Bangladesh is witnessing a rapid urbanization with more than a third of population now living in urban areas and continuing. Despite the population growth rate has come down to 1.2 per cent per annum, the country remains one of the most densely populated countries in the world. This urbanization has been spurred by the structural changes in the rural economy resulting from the increased commercialization of the agriculture sector and widespread rural poverty. But this rapid urbanization has caused heightened urban poverty with extremely poor living conditions for these rural migrants and also serious urban congestion.
The genesis of migration lies in people’s quest to live or subsist in a form better than their present status. Some migrate for sheer survival, that is, to escape from poverty; others, to improve their quality of life, while still others search for fortune. Since each of these pursuits is made by people who come from different socio-economic strata and hence have a different purpose for moving, migration is quite a heterogeneous phenomenon. In contemporary low-income economies, however, the principal reason for people to move is the worsening productive-resource-to-human-power ratio, stemming mainly from rapid population growth and an external demand for local resources. This has compelled large sections of the populace to migrate to look for work as a part of their survival strategy. Depending upon the needs and circumstances, people move seasonally, for fixed periods, or permanently. In this sense, the transition economies of South-East Asia, some of which are among the poorer ones in the world, present a picture typical of other low-income countries.
The role of migration in urbanization is obvious in all societies and at almost all times, since urbanization and urban growth take place through a combination of three components, such as (a) natural increase of the native urban population, (b) area redefinition or reclassification or annexation and (c) rural-urban (or other forms of internal) migration. In a condition of developing urbanization, role of migration is even more pronounced while in the state of advanced urbanization, where urban growth is almost stagnant or even declining, internal migration plays a minor or almost no role. Rural to urban migration may again take many forms, such as permanent migration, temporary migration, seasonal migration, circular migration and commuting. The process ranges from short distance mobility (commuting) to long distance and long term movement or permanent migration. In the case of Bangladesh, status of academic as well as planning studies on internal migration is not too bad, although, all dimensions of internal migration might not have received enough attention. Considerable literature exists on the subject of determinants or causes of rural to urban migration. A Bangladeshi scholar working at an American University has, in a recent paper, classified the models of causes of migration into two groups (i) one which isolates migration as a domestic phenomenon and (ii) the other which places causes of migration within an international politico- economic framework. Migration is the combined effect of both push and pulls factors and it is often difficult to separate the role of the two. Within the Push-Pull model, push factors (at rural end) may be identified for Bangladesh as: 1) Population pressure, adverse person-land ratio, landlessness and poverty; 2) Frequent and severe natural disasters (particularly river bank erosion) and 3) Lack of economic opportunities.
The impact rural to urban migration is both diverse and deep, both at the urban destination end and at the rural origin. Most of the researches have been at the urban end. Urbanization and urban growth occurring due to migration have both positive and negative consequences and impacts. Some of the positive consequences of urbanization are the following: Economic benefits: higher productivity, better income etc; Demographic benefits: lowering of age at marriage, reduction of fertility rate; Socio-cultural benefits: modernization; Political benefits: empowerment, democracy; Improved access to information technology; some of these have already been discussed in the preceding sections. Urbanization is not an unmixed blessing. Its negative consequences are of great concern. These assume critical role under situation of rapid and uncontrolled or unplanned urban expansion. The negative consequences can be grouped as the following: Environmental consequences; Encroachment on productive agricultural land and forests; Extreme pressure on housing, growth of slums and the pressure on and urban services; Economic consequences, leading to income inequality and poverty, ill effects of globalization; Social consequences, resulting in increased violence and crime, social Degradation; Cultural consequences: entry of alien culture, loss of national cultural identity; and Criminalization of politics.
Climate change is a recurrent phenomenon of Bangladesh. Human health will suffer from many aspects of climate change. Direct impacts include increasing incidences of thermal stress, leading to cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality. Indirect impacts will probably result from increases in certain vector borne diseases.
In general, climate change impacts tend to be regressive, falling more heavily on the poor than the rich. Inequality is not inevitable, it is a policy preference. There is mounting evidence that the current levels of inequality are not the result of efforts and risk-taking, but rather windfall income from ‘rent-seeking’ activities. Regarding sustainable urbanism, policymakers should eliminate primate city favouritism; improve urban efficiency, in order to lower the cost of living curve by dealing with urban crowding and providing public goods; eliminate the biases that lead to squatter settlements with a reasonable titling policy and urban deregulation; and not discourage internal migration, which fosters an efficient allocation of the population and has an equalizing effect across places.
(Shishir Reza is an Environmental Analyst & Associate Member, Bangladesh Economic Association).
