Difference Between Urbanisation and Urbanism

Difference Between Urbanisation and Urbanism:

Urbanisation is a broader concept which encompasses changing socio-economic, demographic and spatial dimensions of urbanizing areas, albeit the concept is often restricted to the increase of the proportion of the population living in urban areas of a country only.

On the contrary, urbanism is a purely sociological concept that deals with the urban “way of life”.

Therefore, it is expected that urbanization leads to urbanism, but that does not always happen. A settlement can acquire the status of ‘urban’ without much change in the ‘way of life’.

In fact, in small cities and towns, we find that the ‘way of life’ remains in transition. Here, some sorts of relaxation in social norms are where people have the aspiration for a high standard of living, and the interpersonal relationship becomes partly formal.

On the other hand, kinship, caste system etc., still play a crucial role in social life; people’s identity is not only determined by income but by kinship too; unity in the family is not at all diluted; rather, sometimes it is seen that urban dwellers maintain a good relationship with other family members who still reside in rural areas and frequently visit there.

In fact, urbanism is a gradual and tardy process than urbanization is. A typical rural area can acquire urban status merely because of setting up a large industry and the associated change in the economic landscape in the area. However, that does not necessarily mean that way of life will also change suddenly.