- What is an urban area?
- Characteristics of urban life
- Economic activities in the urban area
- Difference between urban and rural areas
- Urban migrations
We explain what an urban area is, what urban life is like and its economic activities. Also differences with a rural area.
What is an urban area?
It is called an urban area, urban space, urban environment or urban center to scenery own of cities, as opposed to rural areas, where agricultural activity is carried out, or also to peri-urban areas, which are the border between the first two. However, it is not always easy to clearly distinguish one from the other, since over time the rural world has been urbanizing in some way.
Urban spaces are defined through a functional logic, that is to say, economic, since in them the secondary sector -industrial- and the service sector, instead of primary sector, as in rural areas.
In addition, they are spaces of great population concentration, in which all kinds of constructions and infrastructures are carried out, becoming the typical, characteristic space of the human being contemporary. In addition, it is there that political power comes from, since it is where most of the institutions from a country.
Urban areas flourished hand in hand with the industrialization and the capitalism, so that they have not always existed as they do today, nor have they been the center of importance of our society. In fact, the medieval world was, for almost 15 centuries, an eminently agrarian world.
Today, on the other hand, cities occupy less than 3% of the total surface of the planet, but consume around 60 to 70% of the natural resources and energy available for the humanity.
Characteristics of urban life
Life in the urban area is characterized, broadly speaking, by the following:
- Predominance of the industrial fiscal year: the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy (manufacture Y services). The raw material and the foodInstead, they tend to come from outside.
- A huge population concentration, the upper limits of which are made up of the great megalopolises of more than 10,000,000 inhabitants. In contrast, there is no fixed limit on how many residents are necessary for a settlement to be considered an urban area.
- In urban areas, most of the basic services and administrative and / or bureaucratic instances of the State are present. They are the logistical heart of Condition.
- The rhythms of life are usually frenetic, as well as the displacement of public transport, and life takes place in smaller spaces, with relatively low presence of vegetation.
- In the urban area, costs The lifespan are almost always higher, and can vary significantly from one city to another, or from one city to the country. Especially in real estate.
Economic activities in the urban area
Urban industries are only light or medium.
The economy of urban areas revolves around the industry and to Commerce, with a notorious predominance, as we said before, of the manufacturing and services economic sectors. The raw material and EnergyInstead, they tend to come from outside, so that cities are more or less dependent systems. The economic activities more characteristics of urban spaces are:
- Industrial production, especially with regard to light and medium industries, given that the level of pollution of basic industries or heavy is usually incompatible with the population density of cities. Thus, it is common to find industries dedicated to: the manufacture of paper and the printing of books, the assembly of auto parts, the manufacture of electronic devices, the textile manufacturing or the packaging of substances and food.
- Construction, one of the key sectors for the growth of the urban area, which takes the basic materials from heavy industry and with them builds houses, buildings or facilities for trade, production or also public works: highways, bridges, squares, etc.
- Wholesale and retail trade, whether of products manufactured in the city itself (or in others) or from agriculture, which are received and offered to a public consumer through a network of establishments and shops of a different nature, or supplied to establishments in the service sector. This is the case of hardware stores, bookstores, supermarkets, paint stores, etc.
- The tertiary or services sector, which does not offer manufactured products but rather specific activities that end in themselves and their consumption. Such is the case of restaurants, consulting companies, travel agencies, electricity, telephony, cable tv or Internet, and also urban or interurban public transport services.
Difference between urban and rural areas
The differences between the urban and rural areas, that is, between the city and the countryside, can be summarized as:
| Urban zone | Rural zone |
|---|---|
| High population density, reaching several million inhabitants per city. | Low population density, since the inhabitants live apart from each other and in the open air. |
| Quick and easy access to services, State institutions and commercial or distribution networks (ports, airports, etc.). | Greater degree of relative isolation with respect to the bureaucratic nucleus of the State and the main commercial networks. |
| High level of industrialization, with increased pollution and a hectic way of life. | Low level of industrialization, with lower pollution margins and a more peaceful life. |
| High demand for land that drives up real estate prices and maximizes the use of space. | Low demand for land to inhabit, which moderates real estate prices as there is more space available. |
| Predominance of the secondary and tertiary economic sectors. | Predominance of the primary economic sector, agriculture or basic industries. |
Urban migrations
The migrations Urban are the movements of inhabitants that occur between one city and another, or those that occur from the rural area and the cities (rural-urban migration).
Both are a common phenomenon in the contemporary industrial world, and had their beginning in the great exodus from agriculture to the city that starred in the modern world with the beginning of the capitalism Industrial: millions of peasants left their rural homes and moved to the cities, where they gave rise to the working class (proletariat).
Migrations are a common part of urban life, and can occur between different countries, different regions of the same country or even between different sectors of the same urban area (from the suburbs to the center, for example).