Internal Migration Online

Major internal migrations◦ Rural to urban◦ Manifest destiny in the US

The push west◦ Westward movement in Brazil

From the coast inward◦ Northwestward movement in Canada◦ Northward movement in Australia

From the initial site of settlement in the state of New South Wales

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In the US movement has been◦ Westward and coastward

See fig in the textWestward movement has always been the largest flowNow the south has gained significance

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In the US movement has been◦ Southward and to the Southwest

This has results in the growth of the SunbeltAdvent of air conditioning helped with acclimation to the heatShift of manufacturing activities out of the Midwest and Northeast to the South regionRetirement meccas

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In the US movement has been◦ Rural Renaissance of the 1970s

Also called counter urbanization“Back to the boonies” movementLarge movement of people out of urbanized areas to rural areas

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http://pewsocialtrends.org/maps/migration/Pew Center has Interactive Maps

Go this link and take some time to look at how internal migration patterns have changed over time.◦ The magnitude and direction of flows have changed

over time◦ Hold the cursor over each region. ◦ Be sure to look a each time period (click on each

link)

Urbanization is defined as BOTH◦ An increase in the number of urban dwellers◦ An increase in the % of urban dwellers

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Percent of the population living in urban areas is usually higher in MDCs than in LDCs.

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Cities with 2 million or more people. Most of the largest cities are now in LDCs.

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Although under half of the people in most less developed regions are urban, Latin America and the Middle East have urban percentages comparable to MDCs.

Drives the urbanization processUrbanization in LDCs now is different when compared to MDCs in earlier times◦ MDCs urbanized over a much longer period of time◦ Size and pace of growth of LDC cities are

surpassing anything seen before

Push factors of rural to urban (R2U) migration◦ Large gap in standard of living between elites and

the rest of the population◦ Poor rural conditions

Environmental degradationPopulation pressure

Skewed distribution of resourcesLand fragmentationCrop failures

Pull factors of R2U migrationConstruction jobs in the citiesDemand for domestic workersWaged work/higher wagesSocial networks

Family members who have already migrated

In LDCs: trends in R2U migration◦ Continued rapid growth◦ Population concentration

E.g., Port-au Prince: 33% of the total pop of Haiti lived there at the time of the quake

◦ A diversity of urban areas◦ Unplanned settlements; lack of services &

infrastructureSquatter settlementsFavelas in Brazil, etc

Factors affecting rapid urbanization in LDCs◦ Overall population growth in these countries is very

rapid◦ Information is much more ubiquitous

Potential migrants have access to more info about destinationMigration is usually within fixed boundaries (i.e., within one country)