We live in a world which is increasingly being shaped by the forces of globalization. We are reminded of globalization almost daily through news in both print and electronic media. Globalization is often credited with turning the world into a small village because geographical borders are now less important. But even in villages, the population is not spread out evenly but usually concentrated in certain areas. Similarly, globalization is not leading to evenly-spread out places but instead to higher concentration of populations in cities for one or more of several factors.
One of the effects of globalization has been greater focus on operating efficiency, often through economies of scale. This has had the effect of decline in family owned farms that have characterized rural areas for centuries. But family-owned farms are usually small-scale operations with high production costs and cannot meet the growing demand of meat and poultry products from both developed and developing countries. As a result, the rise of mega corporations in meat and poultry industry has either driven many family-owned farms out of business or significantly reduced their profitability. The same story is often visible in other professions, too that were the livelihood of people in rural areas. As a result, the poor economics of family-owned farms has resulted in many people moving to cities to search for more stable sources of income.
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"Why has Globalization led to Bigger Cities".
One reason why cities have gotten bigger is rising income levels. First of all, when average income levels are rising, there are more opportunities for producers of goods and services and as a result, more companies and small businesses enter the market. These companies and small businesses have to hire more people and sometimes they do so through attractive compensation packages. Thus, the incentive is high for rural labor to move to cities.
Cities may also be getting bigger because they have greater attention of state and national governments when it comes to provision of basic services and infrastructure. Now state and national governments, especially in emerging economies like India and China are focusing even more on bigger cities like Mumbai and Beijing to attract more foreign capital investment. This only increases the gap in the quality of live in rural and urban areas. Thus, rural families move to cities in search of better quality of life and also due to hope that their children will have it better than older generations.
Sometimes, the cities get bigger not because of voluntary migration from rural to urban areas but due to government policies who force rural populations to give up land for purposes as diverse as new transportation infrastructure and new housing zones. Processes like these only increase the growth of cities in terms of both geographical area and populations.
Cities may also get bigger due to globalization due to an increase in immigration. When people migrate to another country, they don’t target rural areas unless they are looking for opportunities in agricultural sector. Instead they target urban areas where most of the industries and, thus, job opportunities lie. Thus, cities also grow due to perceptions that they are economic centers even if it may not be true.
It is clear that globalization has lowered geographical barriers to migration but migration doesn’t tend to be the same everywhere. Big cities tend to attract more people and only get bigger in the process, at least population wise if not in terms of geographical areas. There may be costs, too such as higher cost of living and greater environmental pollution though some governments are paying more attention to such issues now.
