Artifact 10: The Rural Exodus

What is the definition of urbanization? Urbanization is the process of mass migration from the countryside to the city. There were so many different reasons for urbanization in 19^TH century England which can be categorized as push or pull factors. The man push factor was land expropriation by the landlords. Without there own land, farmers were forced to work for very low wages or to move to factories. Other push factors included the failure of the potato crop and the decline in cottage industries. Women and children had previously been able to work in small factories in the countryside making thing like clothes and textiles, however the industrial revolution and machines meant that these thing cloud be produced much more cheaply in the city.

Some people argued however that there were many pull factors as well. The city offered many advantages over the countryside such as more jobs, higher wages, and even a more exciting social life for young people. Also very important was the allure of cheap or even free land in the new world such as Canada or Australia.

     

The good thing about urbanization is that people can get more money for the some amount of work compared to the countryside, and also the city has more social life and culture. The bad thing about urbanization is that cities have bad air and water. People don’t have enough space to live and it is so noisy. Many people go to the city to find a job, so the countryside will only have old people and children, which is very sad. Maybe we should balance development between the city and countryside. That will help the cities and countryside to look like they should, without too many people in any one place.

      Many other countries went through urbanization too, including Taiwan. Taiwan took only 40 years to urbanize compared to Britain which took hundreds of years, so people called that time the “Taiwan miracle”. But urbanization brought many problems to Taiwan, too. The problem with urbanization is that many people go to big cities like Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung and also to industrial parks for good jobs to make more money then if they stayed in countryside. But if so many people go to big cities for work then in the countryside there will only be children and old people. The other big problem is in the industrial park the factories are open all day and the pollution will come out so the air and water will be dirty. People in the city will think all the best things are in the big city so they will all send their children to the city for their education to learn more. But children with poor parents will go to the worse schools in the countryside. It will be a vicious circle where the countryside stays poor.