Migration and urbanization : some theories and applications for South Africa

Abstract

In this thesis migration is assumed to be practically -·~ tantamount to urbanization. After setting out the nature of the study to be pursued in Chapter 1, the thesis analyses various theories of migration/urbanization in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3 the. major demographic and economic features of the migration/urbanization process in the presently developing countries are compared with those of the developed countries in the past. The general evidence on migration/urbanization trends in South Africa, and for selected towns, is examined in Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 6 is a summary of the main findings of the study and finally, Chapter 7 contains some policy implications. conclusions on migration or South Africa in particular. largely as a result of The thesis draws some tentative urbanization in general, and for Thus, cities which are growing rural-urban migration have a very different character to those that are growing largely on account of natural population increase . Moreover, differentials between urban and rural incomes are generally greatest where urban growth has been very rapid. It would seem that migration or urbanization have had an equilibrating effect on income distribution in the developed countries, whereas the corresponding effect is generally disequilibrating in developing countries. Migration/urbanization is also a disequilibrating process in \ most developing countries or communities as far as geographical population distribution is concerned . This has generally also been the case in South Africa which in many ways represents a microcosm of the world as a whole. The migration/urbanization process has clearly been disequilibrating among the various race groups in south Africa. However, the process has generally had an equilibrating effect on the income distribution within the various population groups. In the case of the black population group, in particular, the effect on income distribution has been disequilibrating, while urbanization has had an equilibrating effect on the geographical distribution due to stringent control measures. The urbanization process in South Africa is of a dual nature : nearing saturation in the case of white people but far from complete for black people.