Urbanization is the increasing number of people that migrate from rural to urban areas. It predominantly results in the physical growth of urban areas, be it horizontal or vertical. An example of urbanisation for an LEDC is Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai which has a population of 18.3 million put together and is still expanding; an example of an MEDC is Manchester and finally an example of an NIC that has been urbanised is Singapore.
Rio de Janeiro was developed by the Portuguese in the 17th Century due to its location as a coastal port for the sugar trade. In the late 17th Century, still during the Sugar Era, gold and diamonds were found in neighbouring regions so Rio became the country’s major port for all exports. As a result of the sudden wealth of Rio luxurious buildings such as Copacabana Palace Hotel and as the same as every city people moved in to the city to look for jobs and a better quality of life. So this means large population of young immigrants has led to above average rates of fertility which means that the natural increase in population is much higher in the most recent favelas than in established areas of the city. However in the UK in 1811 the Industrial Revolution was well underway and farming had become mechanised meaning that many people were losing labour jobs on farmland. At the same time machinery and factories were developing in cities and Manchester was the hub for cotton mills and Liverpool port was very accessible to trade with countries such as India then as industries declined other opportunities arose such as ammunitions and machinery factories during the World Wars. Subsequently as India had been given independence then people started to move out of the city to look for other jobs because factory and industry jobs declined this is known as counter- urbanisation. Then since the year 2000