Summary
This article considers the relationship of national political systems, freedom and individual rights, with the spatial distribution of population. It is hypothesized that nations lacking sufficient levels of political freedoms and rights will have high percentages of population clustered in their principal urban agglomerations, where the majority of national investments are concentrated; as it is in these cities where quality-of-life access opportunities will be most abundant. This study employs multivariate OLS regression analysis to measure correlations between political systems, political rights and civil liberties with compiled population data from 89 countries and territories. Findings show the hypothesis to have merit and offer contribution to international development planning discourse.
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Extract
Connecting National Freedom and Population Concentration
INTRODUCTION
Over half of the world's population lives in what is classified as an urban place.1 By 2025, the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (UNDESA) predicts that the world's population will be over 60 percent urban, and other predictions state that by 2050 this number will reach up to 75 percent (UNDESA, 2005; Global Cities Exhibit, 2007). Just a few centuries ago, prior to largescale industrialization, only roughly three percent of the world's population lived in an urban place, and even just a century ago (1900 A.D.) roughly only 13 percent lived in an urban place. In 1950, the only true mega-city (10m plus) was New York City, followed closely by just few other large cities in the industrialized more developed countries (MDCs). Today, there are over 20 mega-cities and 15 are located in what are considered less developed countries (LDCs) (Brunn Williams, and Zeigler, 2003; UNDES...See the full content of this document
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