural folks, causing them to move to urban areas.
Natural allocation of resources; nature on itself increases the incidence of urbanization in the sense that, major cities that pull rural folks into cities seem to follow similar trend which is the endowment of peculiar natural resources. These resources generate multiple positive effects to its areas. For instance, Accra has a sea and Kumasi has gold as a result majority of people are pulled towards such areas in a concentric sense, thereby increasing the size of individual concentration, thus urbanization.
under-five mortality is 80 deaths. Under-five mortality has shown a similar trend, declining from 155 in 1988 to 111 in 1993, 108 in 1993… even though the country has experienced declines in infant and child mortality, the current mortality rates are still considered high”. This factor corresponds to the multiplication of points of concentration in urban areas. According to Davis 1965, this leads to a rise in the proportion of people concentrated in urban areas, because people are not dying. Natural increase is fuelled by improved food supplies, better sanitation, and advances in medical care that reduce the death rates and cause populations to grow both within cities and the peri-urban areas.
Urban bias development strategies: Pro-urban development strategies adopted by countries have left urban areas more developed than the rural areas.
Some of such development defects are discussed below:
Concentration of industries; In Ghana, Accra central, Tema, and Kumasi (Asokwa) are known to be the major industrial areas on the land. The concentration of industries in the major cities correspond to the concentric ecological model of urbanization, thus establishing such cities as the hub (central business districts, CBD) of the nation, thereby causing the intensification of population in such localities.
Infrastructures and superstructures; in developing countries such as Ghana, most infrastructures, with regard to entertainment, recreation, health and education are mostly concentrated in the cities. It seems like, anytime somebody needs something, the better version of that thing is located in the city. In Ghana, sport stadia, entertainment theaters, ports, recreational parks, etc., are all in the hub of the major cities. This therefore causes urbanization.
The implications of urbanization are numerous. First some positive effects of urbanization include;
Urbanization leads to economies of scale and cheap labor. Industries benefit from concentration of suppliers and consumers and allow savings in communications and transport costs. Cities serve as commercial, administrative, and growth centers and are generally places for production and consumption of goods and services. It also encourages competition and its reflex of better services.
Despite the positive aspect of urbanization there are other negative factors associated with urbanization; as urban areas grow, demand for land for housing, agriculture and urban infrastructure increases leading to increased pressure on farmlands, forests and water resources. Rapid urbanization accelerates desertification and environmental change, leading to water scarcity, soil erosion, and climate change (causing dislodge of nature). It also encourages social vices such as; armed robbery, rape, etc.
area, thus retarding development in the rural areas. Urbanization also breaks down the extended family system. It also weakens traditional political system.
A plan to reduce environmental damage caused by rapid urbanization is to plan urban areas in such a way that they can provide a real sense of community, with good sanitation, adequate housing, health care and education facilities. The focus of today’s cities must be towards better urban development. Government policies to urban unemployment and environmental problems must be based on knowledge of who comes to the city and how they cause and contribute to the problems in the city. Recycling of domestic and industrial wastes should be promoted to improve degraded soils and urban agriculture. The need to ensure effective urban infrastructure planning and enforcing planning laws and regulations is vital.
Developing the rural areas to curb rural-urban migration is crucial to stabilizing rural urban migration. Intensifying family planning and population control programs in order to reduce the multiplication of points of concentration in both urban and rural areas is necessary. Encouraging industries to locate in the rural areas is vital and can be achieved by the integral involvement of the government.
Although Ghana has become synonymous with rapid urbanization, it is neither a crisis nor a tragedy. Urbanization has created a host of new opportunities with new and ill-understood environmental, food and human security problems.
Although urbanization is associated with unemployment and other social problems, however, it creates the avenue for growth and development of markets for consumer goods and a source of human capital. The focus on cities must move decidedly towards better planning and management with past failures giving way to more appropriate policies and practices. Proper land use planning and urban environmental monitoring are required to solve the problems of urbanization in Ghana
Abotchie 2001 Davis 1965
Ghana Population Stabilization Report, 2003 Hance, 1970, Kasanga and Avis, 1988 Lewis Writh, 1938
Nabila, 1988, p. 1 United Nations, 1993
