Urbanisation

In recent decades, many cities and towns around the world have seen dramatic population growth, with significant inflows from rural areas. A prominent feature of this global trend of urban migration is triggered by lack of services, nonexistent culture and community dynamics. This process of urbanisation is constantly bought to the attention of the public as an issue; something we need to address...

Urbanisation is in no way a recent phenomenon, but a rapid and historic transformation of human social roots on a global scale; occurring as individual, commercial and governmental efforts to reduce time and expense in commuting and transportation while improving opportunities for jobs, education, housing, and transportation. Urban contexts support the advantages of the opportunities of proximity, diversity and economic competition. However the advantages are weighed against alienation issues, stress, increased costs of living, and negative social aspects that result from mass marginalisation.

I argue that urbanisation is in fact a positive movement; though, there are most certainly aspects of urbanisation that do need to be rethought and readdressed; our urban model merely needs to be redeveloped. Using Brisbane As an example, the urban growth can be seen as a Dispersed City (Business as usual):



This model is commonly associated with Monocentric networking:

This shows surrounding communities only connected through a centralised element; the city.



This centric development model is why urbanisation continues to grow increasingly unpopular. It must be re-evaluated; our planning methods and processes need to change towards a polycentric model:



This model can have two outcomes:

And;

The key is creating the connections and networking with surrounding communities to engage with each other, ensuring each smaller development/community acts as its own independent community; mitigating urban sprawl and developing individual identities.

The problem of urban sprawl can be seen as market failure and land degradation. Society would be better off as a whole by coordinating development, but often lacks the means to do so. This is a problem not only for urban expansion, but also urban shrinkage. In order to change our current direction; we need to make radical changes to development policies and create a new agenda.

The proposed policy agenda aims towards social inclusion, integration and cohesion. Communal markets and allocation systems have the primary role to play. Development locations should be accessible, have their own identity in which people can relate, be environmentally sustainable and available for all social groups, as well as being integrated into the surrounding landscape.