11. The three stages of urbanization process worldwide and the main contents of the S-shaped curve of urbanization process.

The historical process of urbanization

The process of world urbanization has roughly gone through three stages: First, the period before the industrial revolution. In early cities, due to low productivity levels, the amount of agricultural and sideline products that urban residents needed was limited, so urban development was restricted. At that time, the number of cities was small, the scale was small, and the proportion of urban population was small. They were mainly distributed in areas with developed irrigation, which was conducive to agricultural production or where it was easy to collect agricultural products from the surrounding areas. Early cities were mainly administrative, religious, military or handicraft centers. This stage lasted the longest, and urban population growth was slow. Until 1800, the world's urban population accounted for only 3% of the total population. The second is the period of industrial society. Beginning in the mid-18th century, a new period in the history of urban development ushered in. In the wave of the industrial revolution, cities developed faster and changed more dramatically than ever before. Industrialization drives urbanization, which is an important feature of modern urbanization. The number of cities in European and American countries has surged, and the scale of cities has grown rapidly. In 1900, the proportion of urban population in the United Kingdom reached 75%, making it the first urbanized country in the world. Another feature of urbanization in the modern world is the rise of urbanization in Asian and African countries, which has transformed the unitary feudal urban system into a dual structure in which feudal cities and modern cities coexist. The emergence of the world urban system is the third characteristic of modern urbanization. In 1950, the world's urbanization level rose to 29.2%. The third is urbanization in the contemporary world. After World War II, urbanization began to take shape on a world scale. This is because from the 1950s to the early 1970s, the economies of capitalist countries grew rapidly, and colonial and semi-colonial countries also experienced certain economic development after they achieved political independence. All of this has greatly accelerated the process of urbanization in the world. Developing countries have constituted the main body of urbanization in the world today.

Stage characteristics of urbanization

According to the urbanization experience of developed countries, the urbanization process of a country or region roughly follows a flattened "S"-shaped curve. When the urbanization level of the population reaches about 30%, it enters the stage of rapid development; when it reaches about 70%, it enters the stage of relative stability. The urbanization process in developed countries has gone through four stages so far: ① The urbanization stage of concentration trend. The main feature of urbanization at this stage is the rapid growth of population and economy in central cities, especially the formation of high agglomeration in central urban areas. ② Suburban urbanization stage. The characteristic of urbanization in this period is that while industry and commerce continue to concentrate in cities, especially large urban centers, the population growth in suburban areas exceeds that in central urban areas. ③ Counter-urbanization stage. As suburban urbanization continues to develop, the central urban area is declining and experiencing a net decrease in population. ④ Re-urbanization stage. The economy of the central urban area has revived and the population has rebounded.

General laws of world urbanization (background information)

Since the twentieth century, especially after World War II, the process of world urbanization has greatly accelerated. The world's urbanization level was 29.2% in 1950, rose to 47% in 1990, and is expected to reach 50% in 2000. The urbanization level of developed countries exceeded 50% as early as 1950. The urbanization rate was still relatively fast between 1950 and 1980. In 1990, the average urbanization level of developed countries reached 75%.

Urbanization in developing countries is still dominated by rural-urban migration, with the average urbanization level in 1990 being 37%.

Cities continue to spread to all directions, making the boundaries between cities and farmland increasingly blurred. Urban areas are becoming contiguous, forming a metropolitan belt.

Suburban urbanization, counter-urbanization and re-urbanization. After the war, population migration from rural to urban areas in several developed countries gradually took a back seat, and a process of suburbanization or counter-urbanization in which urban populations migrated to suburbs began to emerge. By the 1980s, some cities were facing an aging economic structure and declining population. While actively adjusting their industrial structures, they also actively developed declining areas in the city center to attract people to return to live in the city, resulting in the phenomenon of re-urbanization.