Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
that their differences may be expected to increase, then reduce over time, in a
natural manner. This is the benign interpretation, but this is only allowable if the
course of development for these countries is going to be the same as for the
presently advanced countries, which seems an untenable proposition. Leads have
been established in industrial innovation, infrastructure and education of the
populace which present problems for newcomers. There is even a dependency, in
the limited sense of reliance on outside technology, capital and trade relations, for
advance to be made, although none of these factors is insuperable.
In terms of Alonso's five bell shapes in development (see Ch. 1), it appears
that the fourth, population and industrial concentration in one or a few cities, and
the fifth, population growth, move in exaggerated form, and will drive the rates
for the other elements. Taking the fourth bell shape, in the poor countries there
have been spectacular increases in the levels of social communication, with the
advent of radio and television, greater literacy and availability of written
materials, all occurring ahead of other changes, so that the poorest peasants in
the most remote rural periphery are made aware of the levels of living in the
wealthiest cities of their country. This change in information levels is little
studied or used in the literature, but it must form a major difference from past
centuries in Europe, when awareness of conditions in other parts of the same
country, let alone other parts of the world, was slight and often inaccurate. In
Europe, industrial urban development took place at the same time as an increase
in awareness. Because of this greater early awareness, before any strong growth
in the economy, and the “revolution of rising expectations” which it engenders
amongst the poor, there is a greater movement from countryside to town. This
movement, commonly known as rural-urban migration, is no doubt further aided
by the improvements in transport conditions.
As to the fifth bell shape, population growth, it is the case that this has been a
force of exaggerated proportions in some poorer countries. Help from the rich
countries to the poor has often been first in the area of sanitation, health and
medical care; this has the result that population, previously held back by natural
curbs such as malnutrition, disease and war, increases rapidly. Help from
countries with the Christian tradition focuses on ensuring the survival and health
of babies and young children, a focus that concentrates specifically on the
immediate cause of population growth. Again, the demographic transition starts
before transitions in other elements of society and economy, and serves to check
any emergent development.
Movement in the fourth bell shape, population concentration, does help to slow
population growth, but some part of the population growth is independent of this
urbanization, and constitutes a major hazard for the countries concerned, if not
an ecological hazard for the whole world because of the huge drain on world
resources.
