ABSTRACT

The development and modernization of urban communities takes place at the expense of the communities on the periphery. The modernization of agriculture and the intense penetration of tourism necessitate an adaptation of infrastructures: The roads, even the smallest, must be paved; a constant supply of drinking water must be assured, and so on. In the context, of the modern world modernization implies urbanization. Sociological research has shown that urbanization is one of the best synthetic indicators of the transformations. Urbanization means for its towns an increase in their economic servitude, an ever more pronounced political dependency, a sharpening of their cultural marginality. The level of urbanization, measured in terms of localities with more than 5,000 inhabitants, is very low and has evolved only gradually. The rural exodus has the effect of freeing space for urbanites: Old farmhouses, fallow lands, and so on satisfy the aspirations of the affluent social classes of the cities who seek second homes or camping grounds.