urbanization
noun
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The word urbanization started appearing in print way back in the 1880s, which says something about the growth of American cities. The expansion of Los Angeles was an early example of uncontrolled urbanization. Urbanization is often seen as a negative trend, with bad effects on quality of life and the environment. But apartments require much less heat than houses, and commuting by mass transit rather than cars can reduce pollution and energy use, and cities offer improved opportunities for jobs (and often for education and housing as well), so city growth doesn't make everyone unhappy.
Examples of urbanization in a Sentence
Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2024
Aside from advances in working with metal, the period often includes a number of other important developments in human societies such as writing systems, urbanization, and more complex state systems.
—Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 22 Dec. 2023
The chief executive, who has advocated for the massive urbanization of the San Diego region, was hired in 2018 and collects an annual salary of $433,014.
—Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Oct. 2023
As any economy develops, its growth rate slows because of the accumulation of capital (including infrastructure), a diminishing rate of urbanization, and, usually, a declining birth rate.
—Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 3 Oct. 2023
The disease has been circulating in California, Florida, Texas and New York, but cases in the U.S. have been growing over the past few years, and are expected to rise with climate change and urbanization.
—Dr. Adiba Matin, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2023
Larger-bodied animals, such as cougars and elk, were also more negatively affected by urbanization than smaller ones, the researchers found.
—Emily Anthes, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2023
The fourth and most recent billion was driven by economic liberalization and urbanization in India, especially in the last 10 years.
—Erika Page, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Feb. 2024
The new global history has eagerly set out to establish that steppe nomads displayed key features of classic civilizations and liberal democracies—writing, urbanization, and apparently progressive values.
—Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'urbanization.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near urbanization
Cite this Entry
“Urbanization.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/urbanization. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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