The urbanization process has a beginning and an end. Its characteristics include:
i High rate of natural population increase
ii An accelerated movement of rural population to urban centers
iii Immigration to urban centers from other states.
In short, the urbanization process denotes an increase in the proportion of the urban population, or those people who want to be part of the urban lifestyle.
In Kerala, urbanization is not a recent phenomenon and the level of urbanization is rather low. The process of urbanization has just started in some lesser-known towns. Here, it is an aftereffect of the economic, social, migrating pattern of the migrants and is effected by political changes.
However, the process of urbanization is not only desirable but also essential for economic growth and social change. It will certainly accelerate economic development in the southern state. Thus, the process of economic growth of the state has just begun. It will lead to a further rise in the level of urbanization in the state.
When considering the proliferation of apartments and Homes Kerala is now vying with the other prominent destinations like Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Ever since the family planning programmes were given more emphasis and got implemented, there was a significant decrease in the overall population. However, in such a situation the demand for houses would have declined. The present demand for houses, properties and even apartments is mostly due to the emergence of the ‘real estate investment concept’. In some prominent parts of Kerala, real estate investments were seen to double or even triple within a year.
