Population change in Urban areas

Abstract

Changes in the size of urban populations involve the demographic processes of migration and natural change; in many metropolitan areas the balance of births and deaths is more important than the number of in-migrants. Two exercises are described that have been developed from models of population change. These models, in turn, are derived from concepts contained in General Systems Theory. Discussion of these exercises and the results provides a useful introduction to various aspects of urban growth and to the role and nature of models in studying urban processes.