Following the Crowd to the City

The world’s population is becoming increasingly city. Sometime in 2007 is the turning point when city dwellers created the majority of the global population the very first time in history. Today, the trend towards urbanisation continues: as of 2014, about 54% from the world’s population lives in cities – and it expects to reach 66% through 2050. Migration forms a significant, and often controversial, part of this urban populace growth.

In fact, cities grow in three ways, which can be hard to distinguish: through migration (whether it is inner migration from rural to urban areas or international migration between nations); the natural growth of the city’utes population; and the reclassification of close by non-urban districts. Although migration is only accountable for one share of this development, it varies widely from country to country.

In some places, particularly in poorer countries, migration is the main driver of urbanisation. In 2009, UN Environment estimated that 3m people were moving to cities every week. In global gateway cities for example Sydney, London, and Ny, migrants make up over a third of the population. The proportion in The city and Dubai is even greater, with migrants accounting for more than half of the population.

The 2015 World Migration Report (WMR) by the International Organisation for Migration argued that this bulk movement of people is widely overlooked amid the global worry about urbanisation. In addition, the report views the widespread challenges, when it comes to service provision, for the developing numbers of people moving into cities around the world.

Boon or burden?

Where the value of migration to cities is accepted, it is widely seen as a problem. In 2013, a UN study of all 193 UN fellow member states found that 80% had guidelines to reduce rural to urban migration. This figure has risen substantially in recent years, up from only 38% within 1996. It is greater in poorer countries: 88% of the minimum developed countries reported policies to lessen migration to urban areas.

However, this unfavorable attitude towards migration to cities may well be mistaken. The WMR proposes that problems of access to services – such as housing, sanitation, education, or employment – that result from rural to urban migration are not inevitable. Rather, poor planning causes them. Although migration to cities reflects just about all socio-economic classes, migrants from rural areas are disproportionately poor, and insufficient planning is often a result of an inadequate political will to support them.

Yet, as the report pointed out, migrants are specifically motivated individuals. It is not only the sheer numbers of people included that makes migration worthy of attention. All across the globe, populations of cities are actually more diverse than surrounding rural areas. In this way, migrants that come to cities can help diversify the networks that the town can draw upon. For instance, by linking cities to broader global networks. Probably the most famous example of this is Eastleigh in Nairobi. Known as “Little Mogadishu,” this neighbourhood has become a vibrant, global commercial hub, powered by enterprising people in the Somali, Ethiopian, and Kenyan diasporas.

Changing with the times

So exactly how are cities coping as well as changing with this influx associated with both internal and external migrants? While the majority of migration policies are set on a national basis, it is increasingly common for cities to develop their very own approach to integrating people who come to settle.

For example, in the US, many cities support legislation calling for city police forces to not cooperate with certain forms of federal immigration control, deemed prejudiced against migrant groups. In 2012, the cities of Los Angeles and Chicago passed non-cooperation measures, as well as in 2014, New York City became the largest city to do so.

Yet much of the research in to the impact of migrants on cities concerns international migrants in richer countries. A key contribution from the 2015 WMR has been to turn the focus associated with migration to cities in poorer countries. This migration is often smaller distance, from rural locations that are relatively close.

Rural in order to city migration is a much larger motion of people, at a global size, accompanied by a very different set of issues. Adequate housing is probably the most substantial of these. Although informal settlements exist all around the world, 97% of slum residents live in poor countries.

My personal research in Sri Lanka has shown that ladies are more likely to head poor homes in urban areas, and family members are more likely to be working than the city’s average – this indicates that joblessness is not a key issue. Rather, problems tend to arise due to poor planning and pressured behaviour change – particularly forced relocation. Informal settlements create outside the administrative boundary from the city exacerbate these issues.

For instance, Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, is relocating as many as 60,000 individuals due to redevelopment of under-served, informal areas of the city. The project I worked on examined the impact of physical violence on migrants in the city. Through the surveys conducted with groups of these relocated households, we witnessed the enormous contribution that local community and neighbourhood organisations can make to help those coping with forced relocation and the disintegration of migrant communities.

Migration to cities significantly contributes to urbanisation. In addition, if well-rehearsed, migration can enhance the dynamism of cities making them healthier, more profitable and more interesting places to live.

The world’s urban population is growing – so how can metropolitan areas plan for migrants? is republished with permission from The Conversation