ABSTRACT
Since the Second World War, urbanization – the concentration of people in cities and towns –has taken place in the Third World at a pace and on a scale paralleled only by the experience of Western Europe – and outstripped by that of North America – in the nineteenth century. The crisis of Third World urbanization, however, is expressed not in the speed or short history of city growth (Table 7.1), but in the wide margin by which urban population increase (usually about 3 per cent per annum) has outstripped employment opportunities in the formal sector, most notably in manufacturing industry. Even Third World countries which were deemed to be ‘socialist’ in the 1980s have been marked by a strong process of urbanization, especially where their colonial experience has been recent (Figure 7.1). Ranking of city agglomerations by population (millions), 1960,1980 and 2000 https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
1960
1980
2000 (projected)
1
New York/NE New Jersey
14.2
Tokyo
17.7
Mexico City
25.8
2
London
10.7
New York/NE New Jersey
15.6
Sao Paulo
24.0
3
Tokyo/Yokohama
10.7
Mexico City
14.5
Tokyo/Yokahama
20.2
4
Shanghai
10.7
São Paulo
12.8
Calcutta
16.5
5
Rhein/Ruhr
8.7
Shanghai
11.8
Bombay
16.0
6
Beijing
7.3
London
10.3
New York/NE New Jersey
15.8
7
Paris
7.2
Buenos Aires
10.1
Seoul
13.8
8
Buenos Aires
6.9
Calcutta
9.5
Tehran
13.6
9
Los Angeles/Long Beach
6.6
Los Angeles/Long Beach
9.5
Shanghai
13.3
10
Moscow
6.3
Rhein/Ruhr
9.5
Riode Janeiro
13.3
11
Chicago/NE Indiana
6.0
Rio de Janeiro
9.2
Delhi
13.3
12
Tianjin
6.0
Beijing
9.1
Jakarta
13.3
13
Osaka/Kobe
5.7
Paris
8.7
Buenos Aires
13.2
14
Calcutta
5.6
Osaka/Kobe
8.7
Karachi
12.0
15
Mexico City
5.2
Bombay
8.5
Dhaka
11.2
16
Rio de Janeiro
5.1
Seoul
8.5
Cairo/Giza
11.1
17
São Paulo
4.8
Moscow
8.2
Manila
11.1
18
Milan
4.5
Tianjin
7.7
Los Angeles/Long Beach
11.0
19
Cairo/Giza
4.5
Cairo/Giza
6.9
Bangkok
10.7
20
Bombay
4.2
Chicago/NE Indiana
6.9
Osaka/Kobe
10.5
21
Philadelphia
3.7
Jakarta
6.7
Beijing
10.4
22
Detroit
3.6
Milan
6.7
Moscow
10.4
23
St Petersburg
3.5
Manila
6.0
Tianjin
9.1
24
Naples
3.2
Delhi
5.9
Paris
8.7
25
Jakarta
2.8
Baghdad
3.9
Baghdad
7.4
Source of data: United Nations, 1986 Urban growth in socialist developing countries, 1980—90 Source of data: World Bank, 1992 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203754092/06944f7e-d722-42c7-900a-4004781a938b/content/fig7_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>