Third World Urbanization: Dimensions, Theories, and Determinants

Few aspects of international social change have generated as much scholarship as patterns of urbanization in the Third World. In this review of interdisciplinary research, we first trace the trends and dimensions of urbanization in developing countries and then discuss major theories guiding global urban studies. Second, we review and critique recent cross-national investigations of the determinants of urbanization and its dimensions, concluding that severe underspecification, the dearth of comparative statistics on critical dimensions, and the ambiguity of proxy variables hinder research in this area. Finally, we discuss issues that warrant additional investigation in the near future,