Suchergebnisse

The growth of cities is a subject of increasing concern among
social scientists and government planners in Pakistan as elsewhere in
the developing world. Redistribution of the population from
predominantly rural to increas¬ingly urban pattern of residence has
far-reaching implications for the demographic, socio-economic, and
political character of the nation. Indeed, the process of urbanization
as it applies in the Third World nations is gene¬rating considerable
debate among scholars, for there are important policy impli¬cations and
divergent views regarding the consequences of urban growth. Ad¬vocates
of urbanization, who see it as the key which unlocks economic
development and modernization [6], are being challenged by others who
view cities as neo-coloniaiistic structures which drain their regional
hinterlands of scarce re¬sources [5] and provide a Western life-style
for only the elite minority [13]. Meanwhile, government planners and
policy makers have embarked upon pro¬grammes designed to foster urban
growth and in some cases create new urban centres. The Agrovilles Scheme
is such a programme under way in Pakistan [12].

The riddle of China's urban population has been universally neglected for two main reasons. It was obscured by the debate over the size and rate of growth of China's total population and it was perpetuated by the scantiness and spuriusness of data on urban population. The problems associated with urban population statistics are described and it is suggested that the users of these statistics continue to exercise caution