Back in the 3rd millennium BC, the first settlements arose on the banks of navigable rivers and on the coasts of the seas, serving to protect the country from attack, for the development of crafts and active trade and public relations with other states. Due to the rapid growth in the prosperity of these settlements, the wealthy population and the governing bodies of the country soon concentrated in them. This is how the first ancient cities arose, which gave rise to the process of urbanization.
An increase in the number of cities began to take place, a steady increase in the number of the urban population, the cultivation of an urban lifestyle. In all subsequent eras, cities exerted a tremendous influence on the development of science, architecture and culture, on the formation and development of industrial production, on the formation of commodity-money relations, on the revolutionary transformation of the social system in almost all states of the world. society, its culture, demographic processes, has significantly intensified since the beginning of the 19th century. This was due to the concentration of large industrial centers in cities, the development of transport and communications, easier accessibility for the citizens of the achievements of medicine and the developing service sector. As a result, there was migration in search of decent earnings and a better life for a huge layer of the rural population. During the period from the beginning of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century, the urban population on average across the globe increased from 5% to 41%. The process of urbanization is not only due to the migration of the rural population. After the construction of industrial enterprises in rural settlements, they are transformed into small towns. Settlements that fall within the boundaries of an expanding city are poured into it as a structural territorial unit. In addition, there is a constant increase in the so-called pendulum migration, when the population of the suburbs, continuing to live in rural settlements, commutes daily to work and study in the city. The urbanization of industrialized countries has led to the concentration of a significant proportion of their population in cities and to a large preponderance of the urban population over the rural population. The most prominent representatives of urbanized countries are Great Britain, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Australia, USA. As well as Canada, Israel, Japan and New Zealand. In them, the number of urban residents is more than 70%. A feature of the development of urbanization is a slowdown in the growth rate of the number of urban residents with a share exceeding 70%. And stop when approaching 80%. Only in the developing states of the Afro-Asian region is the prevalence of rural residents over the population of cities preserved. The development of urbanization at the present stage has led to the formation of urban agglomerations, when the population growth in vast suburbs outstrips population growth in a large city, which is the center of an agglomeration. This phenomenon is widespread in North America, Belgium, the Netherlands and Moscow. In addition, in Canada, Sweden, Italy and France, there is a change in the direction of population migration from urban agglomerations and major cities (megacities) to medium and small cities and towns. Megacities with a population of more than one million people are no longer attractive for business and for living due to poor ecology, transport congestion and high cost of housing. In addition, the development of industrial enterprises in them does not provide jobs for the increased population. Urbanization development in countries with weak levels of urban slum areas. This causes an increase in social tension and emigration of the young population to developed countries.
