Urbanization and Energy Use In Economic Development

Urbanization and industrialization are the most prominent features of economic development. The energy use changes brought by industrialization are well known, but urbanization also imposes major, if subtle, changes in energy use. Urbanization shifts production activities formerly undertaken in the home with little or no energy to outside producers who do use energy. One of the largest changes is the daily travel of urban residents, primarily but not exclusively, to work Personal transportation in rural areas generally entails little or no fuel use, while urban transportation does, particularly as incomes increase. Higher density living also induces substitutions of modem for traditional energy forms. Finally, food must be transported longer distances to urban consumers than to rural, agricultural consumers.