The relationship between urbanization and sustainable development in developing countries: theoretical approaches to analysis

This study aims to identify the universal factors of slum growth in developing countries and propose measures to improve the situation. The research focuses not so much on the process of urbanization itself as on the reasons why poor areas continue to appear in urban centers of developing countries and the population concentration in them continues to grow. Slum growth is not only a consequence of urbanization, but also an indicator of inefficiency in the distribution of benefits. If the proportion of slums is growing faster than the urban population, this indicates systemic development problems. The key areas of research answer the questions of maintaining the relevance of theoretical models of urbanization in the context of 21st century globalization, identifying the most significant factors to explain the growth of the slum population and how the quality of governance and institutional features affect urbanization. Previous studies have mostly been limited to descriptive analysis in order to identify contributing factors. Therefore, this study begins with an analysis of previous work in order to identify significant factors contributing to rapid urbanization in developing countries. Secondly, the study finds out whether previous studies have overlooked significant universal factors influencing the process of urbanization in developing countries. The theoretical foundations for this study are based on the Bradshaw model, which includes the main provisions of the theories of modernization, urbanization and dependence. The use of an upgraded version of this model also made it possible to verify the validity and reliability of each of the three theoretical approaches within the framework of a single model in modern conditions. Future research will focus on collecting detailed macro data, as well as analyzing the impact of climate change and digital technologies on urbanization in developing countries.