Krainara:

Phenomenon to the same demographic and social time, urbanization is one of the most powerful manifestations of economic relations and the prevailing mode of life in a community in a given historical moment.

Urbanization is the process by which a population settles and multiplies in a given area, which gradually structure as a city. Phenomena such as industrialization and population growth are critical in the formation of cities, which are nevertheless the integration of various social, economic, cultural and psychosocial dimensions that play relevant roles of the political conditions of the nation.

The concept of city changes according to the historical and geographical context, but the demographic criterion is most usually employed. The United Nations (UN) recommends that countries consider urban places that focus on more than twenty thousand inhabitants. Nations, however, organize their statistics based on many different patterns. The United States, for example, identify as 'urban center' any location where they live more than 2,500 people. The process of urbanization, however, is not limited to demographic concentration or construction of visible elements on the ground, but includes the emergence of new economic relations and a unique urban identity that translates into styles of their own life.

To evaluate the rate of urbanization of a country we use three variables: the percentage of the population living in cities of more than twenty thousand inhabitants; the percentage of the population living in cities of over one hundred thousand inhabitants; and the percentage of urban population classified as such according to the official criteria of the country. The urbanization rate can also be expressed by applying the notion of density, ie, the number of cities of over one hundred thousand inhabitants compared to the total population density. With this method it is possible to compare between regions and other countries.

There is close correlation between the processes of urbanization, industrialization and population growth. The pre-industrial city is characterized by the simplicity of urban structures, craft economy organized on family size and restricted basis. Under the impact of industrialization, change in quantity and quality economic activities, accelerates urban sprawl and increasing population concentration. The old social and economic structures disappear and a new order emerges, it becomes a characteristic of industrial cities. In this first period, the heavy and concentrated industry, a major consumer of hand labor, attracts new centers for population groups that have on the structures of existing service demands that can not be met.

With continued urbanization, the city is transformed in several ways: urban sectors specialize; communication pathways become more rational; it creates new administrative bodies; deploy up industries gradually in the periphery of the original urban core and modify her feature; middle and working classes that the limitation of the existing supply in housing, shall be accommodated in the suburbs and even in slums; and, above all, the city is no longer a well-defined spatial entity.

The industrial expansion is accompanied by accelerated development of trade and the service sector, and significant reduction in active agricultural population. The growth of cities becomes at the same time, cause and consequence of this evolution. The industry, mechanized passes consuming hand labor smaller and specialized. Tertiary activities take place as urban growth engines and, consequently, the process of urbanization.

Developed capitalist countries. Most of these countries have reached very high levels, and virtually maximum of urbanization. The tendency, therefore, is stabilizing around rates between 80 and 90, although some have already exceeded the 90.

Krainara:

Sorry, I almost forgot ...

The rates can be found at the link attached.

Good luck!

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/statistics;jsessionid=3gloef30gf1l.x-oecd-live-02

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/population/indicator-group/english_5f958f71-en

Thanks for sharing informative insight Andrea!

In Japan, we have an urban problem very different from developing countries. Japan is now experiencing a period of population decline and rapidly aging society. The cities that has received many populations now face declining population,  declining revenue, heavy burden to keep up with high level of health care, maintenance costs of social infrastructures, aging community and do on.

An idea such as compact city is proposed, because too extended city costs it very high and hard to maintain. 

Thanks Professor Yoshinori! In Thailand, we have been experiencing aging society as well. Now we are planning how cities can adapt to this trend.