Metropolisation

Metropolisation Homework

Tom Liebelt

Task 1

Both the United States of America and China have been greatly impacted by metropolisation in their long history as nations. The first to be affected was the USA. In 1860, less than 20% of the american population lived in cities, compared to 80% today.

The massive urbanisation has had a big effect on both the USA and China. First, in the case of the United States, it has strengthened the divide between the wealthy and poor, the urban and rural citizens. Metropolisation has strengthened many large cities, leaving rural areas and smaller cities behind, often causing negative economic growth. All of this has happened since the 2008 housing recession, which hit many people very hard and strengthened the divide. This divide is very visible on a political level. As a study shows, rural Americans tend to vote more right wing and more to the left. It therefore means that during elections, there is often a struggle for power between the rural and urban areas for control of the country. We must, however, not generalise. Many large urban areas are in bad financial state, like Detroit, once a booming city that is today a husk of its former self due to deindustrialisation. Within rural areas, the opposite can be seen, for example in universities. Overall, however, the economic and cultural divide of the nation has only worsened due to urbanisation.

In China, a similar effect took place. In the last 5 years, the country has seen unprecedented growth, mostly due to privatisation and large cities, of which 102 have over 1 million inhabitants. Special economic zones like Shenzhen have allowed the country to gain large amounts of wealth but not all the country is benefiting from it. Despite its massive cities, China is still mostly agrarian. 50,3 % of its inhabitants still live in rural areas thatareas, that have always been greatly impoverished. The average income in these areas are one third of that of their urban counterparts, and many live without basic financial services. This great divide has led it to be one of the countries with the largest inequalities in the world with a coefficient of 0,47, surpassing the USA.

Urbanisation has generally improved the quality of life in China and the USA, but has also created many disparities between the different groups living within the countries. The Trickle Down effect that was hoped did not come to fruition, leaving millions in poverty and hardship.

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