Urbanization and excessive urbanization

Abstract: Industrialization, changes in rural economic and social structure and government development planning have become the driving forces of urbanization. In the process of urbanization, there have been phenomena such as excessive population growth, excessive government consumption, excessive resource consumption and pollution, and high non-human indicators, which have brought a series of serious social problems.

Keywords: city; Urbanization; over urbanization

Abstract: Industrialization, rural economy and social change. Social structure and government development planning have become the driving forces of urbanization. In the process of urbanization, there have been phenomena such as excessive growth of urban population, excessive consumption by the government, excessive consumption of resources and serious pollution, and excessive dehumanization indicators. Bring a series of serious social problems.

Keywords: city; Urbanization; over urbanization

I. Cities and urbanization

To understand the problem of urbanization, we must first understand the city.

What is a city? American scholars point out that there are three ways to define a city. "In the United States, cities are communities with 2,500 residents, and urbanized areas are cities with no less than 50,000 residents"; "In Brazil, the population size is not the basis for determining the city-the city is the capital"; According to the tradition of sociology, a city is defined as a form of social organization with a certain geographical scope and certain characteristics. China scholars also have a definition of city. Someone pointed out: "Cities are large-scale and highly concentrated areas of human activities." ②

City is the base of human social activities and the historical product of human civilization. A city is a large-scale densely populated area where residents of a specific country or region have gradually developed in a suitable place through life evolution. It has a stable production layout and trade market, a variety of relatively complete political, legal, religious, educational and cultural institutions, and a relatively strict professional management order.

What is urbanization? Urbanization can be used as an index and evaluation system to analyze the level of urbanization. It can also be regarded as an adjective to describe the density of cities in a relatively large area. In the early 1950s, there was a standard for dividing cities. Rural market towns have a population of less than 3,000, and towns or cities have a population of more than 3,000, so there are cities, towns and rural market towns in China. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the urbanization rate of Jiangsu was above 14%, while according to relevant statistics, the urbanization rate of southern Jiangsu was above 17%, which was about 7 percentage points higher than the national average, so southern Jiangsu is a region with a high level of urbanization.

At present, urbanization has another meaning, that is, since the 1990s, the government authorities have taken expanding the scale of cities, strengthening their economic functions and enhancing their radiation capacity as a means to accelerate national economic construction. From this perspective, urbanization is a kind of economic development strategy, policy or strategy of the government, which has strong policy characteristics of economic and social development. Regarding the development direction of urbanization, relevant experts have done a lot of research and put forward many ideas, such as information city, digital city, ecological city, harmonious city and innovative city. These are all valuable ideas, and there is a process to realize them.

Strictly speaking, the urbanization movement in contemporary China has been going on for more than 20 years. Although cities have developed to varying degrees after 1949, they cannot be called urbanization because of problems in development policies or limited to slow development. In the past 20 years, the urbanization movement has made great progress, which can be illustrated by the following three sets of data.

According to the relevant data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the author selected four years to reflect the changes of China's urbanization level (table 1).

According to the statistical data of China Statistical Yearbook, the author selected the four years since 1985 to reflect the built-up area of Chinese cities (Table 2).

Since the mid-1980s, the urbanization movement in China has entered a stage of rapid development. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the author selected the relevant figures of urban development in China in the past two years: 1990 and 200 1 (Table 3).

Second, excessive urbanization.

It should be acknowledged that China's urbanization development has made great achievements. Of course, there are many lessons, among which excessive urbanization is a problem worthy of attention and prevention.

Western scholars have put forward the concept of "excessive urbanization". Some scholars pointed out: "Over-urbanization is a condition accompanied by the economic development of former colonial countries, that is, the proportion of urban residents in a country relative to the national population is greater than the proportion allowed by the country's economic development level. In general, it is the twin brother of rapid urbanization. " ③

The above western scholars' views on excessive urbanization are very enlightening for us to study this problem. Now it seems that the proportion of urban residents in the national population is higher than that allowed by the national economic development level, which can of course be used as a measure to discuss the problem of excessive urbanization; It is also a realistic factor to analyze the problem of over-urbanization from the perspective of the national population ratio. However, due to the differences in the specific conditions of cities, the proportion of the total population in the country is often not decisive. In other words, when examining whether a specific city has been over-urbanized, it may not be very scientific to simply measure it by the proportion of its population to the total population of the country. Because some cities, although the population accounts for a high proportion of the total population of the country, their comprehensive ability determines that their population conservation ability is relatively strong, so they have not reached the degree of excessive urbanization. In addition to population factors, the indicators of over-urbanization should also include the factors of urban life quality and urban function.

The so-called excessive urbanization refers to the backward industry, insufficient supporting capacity and low management level in the process of urban development, but the population has increased abnormally, and its expansion speed has greatly exceeded the level that the economy, environment and public facilities can bear, making the city not only lose the traction role of modern development, but also become a bad living space full of social injustice, environmental pollution, disease, poverty, chaos, crime, gang power and political conflicts. Excessive urbanization is the result of one-sided population growth, uncoordinated economic and social development and serious out-of-control urban management. In the history of urban development, excessive urbanization is a problem that will appear more or less in any country at a certain stage. For developing countries, this is a problem that is more likely to occur and deserves more attention.

Generally speaking, urbanization has three driving forces:

The first is industrialization. Before modern times, including urbanization in the western world, its driving force was mainly industrialization. Due to industrialization, a large number of modern chemical plants have been built in cities, which makes a large number of people flow to big cities. This is a driving force.

The urban development caused by industrialization is particularly obvious in Europe:

"In Europe, the19th century is an era of great urban development. 18 16 years, the urban population of Germany was slightly more than 2.5 million, and by 1895, it had reached130,000. In 1846, the number of French urban residents was 8.5 million, but in 189 1 year, it increased to14.5 million. Paris had only 500,000 people in 1800, and it reached 2.5 million in 189 1 year, five times that of 1800. " ④

Secondly, the social structure and economic structure in rural areas have changed, the living conditions of farmers have deteriorated, and they have spontaneously flowed into cities, increasing the urban population. This situation was obvious before modern times. According to statistics of foreign experts, in 1800, the population of Beijing was 1 100, that of London was 86 100, that of Paris was 547,000, that of Tokyo was 492,000, that of Berlin was127,000, and that of Moscow was 238,000. During the planned economy period since the founding of New China, due to strict population control, the population mobility was relatively poor, but it still flowed into cities, especially some political center cities above the provincial level. According to statistics, the urban population of Beijing was about 1.78 million in 1959, 42 1 10,000 in 1979 and 5 1 10,000 in 1979, with a considerable growth rate.

The third driving force comes from the government's development plan. Since 1990s, especially since 2000, the urbanization process in China has been accelerated, and the most important driving force comes from the government's planning and development strategy. The government regards the improvement of urbanization rate as an important indicator to measure economic and social development.

The problem of excessive urbanization is mainly manifested in the following aspects:

Excessive growth of urban population. A direct consequence of current urbanization is the expansion of urban scope and population scale. For example, if you buy a house in a city, you will be given a city account; Because various circles occupy land, suburbs become urban areas and farmers become urban residents; There is also the economic expansion brought by the investment in the industrial tertiary industry. However, the population expansion in some cities is very serious, and its driving force is not from industrialization or the development of the tertiary industry. Industrialization and the development of the tertiary industry are the most important prerequisites for urbanization, which directly causes the demand for urban labor and ensures that the expanding population in the city has a stable source of employment and life. Leaving this premise, leaving the industrial base and blindly expanding the population will lead to extreme social instability.

Excessive consumption by the government. China's urbanization movement is a kind of economic development strategy, policy or strategy of the government. In connection with this, excessive urbanization in the urbanization movement also includes excessive consumption by the government. In other words, excessive consumption by the government has naturally become one of the basic features in the urbanization movement of a government-led modern country like China. The rapid increase in the number of civil servants and supernumerary personnel, the huge amount of public funds and the luxurious government buildings are actually an unfair and unhealthy consumption of the achievements of modernization. In some cities, government consumption is very large. County governments in some places spend a lot of money on luxurious elevators, huge air conditioners and property management fees for office buildings every year, which is a great waste. We should use these over-consumed money where it is needed more, promote the construction of a harmonious society, improve the economic and technological foundation, increase material reserves, and improve our ability to resist various social risks.

Excessive resource consumption and pollution. There are many reports and studies on this point. In the process of urbanization, resource overdraft, water overdraft and environmental overdraft have become very serious, and people feel the same way. Even if we go to the countryside now, many places are full of sewage and stink. There are many phenomena in cities, such as ground cracking or subsidence, exhaustion of groundwater resources, noise, dust, waste gas, acid rain, dust and heat island effect. The incidence of malignant diseases is rising, and it has even become a common and frequently-occurring disease. It used to be said that Suzhou and Hangzhou were paradise on earth. Now, what places can really be called paradise on earth? If we are desperate for construction and pollute the place where we live to a serious extent, this place will eventually become a dead zone. What's the use of economic development? This is a very terrible thing.

Too many non-human indicators. Urbanization should be people-oriented, committed to building livable cities and creating beautiful living conditions for residents. In addition to a livable environment, there is also a livable life, a livable job and a livable culture. This requires that all development measures should be people-oriented. We should take people as the core and put forward various rules, systems and management objectives. It should be understood that the non-human index is not in harmony with the goal of livable cities.

Too many dehumanizing indicators exist in many aspects, such as excessive beautification of the city appearance, which has caused great waste. For the beauty of the city, it is not convenient for ordinary people to live. This is the inhuman index. In our city, urban management is the most difficult department to manage, and it is also the department where people's opinions are concentrated. In a certain city, someone posted a notice at the door of the store that "urban management and dogs are not allowed to enter", which aroused the concern and discussion of all walks of life. In fact, it is definitely impossible to leave it alone. The problem is how to manage, which should be managed, which should not be managed, and how to manage. The masses have such great opinions about urban management. Why? The reasons are very complicated, one of which is that some indicators of urban management are dehumanized.

Large-scale old city reconstruction and demolition also have the nature of dehumanization. The transformation of the old city is necessary, especially the transformation of the city's business district, cultural district, window area and infrastructure, which is conducive to improving urban conditions, beautifying the environment and upgrading the city's taste. However, in order to stimulate the real estate market, the demolition and renovation of residential areas will only increase the burden on the people and increase the cost of living. In some foreign cities, rich people live in villas in suburbs or even outer suburbs, while apartments and slums are in urban areas. In turn, we relocated the needy households to the outer suburbs, and most of the affordable houses were built in the outer suburbs, so their living costs just need to spend a lot more on transportation. Urban construction is mostly considered for the rich and less for the poor. A metropolis like Shanghai had shanty towns for such a long time before the founding of New China. In the past, every city had shanty towns, that is, places with poor conditions, and some even dilapidated places. Due to the different economic levels of residents, the existence of shanty towns has its objective inevitability. Nowadays, to beautify the city, it is necessary to demolish old houses on a large scale, which has brought serious consequences of artificially aggravating social contradictions. After some houses on the edge of the city were demolished, there was no cheap place to rent.

In some places, the education department has adjusted the layout of school districts and schools and cancelled schools run by migrant workers. In this way, it is very problematic for the children of migrant workers to study. Originally, the school expenses of migrant workers' children were very low, but now they are merged into urban schools, and they have to pay the same money as urban children to study, which increases the living costs of migrant workers. The media once reported that in one place, the government specially spent money to build a one-bedroom four-bed building, and then said to migrant workers, "I am doing it for your benefit, and a bed can cost more than 100 yuan a month." As a result, no migrant workers want it. The reporter interviewed migrant workers and they said, "I work here, so I can live on the construction site. Why should I live there? " I only earn dozens of dollars a day, and I have to pay more than 100 yuan a month to live there. In addition, the construction site is in the east and the house is in the west. The daily transportation fee will be increased by a few dollars. After a month, it will cost a lot more. "As a result, the government built houses for migrant workers, but they refused to live. There are many such things. Some cities build lawns and buy and import turf in large quantities. What's the effect? Some grass native to China can be stepped on or laid on. The grass imported from abroad is so delicate that it can only be seen but not trampled, which inadvertently increases the cost of urban construction. These are actually the results of dehumanization indicators that are divorced from reality.

Excessive urbanization has also brought some serious problems.

Public facilities can't keep up, traffic can't keep up, electricity, gas and housing can't keep up, the ecology is deteriorating, a large number of people are unemployed, the people are generally poor, the crime rate is rising, and the cost of urban management is rising. The cost of urban management is very high, and now our urban management cost is very high. Some major cases were solved quickly, and a dozen 1 10 police officers were on the scene, which was very good. Our public security has changed from static management to dynamic management, which is great, but it also comes at a price. When the population was blindly expanded, the contradictions may not be immediately exposed, but these problems will become hidden dangers of social unrest sooner or later.

There is insufficient interest coordination among all interest classes and levels in the city. The interests of urban residents at all levels should be well regulated, and social contradictions should not be too sharp. Promoting the construction of a harmonious society is not without contradictions and differences, but the fair bottom line must be maintained in the distribution of social interests. It is correct and timely for the CPC Central Committee to study the income distribution policy, put forward and earnestly implement the concern for vulnerable groups, and promote the construction of various social security systems.

Although the city has expanded, it has not yet established a mature community ethics. Cities have urban ethics. In the past, western scholars called rural society a whole society and cities a group society, and analyzed their nature according to their different ethical spirits.

The concepts of integrated society and integrated society are somewhat mysterious. What is a perfect society? In a village, there may be a clan, which is originally an acquaintance community. Residents share the same values and have a relatively stable habit of handling civil disputes. The social order is relatively stable, so it is called a perfect society. The urban population comes from all over the world. They leave their original residence and come to strange places. Without the close ties in production, consanguinity, emotion and historical origin between the residents in their original places of residence, they must fight for themselves and put their personal interests first in order to survive, which leads to the lack of affinity among various groups in the city, so the urban society is a group society. Others say that the countryside is a mechanical unity while the city is an organic unity. Although there are unified rural rules and regulations, villagers lack common interests and organic division of labor and cooperation, so their mutual unity is not very stable. In cities, the degree of professional division of labor is very high, and the degree of interdependence between industries is also relatively high. If one industry and one job stop, the operation of other industries, other jobs and even the whole city will stop. Therefore, people in cities must cooperate and support each other, unite in a high degree of tension, and unite for the survival of the same nation. Of course, the combination of urban residents is much closer and more organic than that of rural residents.

Both of the above viewpoints have some truth. These two views have gone to two extremes, a little absolute, and we can continue to discuss them. However, in any case, cities should have the same community ethics. The so-called community ethics of the city refers to the public norms that reflect the cultural characteristics of the city, including a series of rules, systems, concepts, powers, order, interests and systems of the city. There is a set of public rules to safeguard the common interests of citizens and reduce the cost of people living together. * * * Life has a price. Sometimes social organizations are uncoordinated and unreasonable, and living with * * * is very expensive. The city is a collection of people from all corners of the country, so we must ensure everyone's interests, otherwise we can't live together. Only by establishing * * * community ethics, so that these people from all corners of the country have a recognized value base, can we unite. This is a very long process.

Cultivating urban ethics under the new situation is a very important issue in the process of urbanization. At present, we can see that in some cities, the promotion of urbanization has not improved the original civilization of cities, but has lowered the level. There is a simple reason. In some places, the foreign population accounts for almost one third, half or even more of the local population, and the original cultural characteristics of the city have been dissolved. Even the language, folk customs, living habits, interpersonal network, interest demands and group atmosphere of the migrants have changed the original cultural connotation and become the new mainstream characteristics of the city. In most cases, this new function has many negative contents or negative nature. How to strengthen the civilized management of the city under the condition of rapid population expansion without reducing the degree of urban civilization, so as to integrate the foreign population into urban life as soon as possible and improve their civilized quality is a very arduous practical task.

Provide an article that I hope can help the landlord.