Concrete Jungles & Rolling Plains: Examining Urban and Rural Environments
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- Urbanization
densely populated (meaning crowded). In an urban environment most people live in large apartment buildings, housing hundreds or even thousands of families. New York City is the most densely populated major city in North America (an average of 66,940 people per square mile). Due to the high population density, urban environments can become polluted very easily. Population density can also be blamed for the higher crime rates that tend to exist in urban areas. Vegetation in urban areas is sparse. Most of the landscape is covered by buildings and roadways instead of plant life. The population of urban areas tends to be rather heterogeneous (meaning diverse). There is greater racial, ethnic, religious, and lingual diversity (there are hundreds of different languages spoken in New York City). Oftentimes cities have sections that are more heavily populated by one group of people. For example the “north end” of Boston has a higher percentage of Italian-Americans than any other part of the city. Cities often have neighborhoods named after different ethnic groups (i.e. Chinatown or Little Italy). The economy of an urban area is often diverse. There is often a wide variety of economic opportunities in an urban environment. Many large companies have headquarters in America’s major cities. Public transportation is also a common feature of an urban area. Many people in cities do not even own a car because it is both inconvenient and unnecessary. Space is limited in urban environments and parking a car can be difficult and expensive. Additionally, most urban environments have vast public transportation systems (busses, subways) that can get you anywhere that you need to go. 
Rural areas are sparsely populated; the population density in rural areas is much lower than in urban areas. In some rural areas you may drive 10 miles between two “neighbors” homes. Public transportation systems are a rarity in rural areas. It is abnormal to find subway trains or public buses in rural environments. As a result, people are much more reliant on cars in rural environments than they are in urban environments. The population of rural areas tends to be rather homogeneous (meaning similar). There is usually much less ethnic, racial and religious diversity in small towns. The economy of rural areas is usually centered around 1-2 major businesses. For example, a rural area’s economy might be centered on agriculture (meaning farming) or manufacturing (i.e. an automobile factory). Due to the low population density, there tends to be more “untouched physical features” (such as plains, forests, etc…). Crime rates tend to be lower in rural areas because people are so familiar with one another. 
For long periods of time the divisions between urban and rural areas were quite clear. In ancient times, large walls encircled cities while towns and villages were found outside city walls. Now it is much more difficult to determine the boundaries of cities and towns because a process called urbanization has blurred those boundaries. Urbanization or urban sprawl is the process by which urban characteristics are spread into rural areas, beginning with the surrounding towns. The towns located immediately outside of a city are usually called suburbs, because they are considered to be a vital part of the city. While these suburbs have many rural characteristics (i.e. homogeneous populations, relatively untouched physical features), they also have there share of urban characteristics (i.e. high population density, growing diversity). Currently about 3.5 billion of the world’s people live in rural environments and the other 2.5 billion live in urban environments. However, it is predicted that within the next century, more than half of the world’s population will live in urban environments! Name: World Geography Date: Core: Directory: cms -> lib4 -> CT01001345 -> Centricity -> Domain -> 201 lib4 -> Absolutism in Europe lib4 -> Busch notes period 1 (1491 -1607) part 2 Key Concept 2: Contact among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans resulted in the Columbian Exchange lib4 -> Notes ch. 31Part 1 (text) 32 Part 1 de to “The Advent of the Gasoline Age” lib4 -> Telephone: 704-660-5970, Fax: 704-660-7809 lib4 -> Pages 816-820 Truman’s domestic policies after the war—Truman was tasked with reconversion to a peacetime economy and introducing his domestic agenda lib4 -> Pioneers of Sports & Entertainment Industries Matching Exercise lib4 -> Unit 3: Introduction to Sports & Entertainment Business Principles lib4 -> Teacher: Mrs. Ehresman Voice Mail Box Number 201 -> Choo-Choo-Changes: Examining the Effects of the Transcontinental Railroad Download 263.54 Kb. Share with your friends:
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