This in turn drew more workers (Hassan 2004). The result is that Kuala Lumpur has added millions to its population and enjoys a far greater average annual income than does rural Malaysia. Indeed, Harris-Todaro also helps to explain urban-urban migration in Malaysia. As Kuala Lumpur has grown to be the country's primate city, it has captured migration from smaller urban areas, including the region's former primate cities such as Melaka and Georgetown. Compact development for a sustainable city is generally possible when a long-term strategy is put into place. Typically, this will also involve a slower pace of rural-urban migration, so that the city will have the resources to handle the new migrants. Curitiba, Brazil is a city that has long had a sustainable development plan. By designing a city that encourages compact development, including dense and integrated transit networks, urban sprawl is contained. Compact development typically emerges as a deliberate policy, in Curitiba's case this policy has been a work in progress for several decades.

Compact development refers to a city plan that emphasizes a smaller city with a high density core and limited suburban sprawl. In the case of Curitiba, this plan was implemented in the 1960s and has continued to this day. The city has envisioned trip patterns that are shorter than most other cities, such that residents can live and work in the same spaces without the need for long commutes. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions and allows for a more livable urban environment (Magalhaes & Ortiz, 2009). This type of planning integrates both economic growth and population growth, rather than emphasizing...

The transit system functions well and over 70% of the city's population uses it (Kotkin, 2009). There is a city-funded library system for the poorer residents, which allows for organic economic improvement. That said, Curitiba also benefits from the fact that it is not a primate city and therefore does not attract the millions of migrants that Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro attract. This helps the city to manage its growth much better than in those other cities.
Works Cited:

Hassan, a. (2004). Growth, structural change and regional inequality in Malaysia. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.

Kotkin, J. (2009). The world's smartest cities. Forbes. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/03/infrastructure-economy-urban-opinions-columnists-smart-cities-09-joel-kotkin.html

Magalhaes, F. & Ortiz, M. (2009). Low carbon cities: Curitiba and Brasilia. 45th ISOCARP Congress 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/1492.pdf

Misilu, M.; Nsokimieno, E.; Chen, S.; Zhang, L. (2010). Sustainable urbanization's challenge in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of Sustainable Development. Vol. 3 (2).

Riadh, B. (no date) Rural-urban migration: On the Harris-Todaro model. CEIE. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from http://www.arab-api.org/cv/riyadh-cv/pdf/Riadh3.pdf

US Library of Congress. (no date). Urbanization. Country Studies.us. Retrieved November 23, 2010 from http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/33.htm