1. Urbanization and Migration

2. Migration Issues 1. Types of Migration 2. Selective Migration
What are the major forms of migration?
2. Selective Migration
Why migration can be considered as a selective process?
3. Brain Drain
What is the extent of movements of skilled labor?

3. Types of Migration Emigration and immigration A Requires information
Change in residence.
Relative to origin and destination.
Requires information
People and conditions.
Two different places.
Two different times.
Duration
Permanent.
Seasonal / Temporary.
Choice / constraint
Improve one’s life.
Leave inconvenient / threatening conditions. A
Problems or benefits?
Emigrant
Immigrant B
Problems or benefits?

4. Types of Migration Gross migration Net Migration
Total number of people coming in and out of an area.
Level of population turnover.
Net Migration
Difference between immigration (in-migration) and emigration (out- migration).
Positive value:
More people coming in.
Population growth.
44% of North America and 88% of Europe.
Negative value:
More people coming out.
Population decline.
Gross migration
Immigration
Emigration
Net migration

5. Push - Pull Theory Context
Migrations as the response of individual decision- makers.
Negative or push factors in his current area of residence:
High unemployment and little opportunity.
Great poverty.
High crime.
Repression or a recent disaster (e.g., drought or earthquake).
Positive or pull factors in the potential destination:
High job availability and higher wages.
More exciting lifestyle.
Political freedom, greater safety and security, etc.

6. Push - Pull Theory Intervening obstacles The problem of perception
Migration costs / transportation.
Immigration laws and policies of the destination country.
The problem of perception
Assumes rational behavior on the part of the migrant:
Not necessarily true since a migrant cannot be truly informed.
The key word is perception of the pull factors.
Information is never complete.
Decisions are made based upon perceptions of reality at the destination relative to the known reality at the source.
When the migrant’s information is highly inaccurate, a return migration may be one possible outcome.

7. Push - Pull Theory Intervening obstacles Origin Destination
Source: adapted from Peters and Larkin (1999), p. 199.
Origin
Destination
Positive factors
Neutral factors
Negative factors

8. % of Urban Population,
Source: United Nations Population Program.

9. Urban Population, 1950-2030 (in millions)
Source: United Nations Population Program.

10. Why People Move to Urban Areas?
Factor
Condition
Issues
Instability / Disasters / Wars / Famines
Push
Creation of refugees. Cities as safe heavens.
Expectation of jobs
Pull
Higher wages but higher living costs. Large labor markets. Informal sector dominant.
Deterioration of rural life
Demographic growth. Land tenure (landless peasants). Mechanization (surplus labor).
Transportation
Intervening opportunities
Increased mobility. Lower costs. Construction of roads and rails. Access to rural markets.
More and better services
Better schools and health services. Access to water and electricity. Overcrowding and pollution.

11. Urbanization Essential part of reform in China, India and Japan
Process by which people settle in cities
Creating institutions to satisfy needs of all urban residents has presented challenge
Strong pressure to migrate in China/India
Positive impacts such as centralization
Negative impacts such as higher costs of living, denser living spaces, pollution

12. Urbanization in Japan
Urbanized share of the population grew from 11% in 1867 to 32% by 1932
Urban areas unplanned before WWI
Industrial urbanization
Central Tokyo became base of industrial production that branched outward
Mainly agrarian (farming) until 1920
Urban planning began after 1919 w/ City Planning and Land Readjustment Act

13. Urbanization in Japan
Well-planned infrastructure starting in 1930s, downtowns had taller buildings
Munitions-producing cities built in 1940s
Towns destroyed during WWII and urban planning used for reconstruction
Residents in cities of more than people rose from 12% in 1920 to more than 50% by In 1970, there were 103 cities and metropolitan areas with populations of more than

14. Urbanization in China
Urbanization and migration linked due to hukou (family registration) which controls access to cities
China has lower level of urbanization
Urbanization almost halted under Mao, slow urbanization in 1980s
Urbanization sped up in 1990s along w/ industrialization
Current reform agenda seeks to increase urban population

15. China’s Migration-Reform History
Hukou to establish identity and citizenship originated in fifties and persists today, restricting migration
Migration accelerated in nineties and continues through today
Migrants were laid off from jobs so local urban laid-off workers could be hired
Push from rural areas; pull from urban areas

16. Urbanization in China
Environmental degradation has resulted from rapid urbanization
Rural residents who lost land from urbanization became urban unemployed
Centralization or Agglomeration effects are important in the services sector, which China is promoting
Increased consumption complements urbanization process

17. Urbanization in India
Pace of urbanization slower than that in China but has been steady
Population pressures on urban infrastructure and employment
Largest cities gaining in population and physical size, economically advanced states have higher levels of urbanization
Migrants are temporary urban dwellers due to lack of infrastructure

18. Megacities in China
Shanghai on east coast, Special City from 1927, rapid development, fast population growth after reform
Beijing in northeast, suffers from extreme air pollution and ghetto-like dwellings
Shandong in, northeast industrial development, working to expand public services to all urban residents

19. Megacities in China Cities with population of over 10 million people
Megacities located along the coast, in Beijing, Shanghai, on the Shandong peninsula, and increasingly in the Greater Guangzhou region, Greater Shenyang, and Shenzhen.
New megacities are emerging inland, w/ younger population

20. Megacities in India
Severe sanitation, population, and infrastructure issues
Slums in Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata
Mumbai is largest city
Delhi was planned starting in 1957 but still faces problems w/ housing
Kolkata near coast, prone to flooding w/ insufficient drainage and sewer system

21. Megacities in Japan
Tokyo and Osaka strongly impacted by industrialization process
Tokyo was modernized by 1910 w/ railways, trams, water supply, and parks and expanded by 1920 so that heavy industry located to suburban areas
Osaka was industrialized in 1880s as major spinning city, grew in 1900s as industrialization took root

22. China’s Pattern of Migration
Large scale rural to urban migration
Younger, male, with low education- most have 9 years of schooling or less
Difficult lives-instability, dangerous working conditions, vulnerable
Low levels of happiness-cannot afford proper housing, often lack toilet

23. India’s Migration-Reform History
Began even before reform started
Migration is far lower in India than China
Seasonal work is available in both agriculture and manufacturing.
Most seasonal migrants work in cultivation, brick kilns, construction sites, fish processing, and quarries, while others work in urban informal manufacturing or services sectors

24. India’s Pattern of Migration
Migration occurs for push and pull factors
Those in upper castes with higher education migrate
Migration of disadvantaged groups to informal sector

25. Bottom Line
Different characteristics of urbanization and migration in China, Japan and India
Migration mainly for economic reasons-push and pull factors
Leads to growth of megacities

26. Definition The United Nations definition
The 1951 Convention Regarding the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees:
“..... any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for any reasons of race, religion, nationality, member of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.…” .
The problem lies in the definition of who is a refugee.
There are no international agreements to protect people who cross boundaries for their economic survival.

27. Definition Conditions to qualify for refugee status
Political persecution must be demonstrated.
An international boundary must be crossed:
Domestically displaced persons do not qualify.
Protection by one’s government is not seen an alternative:
The government may be the persecutor.
Could be incapable of protecting its citizens from persecution.

28. Definition Environmental and economic refugees
People who can no longer gain a secure livelihood in their homelands because of what are primarily environmental or economic factors of unusual scope.
Sources:
Natural disaster.
Human alterations to the environment; climate change.
Contamination (pollution) of the environment.
Lack of development and opportunities.
Render continued residence in that particular location unsustainable.
Mozambique, February 2000:
Floods made 1 million people homeless.
Destroyed agricultural land and cattle.

29. The 15 Largest cities in the world, 2000-2015
Source: United Nations.