Urbanization Trends
Urbanization is the growth of population in a certain concentrated area, mainly around urban areas or towns. Urban growth trends mainly revolve around factors such as mortality, fertility and migration. According to UNFPA (2007), estimates were that about half of the population of the world would be living in cities and towns by 2008. Estimates indicated that the number would swell to about 5 billion by 2030, and this growth would be concentrated in Asia and Africa. The reason for this rapid urban growth is a result of the factors mentioned above. In developing countries, fertility rates are high and this has resulted in a high youth population in these countries. Since urban areas offer better opportunities such as education, social amenities and employment, there is a high rate of rural-to-urban migration which has the proliferation of slums in these urban settings.
Urbanization in Kigali, Rwanda
Rwanda is ranked as being among African countries with the highest urban population growth. Between the years 1991 and 2002, Rwanda’s urban population growth increased three times, from about 5.5 percent to about 16.7 percent. In the city Kigali, there has been a steady urban population growth since 1978, with population increasing from 115,990 to 235,664 in 1991 and to 608,141 in 2002. This translates to a growth of 7.45 percent by the year 2002. The 1990 civil war contributed to this growth. According to Manirakiza (2012), the genocide caused a huge number of people who had been displaced by the war as well as repatriated refugees to converge in Kigali city. As such, rural-urban migrations have continued to raise Kigali’s population size. The implications of this have been the problem of availability of land and housing as well as affordability. For example, according to 2002 estimates, Kigali needs about 8500 to 10000 houses yearly. However, private and public developers satisfied only about 10% of accommodation needs. Rapidly increasing land and house prices have thus pushed poor families deeper into poverty. However, Rwanda is taking up the idea of intermediary cities to ease the high urban population growth (Clos, 2013).
References
Clos, J. (2013) Rwanda: UNHABITAT-Rwanda is on the Right Path in Terms of Creating an Urbanization Strategy. MENA Report, September 2013, pp. 1-4.
Manirakiza, V. (2012) Urbanization Issue in the Era of Globalization: Perspectives for Urban Planning in Kigali. Fourth Annual Conference Proceedings, Social Studies for Community Cohesion and Sustainable Development, Del/P/H/E-Education fo Community Cohesion, 20/05-01/06, 2012.
UNFPA. (2007) Urbanization: A Majority in Cities. Retrieved on 06 Nov. 2013 from http://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm
