Some countries are so rich from resources such as oil that they force development artificially through the injection of money. This is seen in Masdar City, where they are trying to build the “perfect” city by implementing technologies that they can afford because of their wealth. Other cities will develop naturally by population growth and industrial development.
Developed cities in MEDCs such as Los Angeles, have a formal economy. Less developed cities in LEDCs often have an informal, primary sector economy. Los Angeles will develop a higher GDP per capita whilst poorer cities relying on unregulated work such as Mumbai will have most of its population continue to live in poverty. For example, thousands of Mumbai’s people are employed to sort through and categorize rubbish whilst people in Los Angeles are employed to design cars in the Sherman Oaks factory.
Highly populated cities such as megacities, usually immature ones, are a hotspot for disease spread in LEDCs. In Mumbai people must share unhygienic toilets that spread cholera. In MEDC megacities such as Tokyo the hygiene standards are far superior meaning the city does not have to worry about spread of disease.
Natural birth rates are much higher in immature cities. This is because education is of a poorer level and so the population is less knowledgeable about contraception. Also, because the economy is focused more around manual labour in immature cities, children are of economical benefit as they can earn income for the family. In developed cities, knowledge of contraception is high