The chapter explores the proposition that urbanisation is a major driver of growth and development in the global South. This is a crucial issue for low and middle income countries wrestling with burgeoning urban populations. The chapter first considers whether an urbanising population causes economic growth, but finds little evidence to support this. It argues instead that there is an interdependent relationship between urbanisation and development. Urbanisation is intimately bound up with the evolving dynamics of economic development, but it is not a separate driver of change. The relationship is also dependent on the context, including the composition of economic growth and the physical environment in which growth occurs.
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.