ASSIGNMENT #1

Global Urbanization and Development: A Comparison

It is often assumed that urbanization is related to rising levels of “development”, accompanied by changes in environmental resource use, and transformation of the social structure. However, it is acknowledged that urbanization produces a wide diversity of outcomes, and the relationship between urbanization and different forms of development is not completely clear.

Furthermore, there is debate about how to define the level of urbanization. Recently, the United Nations has developed a new, universal, way of measuring this, which they call the ‘degree of urbanization’. They created this new metric because previously each country had its own (usually different) ways of calculating the level of urbanization. However, the United Nations also agrees that its new universal metric may not capture local nuances in what it means to be ‘urban’. It is as of yet not clear how urbanization as estimated by each of the two metrics might be related to different kinds of development.

In this assignment we will explore trends in global urbanization and variations in rates of change across the global north and south, and study the relationship between levels/degrees of urbanization and various forms of development. Tabular data come from the most recent (2025) United Nations Human

Development Report (HDR), which publishes the Human Development Index (HDI) using indicators collected in mainly in 2023. As well, we will use the new (2025) United Nations World Urbanization Prospects (WUP) Tables. The HDR/HDI ranks nations by their HDI, and places nations into four levels/categories based on human development (very high, high, medium, and low, human development), whereas the WUP tables organize the data by continents, regions, and then countries. There are two main WUP tables in the spreadsheet: one that shows the 2025 estimates of the level of urbanization using national-level definitions, and another one that uses the new degree of urbanization definition to estimate the degree (level) of urbanization. One of things we will do in this assignment is compare the results using these two different measures of the level of urbanization.

2. Once you are familiar with the general structure of the data Tables, choose a set of 25 countries. Your country set should be roughly representative of the different continents on the globe, and of the four levels of human development (very high, high, medium, low) as indicated in the HDR. Of these 25 countries, ten must be: Canada, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and ,Mozambique. Please do not choose any countries that depend on oil extraction for a significant amount of their exports (such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Angola, etc). As well, please do not choose any “city states” or small island states (countries/territories that are a single city, or that are more than 95 percent urban, and/or that are small islands), such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Macao, Monaco, Luxembourg, Nauru, Bermuda, Qatar, Malta, Cayman Islands, San Marino, etc. Once you have chosen your set of 25 countries, please attach the full list of the countries you have selected in an appendix to your assignment (label this “Appendix 1: List of Countries Selected”). Make sure to choose countries for which the data you ,need, as indicated below, is available in each of the Tables, so that each of the required graphs below will contain 25 data points (if one of the required countries is missing more than one piece of data, then 2 ,please substitute that piece of data with data from another country that is nearby with similar levels of human development).

3. Using the data for your set of 25 countries, create TWO standard x-y scatterplot diagrams for each of the following pairs of variables. The first of the two should use the national-level definitions to estimate the ,Level of Urbanization, and the second should use the new UN ‘Degree of Urbanization’ estimates. Then, ,over top of each of your scatterplots, draw a best-fit line by eye/hand (note: the best-fit line should not be estimated by any software). Please use this method to make two graphs for each of the following:

Graph A: the level/ degree of urbanization in 2025 on the vertical (y) axis, against Gross National Income (GNI $) per capita in 2023 (a measure of economic development, expressed in PPP – Purchasing Power Parity) on the horizontal (x) axis (this is found in the 5th data column in HDR Table

Graph B: the level/degree of urbanization in 2025 on the vertical (y) axis, against mean years of ,schooling in 2023 (a measure of social development) (4th data column in HDR Table 1) on the horizontal (x) axis). Label as Graphs B1 and B2

Graph C: the level/degree of urbanization in 2025 on the vertical (y) axis, against the share of seats in ,parliament held by women in 2023 (a measure of gender empowerment and political development) on ,the x axis (5th data column in HDR Table 5, starting on page 293). Label as Graphs C1 and C2

4. Essay. Please prepare a short essay (maximum 1100 words, not including your graphs and appendices) in which you discuss the relationships between urbanization as measured using the two different methods, and different types of development (economic, social, political, etc), as well as environmental sustainability. This discussion should be based on what you see in your x-y scatterplot graphs of these variables as measured among nations. As well, please discuss how using the two different metrics to estimate the Level/Degree of urbanization make a difference to the results. That is, please compare, for each set of graphs, the ‘A’ and ‘B’ results. You are also welcome to conduct additional analysis of any of the data in the HDR and WUP tables if you like. The assignment should be carefully written, typed, and double-spaced (12 point font, 1” margins). Make sure to back up your comments with examples drawn from the graphs you have created, and to properly cite any literature that you are drawing on. Please include a short introductory paragraph, and a conclusion, in your essay, and a list of references if you are citing any literature. Attach your graphs and appendices to your assignment.

Questions that your essay could consider include:

development, political development, and environmental sustainability, on the other? Do the ,relationships appear to be curved or linear? What is the strength of the relationships, and how do they vary across forms of development? Why might such relationships exist, and what factors might mediate these relationships? How much of a difference does it make to use the new ,method for estimating the degree of urbanization vs the old method of using the national-level definitions of the level of urbanization? How does Canada fit into this overall picture being told by your graphs? Based on your analysis of this data, what problems and challenges might continued urbanization pose for the globe? What might be the benefits? 3

Your assignment is due on Friday January 30 at 11:59pm (please submit through Quercus).