Centrifugal Urban Movements

Movement of people and activities away from cities and city centres

• Movements away from cities are more common in MEDC’s than LEDC’s

Suburbanisation

• The movement of people away central areas in cities towards the edge of the city to the “suburbs”

• This trend developed as cities in MEDC’s began to age and became crowded. People sought a quieter, less crowded life where the could afford a bigger house and a yard or garden area….the suburban dream.

• This trend was largely made possible by the increase in car ownership allowing people to commute from the suburbs where they lived to the more central areas of cities where they may work.

Counter-urbanisation

• Movement of people and activities from the city to rural areas and smaller settlements beyond the city

• Often led to the creation of satellite towns• A satellite town is a concept in urban planning

that refers essentially to smaller metropolitan areas which are located somewhat near to, but are mostly independent of larger metropolitan areas.

More on counter-urbanisation….

• Counter urban migrants must able to afford to live away from centres of economic activities in terms of the cost of transport for commuting.

• The area must have a good transport and communication network so that people can stay linked to economic activities in cities.

• Counter-urbanisation is predominantly an MEDC trend

Urban Sprawl

• The rapid spreading of urban style development into rural areas on the edges of cities.

• Urban sprawl is often characterised as unplanned but it usually just poorly planned and driven by profits from property development

• It often results in inefficient use of land and loss of agricultural lands