What is urbanism?

UrbanisUrbanism as a word; has a number of interpretations. Different people understand the concept in a different manner. Some people are of the opinion that urbanism is the way, people of rural and urban areas interact with each other. While certain other people believe that urbanism is the understanding of the lifestyle of the inhabitants of urban areas.

Urbanism is also known by few as the amount of movement of people from the rural areas to the urban areas. Hence, in a nutshell, urbanism is everything about urban people. If you want to understand urbanism, you should focus your attention completely on what goes on in the urban areas.

Some of the broad categories through which a person can understand urbanism are as follows:

• Interaction: urbanism is the way urban people interact amongst themselves. It can also be the way of interaction between rural and urban individuals. The life of urban individuals rests on the employment, commerce and other activities. Hence, urbanism is a reflection of all the social, political and economic activities in urban areas as well.

• Organization: development in the urban areas attracts the people of rural areas. Hence, the change in the landscape and community is a reflection of urbanism. Organization and development is carried on by the leaders of the state, businessmen and property owners.

• Movement: human beings move to places that are much more attractive and convenient to live in. So, rural people move to urban areas to lift the benefits of comfort. Therefore, urbanism is definitely the movement of individuals from one place to the other.

• Renewal: with changing time, individuals tend to bring about changes in the way of living, in the landscape and other aspects around it. They also alter things that have been existing since a long time. The renewal or change in aspects attracts people from all around. This change is called urbanism.

The meaning of urbanism today is highly different from what it was in the past. Today, the number of urban areas is increasing and the crime rate is falling. Also, people are now more open to interaction between people of different origins. Schools and colleges have become multi-racial and the comfort level is higher. People have become very open-minded and have learnt to trust each other, irrespective of caste, religion, culture or even status.

There has been a large amount of technological advancements and the face of urban cities has changed considerably from the past. The hospitality, beauty and development of the cities have given a new meaning to urbanism. People look forward to urbanism as a place where they can contact other people and learn new things.

Urbanism is an old concept who’s meaning changes with time. What the people today need to realise is that human beings need to take care of our property today if they want a bright and comfortable future ahead. Development can only happen if future is planned, keeping in mind its effect on the environment.