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Although cities are growing (urbanisation) in both MEDCs and LEDCs, the fastest-growing cities in the world are in LEDCs.

The reasons for the growth of urban areas in LEDCs include:

• A lack of employment opportunities in the countryside. Overpopulation and poor crop yields are all push factors which explain why people leave the countryside.
• Better paid jobs in the cities, an expected higher standard of living, and more reliable food are all pull factors which explain why people are attracted to the city.
• People who migrate to towns and cities tend to be young and so these locations have higher birth rates leading to higher growth.
• Better medical services in towns and cities compared to the countryside mean more successful births and a greaterlife expectancy in these areas.

There are many problems associated with the rapid growth. These include unplanned housing (squatter settlements/shanty towns), dealing with urban waste, pollution and pressure on the city's services.

Although every LEDC city has its own characteristics, models can be used to illustrate a typical one.

• CBD: Offices, shops and traffic.
• Inner City: Expensive modern flats with modern amenities. Modern factories along main road.
• Suburban, high cost: High cost housing
• Permanent, low cost: Poor quality, but permanent housing. Small low cost government housing schemes.
• Temporary housing: Poor quality housing (slums and favelas).

Both MEDC and LEDC cities have a CBD - often the oldest part of the city.

In LEDCs the poorest housing is found on the edge of the city - in contrast to MEDC cities whosesuburban fringe is very often a place of high quality housing.

The areas of poor quality housing found on the edge of cities in LEDCs are called squatter settlements orshanty towns.

• Overcrowding and poverty - the settlement has a high population density with the poorest residents of the city living in these informal settlements.
• Fires - fires can spread quickly.
• Overpopulation - the area does not have enough resources to support the growing population.
• Competition for jobs and employment - jobs are in short supply and shanty towns at the edge of settlements are often far away from employment opportunities in the city centres. Many are unemployed.
• Disease - poor sanitation and limited health care can lead to the spread of disease.
• Lack of space - the newest and poorest arrivals may be forced to live on the worst quality land.
• Infrastructure - services are poor, public transport is limited and connections to the electricity supply can be limited and sometimes dangerous.

Rio de Janeiro is a city in south east Brazil.

An estimated 6.5 million people live in the city with around 22% of them residents of the city's favelas.

As migrants move into the city from rural areas they often live first in the informal favela areas where they build shelter and makeshift homes for themselves.

Most of the favelas are located on wasteland, marshy land, or land that is likely to flood.

They can also be found on very steep slopes where it would be impossible to build any other sort of building.

Favelas are often found on or near rubbish tips or along major transport links like railways and major roads.

In Rio de Janeiro, Rocinha is the largest favela in the city, and the second largest in Brazil. It is located on a hillside about one kilometre from the beach.

Some longer established favelas are closer to the centre, but still on land which most people would not build upon. One of the biggest favelas in the world, called Rocinha, is in Rio de Janeiro. Thought to be home to about 100,000 people, it is built on a steep hillside. Most buildings are now concrete and brick and almost all have basic plumbing and electricity, something more recently established shanty towns do not have. Rocinha still has a reputation for gang crime and drugs. There is widespread poverty and unemployment there.

Rocinha is one of the shanty towns in Brazil that have been changed by a Community Policing Programme called Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) introduced in 2008. This aimed to reduce gunfights in areas once controlled by drug gangs by permanently stationing police officers in the shanty town. The views of this initiative by those who live in favelas like Rocinha is mixed. While many were happy at first with the reduced violence and crime, there is increasing concern about corruption and police brutality.

Hundreds of new migrants arrive into Rio de Janeiro each day.

Some of them come from abroad, especially from Portugal as Rio is the largest city of Portuguese speakers outside Portugal. There are also migrants from countries like South Korea and China, looking for business opportunities. These people will live in established housing areas of the city.

However, most of the migrants are poor people from the surrounding Brazilian countryside. These are the people who will have to use informal housing and this means that the favelas have been growing at a fast rate.

The population of Rio de Janeiro in 1950 was around 3 million. The whole metropolitan area had grown to 13.5 million by 2021.

The growth is largely because of migration, but there is also a lot of natural increase as there are so many young people in the city.

People were pulled into the city because they thought that Rio de Janeiro would provide better employment opportunities.

Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy in Brazil and one of the fastest growing in the world.

Migrants were often pushed out of their areas towards Rio de Janeiro, especially from rural areas and small towns. Farming was difficult with very little pay for the effort involved. There were few opportunities.

Many rural areas struggled with either famine or drought so many farmers were keen to sell their farms and move into the big city to access better services and a better life for their families.

Newcomers to the city as it grew in the late 1800s did not have enough money to buy their own land and so were forced to live in squatter settlements. Many of these eventually developed into favelas, and people built temporary houses. Over time, temporary houses in some areas were improved. Most recent newcomers are forced to set up new informal housing at the edge of this enormous city.