Since the 1960s, a growing number of people have been moving away from Essay - 1

Since the 1960s, a growing number of people have been moving away from villages and small towns to big cities in both developed - Essay Example I will then discuss the effects migration has had on cities and rural areas in Britain and Ghana to highlight the similarities and differences between the problems faced in developed and developing countries. Lewis (1982) argues that migration is caused by a series of forces which encourage people to leave one place (push) and attract them to another (pull). Push factors include the decline of natural resources in rural areas. For example, the exhaustion of mines, timber and agricultural resources can result in fewer jobs available in rural areas, causing poverty, which forces people to move to urban areas in the hope of finding work. Parnwell (1993) also cites high rural population growth as a reason for rural-urban migration. This is because it results in a surplus of labour in rural areas, forcing people to move to urban areas to find jobs. Environmental degradation of rural areas (e.g. over-grazing and draught) can also force people to migrate due to food shortages. Religious str ife, political persecution, escaping from oppression and war also contribute to rural-urban migration Bogue (1959) also highlights that people leave rural areas due to the lack of basic infrastructure (electricity and water supplies) and services (public transport, hospitals and schools). Parnwell (1993) highlights a series of ‘pull factors’ that encourage people to move to cities, including migrant’s belief that superior opportunities for employment in manufacturing, construction, commerce and the service industry can be found in urban areas. Many people also move to cities to join kin already living and working there. However, Parnwell (1993) notes that despite migrants believing that urban areas offer an escape from poverty and better employment opportunities, the reality can be quite different, and unemployment and hardship are quite common it cities. Other people may move to urban areas because they may offer better career opportunities and higher wages. Bet ter welfare facilities such as education, increased access to doctors and health care, raised standards of living and better housing have also contributed to a growth in urban environments. Valentine (1995) also believes people move to urban areas for their ‘freedom of expression and liberation’, e.g. urban areas allow people to express themselves in ways not possible in rural areas, e.g. creation of gay and lesbian districts. However, Parnwell (1993) notes that cities can also provide a danger and intimidating environment for others, e.g. fear of crime. ‘Modern urbanization in developing countries is unlike earlier growth of towns and cities in developed countries’ (Kemp, 2004: 123). In Ghana urbanization is not driven by industrialization, but by natural growth and migration from rural areas. Ghana’s current population stands at 24.8 million (CIA, 2010), in which 51% of Ghanaians live in urban areas. Every year the urban population grows by 3.4%. A developed country such as Britain on the other hand has 80% of it’s population already living in urban environments, with a much slower urban growth rate of 0.7% per year (CIA, 2011). Jackson et al (1996) claim that the process of urbanisation in developing countries such as Ghana tends to be less controlled than in developed coun