Root causes of urbanization/suburbanization, relating to one or more readings - Essay Example

Root Causes of Urbanization Urbanization is the process of creation of cities and settlement in them. Urbanization has created revolutionary changesin civilizations. Decisionmakers’ perceptions, religious focus, and commercialization are some of the factors responsible for urbanization. Perceptions of the decisionmakers that include but are not limited to public agencies, companies, and households that certain regions offer greater advantages in terms of society, culture, and economy over others leads to the formation of clusters and concentrations (Mulligan 34).

Mostly, a place is first clustered by economic agents that foresee unique site advantages in it. Increased availability of the economies to consumers and producers leads to continued agglomeration of the place. Religious focus of civilization is another factor that causes urbanization. This factor is shared by many cities in Egypt and urban Mesopotamia. Some other cities with monumental religious architecture at the core include the historical cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Similarly, placement of the temples around 1700 B.C. at the center of urban spaces was how the Shang dynasty rulers urbanized Chinese people (Kotkin 7).

Three critical functions performed by the urban areas since their earliest origins include development of sacred space, increased basic security, and creation of a center for commercial market (xvi). Only the cities that have remained strong with respect to these aspects have sustained. Today, the same functions are performed by different cities across the globe with different degrees of success. Concluding, the process of agglomeration allows for the occurrence of locational clusters and concentrations at large spatial resolution levels.

Religious focus of a place leads to its urbanization. Successful commercialization also plays a critical role in urbanization. Works Cited:Mulligan, Gordon F. “Agglomeration and Central Place Theory: A Review of the Literature.” International Regional Science Review. Vol. 9. No. 1. (1984): 1-42.