What is the difference between urbanization and urban growth?

What is the difference between urbanization and urban growth?

• A. Urbanization is the process of increasing share of people living in urban areas; urban growth is the increase in size/number of people within cities, due to migration and natural increase.
• B. Urbanization refers to the expansion of rural farmlands; urban growth is the decrease in city populations.
• C. They are the same phenomenon with different names.
• D. Urbanization is only about infrastructure development; urban growth is about population.

Answer: (A)

Urbanization measures how the share of the population living in urban areas changes over time—the proportion becomes more urbanized as more people move to or are counted in cities. Urban growth focuses on how many people live in those cities and how big the urban area becomes—the increase in urban population due to people moving in (migration) and more births within the city (natural increase). So the best description separates the idea of a rising urban share from the idea of a growing number of urban residents. The other choices mischaracterize one or both concepts: expanding rural lands, decreasing city populations, treating them as the same, or limiting urbanization to infrastructure.

Urbanization measures how the share of the population living in urban areas changes over time—the proportion becomes more urbanized as more people move to or are counted in cities. Urban growth focuses on how many people live in those cities and how big the urban area becomes—the increase in urban population due to people moving in (migration) and more births within the city (natural increase). So the best description separates the idea of a rising urban share from the idea of a growing number of urban residents. The other choices mischaracterize one or both concepts: expanding rural lands, decreasing city populations, treating them as the same, or limiting urbanization to infrastructure.