Increasing urbanization

Whatever the effects of living in the city may be, more and more people in countries all over the world are moving from rural to urban areas. This process is called urbanization.

In 1900, only one-tenth of the world's population lived in cities. Today, for the first time in history, half the population lives in cities -and in 30 years' time it may rise to as much as three-quarters. The urban population is increasing at a rate of a quarter of a million people per day - the equivalent of a new London every month. (Rogers 1998).

Since the Industrial Revolution, people have been moving to the cities because of the belief that there were more jobs and higher wages there than in rural areas. Some move because their jobs disappear. Some move because their rural homelands become less comfortable places to live due to environmental damage. All are attracted to the city for its work opportunities and for its support services - roads, schools, hospitals (Pearce 1998).

Megacities

This flight to the cities has led to the phenomenon of megacities - cities -with populations of more than 10 million. At present there are about twenty. Tokyo is the worlds most populous city with almost 27 million people. It faces enormous problems including traffic and air pollution. Like most cities around the world, it also faces a huge problem getting rid of everyday household garbage. It is estimated that within five years, Tokyo will run out of space for the 2.5 million tons of household garbage it buries each year in landfill sites around the city (Hajari 1997).

A number of other megacities including Mexico City, New York, Sao 1 Paulo, Shanghai, and Bombay face similar problems. However, it is not all bad news for large cities. Many are learning to manage their prob­lems. Tokyo, for example, has improved its air standards over the past two decades through increased use of public transportation and anti­pollution technology. New York has had massive clean-up campaigns of its streets and waterways. Sao Paulo is creating a 300-kilometer bicy­cle system to reduce traffic congestion. These are positive signs that large cities around the world may overcome their problems.

What exactly is a family? The traditional idea of a nuclear family, meaning two married adults who live together and take care of their children, is becoming less and less common in the industrialized world. In the United States, for example, only about one quarter of all families have this structure. In fact, there have been such far-reaching social changes over the past century that the word family is becoming hard to define.

The concept of family has to take into account such social changes as industrialization, increased geographical mobility, and women's progress toward gaining equal rights. Other considerations include increases in single-parent families, cohabitation (people living together without getting married), divorced couples who marry other people, and other increasingly accepted alternative family structures.

THE FAMILY TODAY

The traditional image of the average family in the United States shows Mom taking care of her two kids and a house in the suburbs while Dad drives off to work. In fact, such a family is relatively rare today, both in the United States and in many other countries. Meanwhile, new forms

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1329