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
Ron Barrett, Discover Magazine, 11 May 2024
Cities could declare virtually anything blighted (too little urbanization or too much of it, buildings with chipping paint, excessive vacant lots, insufficient tax revenue in the area, etc.) and then seek out developers to build new shopping centers or venues, or whatever is preferred in City Hall.
—Steven Greenhut, Orange County Register, 10 May 2024
The mid-1800s brought large-scale urbanization to the area, culminating in the York Railway Station.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 May 2024
But since the early 1990s, Bengaluru has undergone rapid urbanization, as its transformation into a major tech center resulted in exponential growth.
—Rhea Mogul, CNN, 15 Mar. 2024
Çatalhöyük is one of the earliest examples of urbanization and was occupied from 7400 B.C. to 6200 B.C., according to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024
The values created by that shift, such as individualism, are spreading worldwide through education, urbanization, and jobs that take people away from their families.
—TIME, 3 Feb. 2024
The climate crisis is helping to fuel more intense and more frequent rainfall events, and in Brazil this combines with rapid urbanization and often unsafe construction to deadly effect.
—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
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 18 May. 2024.
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