Editing Urbanization (section)

==History==
[[File:Urbanization over the past 500 years (Historical sources and UN (1500 to 2016)), OWID.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Urbanization over the past 500 years<ref>{{cite web |title=Urbanization over the past 500 years |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/urbanization-last-500-years |website=Our World in Data |access-date=6 March 2020 |archive-date=14 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314182748/https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/urbanization-last-500-years |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
[[File:ArchaeoGLOBE URBAN.gif|thumb|upright=1.35|A global map illustrating the first onset and spread of urban centres around the world, based on.<ref name="Stephens 897–902"/>]]
From the development of the earliest cities in [[Indus valley civilization]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] until the 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the vast majority of the population who were engaged in [[subsistence agriculture]] in a rural context, and small centres of populations in the towns where economic activity consisted primarily of trade at [[Market (place)|market]]s and manufactures on a small scale. Due to the primitive and relatively stagnant state of agriculture throughout this period, the ratio of rural to urban population remained at a fixed equilibrium. However, a significant increase in the percentage of the global urban population can be traced in the 1st millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Andrey Korotayev |author2=Leonid Grini |name-list-style=and |year=2006 |chapter=The Urbanization and Political Development of the World System: A comparative quantitative analysis |pages=115–153 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/26447633 |editor1=Peter Turchin |editor2=Leonid Grinin |editor3=Victor C. de Munck |editor4=Andrey Korotayev |title=History & Mathematics: Historical Dynamics and Development of Complex Societies |volume=2 |access-date=23 June 2016 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816052605/https://www.academia.edu/26447633 |url-status=live }}</ref>

With the onset of the [[British Agricultural Revolution]] and [[Industrial Revolution]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Industrial Revolution {{!}} Definition, History, Dates, Summary, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution|access-date=2020-10-29|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031203246/https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution|url-status=live}}</ref> in the late 18th century, this relationship was finally broken and an unprecedented growth in urban population took place over the course of the 19th century, both through continued migration from the countryside and due to the tremendous [[Demographic transition|demographic expansion]] that occurred at that time. In [[England]] and [[Wales]], the proportion of the population living in cities with more than 20,000 people jumped from 17% in 1801 to 54% in 1891. Moreover, and adopting a broader definition of urbanization, while the urbanized population in England and Wales represented 72% of the total in 1891, for other countries the figure was 37% in [[France]], 41% in [[Prussia]] and 28% in the [[United States]].<ref name="urbanization">{{Cite conference |title=Trends in urbanisation |year=1993|author=Christopher Watson|editor1=K.B. Wildey |editor2=Wm H. Robinson |conference=Proceedings of the First International Conference on Urban Pests |citeseerx=10.1.1.522.7409}}</ref>

As labourers were freed up from working the land due to higher [[agricultural productivity]] they converged on the new [[industrial cities]] like [[Manchester]] and [[Birmingham]] which were experiencing a boom in commerce, trade, and industry. Growing trade around the world also allowed cereals to be imported from [[North America]] and [[Dunedin (ship)|refrigerated meat]] from [[Australasia]] and [[South America]]. Spatially, [[urban sprawl|cities also expanded]] due to the development of [[public transport|public transport systems]], which facilitated commutes of longer distances to the [[city centre]] for the [[working class]].

Urbanization rapidly spread across the [[Western world]] and, since the 1950s, it has begun to take hold in the [[developing world]] as well. At the turn of the 20th century, just 15% of the world population lived in cities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Annez|first1=Patricia Clarke|last2=Buckley|first2=Robert M.|chapter=Urbanization and Growth: Setting the Context|chapter-url=http://www2.lawrence.edu/fast/finklerm/chapter1urban.pdf|title=Urbanization and Growth|editor1-last=Spence|editor1-first=Michael|editor2-last=Annez|editor2-first=Patricia Clarke|editor3-last=Buckley|editor3-first=Robert M.|isbn=978-0-8213-7573-0|year=2009|publisher=Commission on Growth and Development |access-date=9 November 2013|archive-date=25 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525012907/http://www2.lawrence.edu/fast/finklerm/chapter1urban.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the [[United Nations|UN]], the year 2007 witnessed the turning point when more than 50% of the world population were living in cities, for the first time in [[human history]].<ref name="urbanization"/>

[[Yale University]] in June 2016 published urbanization data from the time period 3700 BC to 2000 AD, the data was used to make a [[video]] showing the development of cities on the [[world]] during the time period.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Reba|first1=Meredith|last2=Reitsma|first2=Femke|last3=Seto|first3=Karen C.|author-link3=Karen Seto|date=2016-06-07|title=Spatializing 6,000 years of global urbanization from 3700 BC to AD 2000|journal=Scientific Data|volume=3|doi=10.1038/sdata.2016.34|issn=2052-4463|pmc=4896125|pmid=27271481|pages=160034|bibcode=2016NatSD...360034R}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.urban.yale.edu/data|title=Research Data–Seto Lab|website=urban.yale.edu|access-date=2016-07-09|archive-date=18 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518122843/https://urban.yale.edu/data|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJYXujJ7sU| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/yKJYXujJ7sU| archive-date=2021-10-30|title=The History of Urbanization, 3700 BC – 2000 AD|website=YouTube| date=15 June 2016|access-date=2018-09-24}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The origins and spread of urban centres around the world were also mapped by [[archaeologists]].<ref name="Stephens 897–902">{{Cite journal|last1=Stephens|first1=Lucas|last2=Fuller|first2=Dorian|last3=Boivin|first3=Nicole|last4=Rick|first4=Torben|last5=Gauthier|first5=Nicolas|last6=Kay|first6=Andrea|last7=Marwick|first7=Ben|last8=Armstrong|first8=Chelsey Geralda|last9=Barton|first9=C. Michael|date=2019-08-30|title=Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use|journal=Science|language=en|volume=365|issue=6456|pages=897–902|doi=10.1126/science.aax1192|pmid=31467217|issn=0036-8075|hdl=10150/634688|hdl-access=free|bibcode=2019Sci...365..897S|s2cid=201674203}}</ref>