Answer :
Final answer:
Urban development is not a natural process free from human influence but is significantly shaped by human actions, decisions, and socio-economic factors.
Explanation:
The statement that urban development is a natural process unencumbered by human interference is false. Urban development is strongly influenced by human actions, decisions, and policies. The book “The Assassination of New York,” by Robert Fitch, illustrates the role of human agency in urban growth.
Urban sprawl is a phenomenon of urban growth that involves expansion into rural lands, often leading to high dependence on automobiles and segregated land use. As opposed to natural processes, urban development is significantly impacted by socio-economic factors, political agendas, technological advancements, environmental constraints, and collective action of interest groups, as conjectured by the growth machine theory. City growth can be well-organized, following specific urban development theories like the Concentric Zone hypothesis or the Multiple Nuclei Theory, or it can be haphazard, resulting in uncontrolled sprawl.
It is understood that urbanization occurs due to efforts that minimize commuting time and costs while maximizing opportunities for jobs, housing, and entertainment. The dynamic nature of cities and their development can be likened to ecosystems, where subgroups within a city are interdependent just as species are within an ecological community.
