Fiducia TogetherUrbanisation
The growing share of people living in cities, and what follows from it.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
Urbanisation is the increasing proportion of a population living in urban areas, driven by rural-urban migration and natural increase.
Where it applies
GCSE geography human topics.
How it works
Push and pull factors explain migration: lack of work, poor services and land pressure pushing; jobs, services and perceived opportunity pulling.
Rapid urbanisation in lower-income countries produces squatter settlements, pressure on services and informal employment. In higher-income countries the pattern includes suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation and regeneration.
How to use it in your work
Case studies carry the marks. Learn one city in a lower-income and one in a higher-income country, with named districts, figures and specific schemes.
Avoid describing squatter settlements only as problems — questions increasingly ask about residents' own solutions and about upgrading schemes.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification — options differ enormously between centres, and yours is the one that counts. Bitesize covers the skills; the subject song runs the topics.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Geography Song The GCSE geography topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.