urbanization

Definition of Urbanization

(noun) The transformation of a place due to population migration from rural to urban areas.

Urbanization Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: ur·ban·i·za·tion

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˌərbənəˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/
• British English – /ˌəːbənʌɪˈzeɪʃn/

Usage Note

• Plural: urbanizations

Additional Information

• Word origin of “urbanization” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Frumkin, Howard, Lawrence D. Frank, and Richard Jackson. 2004. Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities. Washington, DC: Island.
• Gold, Harry. 2002. Urban Life and Society. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Jacobs, Jane. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House.
• Keiner, Marco, Martina Koll-Schretzenmayr, and Willy A. Schmid, eds. 2005. Managing Urban Futures: Sustainability and Urban Growth in Developing Countries. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
• Simmel, Georg. 1902. “The Metropolis and Mental Life.” Urban Place and Process S:19–30.
• Soja, Edward W. 2000. Postmetropolis: Studies of Cities and Regions. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Waldheim, Charles. 2006. The Landscape Urbanism Reader. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
• Wirth, Louis. 1938. “Urbanism as a Way of Life.” Urban Place and Process S:30–48.

Related Terms

• bedroom community
• class
• economics
• exurb
• gentrification
• megalopolis
• metropolis
• suburb
• urban renewal
• urban sociology
• white flight

---

Works Consulted

Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. 2011. Sociology: The Essentials. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White, Suzanne Ortega, and Rose Weitz. 2011. Essentials of Sociology. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Delaney, Tim, and Tim Madigan. 2015. The Sociology of Sports: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Encyclopædia Britannica. (N.d.) Britannica Digital Learning. (https://britannicalearn.com/).

Ferrante, Joan. 2011a. Seeing Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ferrante, Joan. 2011b. Sociology: A Global Perspective. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.

Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Jary, David, and Julia Jary. 2000. Collins Dictionary of Sociology. 3rd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.

Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Kornblum, William. 2008. Sociology in a Changing World. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Macionis, John. 2012. Sociology. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson.

Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.

Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).

Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.

O’Leary, Zina. 2007. The Social Science Jargon Buster: The Key Terms You Need to Know. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.

Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene. 2003. Sociology and You. New York: Glencoe.

Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.

Stolley, Kathy S. 2005. The Basics of Sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).

Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Thorpe, Christopher, Chris Yuill, Mitchell Hobbs, Sarah Tomley, and Marcus Weeks. 2015. The Sociology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained. London: Dorling Kindersley.

Tischler, Henry L. 2011. Introduction to Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).

Cite the Definition of Urbanization

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “urbanization.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved January 16, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/urbanization/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

urbanization. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/urbanization/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “urbanization.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/urbanization/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“urbanization.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/urbanization/>.