Chapter 12 : Settlement and Urbanization

        Taiwan has a population of more than 21 million people. Some of them live in villages. Others live in cities or suburbs. Different living environments have different features—different advantages and problems.

 

Villages

        Places where people come together to live and work together will become permanent settlements. The rural areas of Taiwan have two types of settlement: compact villages and dispersed villages. In compact villages, houses are concentrated together. Dispersed villages are more spread out.

 

Cities

        If a large settlement has a good location, convenient transportation, abundant resources, and flat terrain, it will tend to attract many secondary and tertiary industries. People will follow job opportunities and the population will grow. When the total population reaches a certain level, the settlement becomes a city. A city tends to have a majority of the workforce in secondary and tertiary industries.

 

Urbanization

        Cities tend to have thriving industry and commerce. These conditions create lots of job opportunities that pay more than farming. These opportunities are very attractive to people living in rural areas. But there’s more: cities also usually have better medical and educational facilities and shopping services. This process–people moving from rural areas move to the cities in search of a better life–is called urbanization. By the end of 1996, Taiwan’s urban population reached 15,052,098 persons, accounting for 70% of the total population. Taiwan’s level of urbanization is very high.

 

Cities and Metropolises

        Urban areas are not heaven on earth. They have their own problems. Traffic jams, air pollution and noise pollution are common in urban areas. Urban dwellers often lead anxious lives. These problems cause some to long for the ease and fresh air of villages. Some of them move to suburbs. This movement creates urban sprawl: suburbs tend to have a lower population density and they add to the size of the city.

People’s behavior does not always follow administrative boundaries. A person might work in Taipei City and live in Taipei County or even in Taoyuan County. Today, cities, and towns are often integrated into economic metropolises. At present, Taiwan has three metropolitan areas: Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung.