Rapid urban growth has created shanty towns (slums)
Push and pull factors draw people to cities
Cities are usually built for either their site or a situation
Site = refers to the physical characteristics of the land on which a city is built eg. On a river
Situation = the relationship between a city and its wider surroundings eg. On a main rail or road route
Some cities have a locational advantage over others eg. Vancouver over Victoria
Analyzing Urban Functions
Basic activities are town forming = brings money into a community from outside eg. a pulp mill
Non-basic recycles money already there eg. a grocery store
The multiplier effect is a idea that one job creates three others in the way of service
Cities take on many forms based on their industry eg Political and religious cities, organic cities, planned cities, transit cities, automobile cities
Summary
Most of the population of the world lives in cities, in fact more than 1 million people have in-migrated into cities. People are drawn to the city because they usually have a locational advantage, meaning that the city has been built there for either their site, referring to the characteristics of the land where the city is built, for example if a city is built by a river or near a large logging property those two resources will be popular and a main product in the city. They can also be built in certain areas because of the situation of the city. This mean the relationship between the city and how you could get to it's surroundings further out, i.e. if there is a train or major highway. Although urbanization is good, the rapid amount of growth has created slums, or shanty towns.
Usually, cities will have basic work such as farming or bringing in any other major resource into the community from outside the city. The multiplying effect is the idea that one job will create three other in the way of servicing that job. Cities can take on many forms based on their industry, such as political or religious cities, organic cities, planned cities, transit cities and automobile cities. These would be well know for their certain industry.