Urban vs Rural

As per National Geographic, an urban area is the region surrounding a city. Most inhabitants of urban areas have non-agricultural jobs. Urban areas are very developed, meaning there is a density of human structures such as houses, commercial buildings, roads, bridges, and railways.

“Urban area” can refer to towns, cities, and suburbs. An urban area includes the city itself, as well as the surrounding areas. Many urban areas are called metropolitan areas, or “greater,” as in Greater New York or Greater London.

As per National Geographic, a rural area is an open swath of land that has few homes or other buildings, and not very many people.

I was born in the city- of Bareilly and completed my higher secondary education there, went to Delhi to do my bachelor’s, and now doing my master’s in Newcastle Upon Tyne. I have been to many villages as well in India with my parents for vacations or to meet their childhood friends.

I remember my first visit to Sirsa village nearer to Pilibhit city, around 56 km from my home town. I found a different aura in Sirsa in comparison to cities. Being in the village was like “Heaven on earth”. I found some huge differences in Villages in comparison to the cities I have visited.

Figure 1: House in a village (left); Tall building in a city (right)

Infrastructure

Urban areas are the areas that are full of skyscrapers that are made up of glass panels, bricks, concrete, and steel. A large population of cities forces cities to build upwards because expanding space horizontally on the ground level is no longer an option. People’s lifestyles differ greatly along with this disparity in building form and shape. Offices, as well as spaces for living, are getting smaller day by day.

The houses in the villages have large areas with courtyards in the center. Scattered amongst fields of wheat and sugar cane. The houses in the villages are mostly traditional and are only one or two stories high.

Social Life

In urban areas, people find establishing friendships with their neighbors very difficult. They either are living inside one of the small blocks in skyscrapers or fasten their pace on the street, keeping their heads down to avoid eye contact with strangers. A sense of indifference permeated every corner of the city. Some people appreciate this indifference as a “polite, appropriate distance for respecting personal space;” others might criticize it for “the city has corrupted the benign essence of human beings” because people raise their vigilance out of distrust of one another.

Figure 2: Marketplace in a city (left); Women’s sitting together and about their daily life (right)

Most people in the city are restricted to the virtual world of social networking sites like- Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc. Even they don’t know who lives beside them. People hardly have any time for themselves in the city. Parties, occasions, and holidays are the only events where people get to meet their loved ones and relatives.

In villages, you leave your key to your neighbors and let them watch your dog, while in a big city, you have to check your door lock all the time, and even then, thieves steal things from the house. People in villages, come in contact and talk to each other directly. No one can remain a stranger in the villages and due to constant communication and interaction with a small population everyone knows each other by their names and profession.

Character

In urban areas, all you find are grey and black roads, huge built masses made up of glass, concrete, bricks, neon lights, and little green adjusted between the building blocks. People hustle over the speed of light for money and work rather than enjoying their lives.

Figure 3: View of a city with dense concrete buildings (left); View of a village open green fields with few scattered building blocks (right)

As we all know, we are part of nature, not nature is part of us. In rural areas, you will find Huge green fields, trees, and farmlands in which houses are made. People come together in those green fields play games, grab fruits from trees, eat and enjoy their life. Also, you will find, peace to the senses and picturesque views.

Pollution

An urban area is characterized by various kinds of pollution such as noise, visual, water, land, and air. This is because there are several factories, industries, and mills which release toxic chemicals through the air and water in gaseous and liquid forms. There is also a lack of trees which absorb all that pollution and clean the air. Even you need water purifiers to drink water.

On the other side, villages are endowed with pure air bare of pollution. You can drink fresh water directly from rivers. Also, there is no visual or noise pollution in villages.

Health

In urban areas people are less healthy (physically and mentally) in comparison to rural areas because life in cities is fast, people took the stress of their daily life and also eat packed food that contains preservatives that are not good for health. People use public transport or their private vehicle to travel from one place to another which makes them lazy.

Figure 4: Women taking stress at her job in city (left); Womens enjoying together without any burden (right)

While in rural areas, people are very relaxed they don’t take stressed as their lives are easy, and not have any burden of money, work, or home. People here consume fresh food which they grow on their farms and also to move from one place to another they use to walk which makes them active and healthy.

Daily Schedule

In urban areas, most people have no schedule in their daily life. Sometimes they wake up early in the morning sometimes not. They don’t even do breakfasts or lunches. Shops, pubs, bars, restaurants, malls, and cinema halls in major cities close quite late, usually after 10’ o clock. Restaurants usually close at midnight, or even later.

People living in rural areas get up early in the morning before sunrise and rest around 10. They do prayers in the morning, have food with their family then go to work. They even come home in the afternoon for lunch as mostly do farming and their farmlands are close to their homes.

Transportation

One of the main features of the city is the transportation facilities. Most city dwellers have their own private transport, like a bike, scooter, or car. There is also a number of choices in public transport, like metros, railways, cab services, buses, and even auto-rickshaws. Recently, all across the globe, carpooling has also become one of the most renowned options for transportation in the city.

In villages, bullock carts, horse carts, bicycles or walking are the main means of transportation. Long-distance travel is covered by government-issued buses and rails. Complex underground systems are not required, and certainly, no viaducts and highways are built every ten steps. Streets are almost empty, even during peak hours.

We, designers, are the guardians of mother earth. We need to think of these differences which cities have in comparison to village life.

“A village is a hive of glass, where nothing unobserved can pass.”- Charles Spurgeon

“I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.”- Julius Caesar