Urban Environments Flashcards
(48 cards)
Key ideas 1 and 2
A growing percentage of the world’s population lives in urban areas.
Cities face a range of environmental challenges resulting from rapid growth and resource demands.
Define sustainable
A term used to describe actions that minimise negative impacts on the environment, promote human well-being and don’t compromise the needs of future generations while meeting the needs of today’s population.
What are the characteristics of rural areas? (Categorise them, too)
Low pollution rates (environmental)
Low population (social)
Less densely populated (social)
Large open spaces (environmental)
Primary industries (economic)
Less and lower-rise buildings (social and environmental)
More vegetation (environmental)
Less dense infrastructure (environmental)
Calm (social)
Farming industry (environmental and economic)
What are the characteristics of urban areas? (Categorise them too)
Many high rise buildings to save as much space as possible but still have working/living space (environmental and social)
Higher pollution rates (environmental)
More densely populated (social)
Busy (social)
Dense infrastructure (environmental)
High accessibility due to much transport to allow people to commute in and out (social and economic (if commuting for work))
Industrial work (economic)
Secondary and tertiary industries (economic)
High population (social)
Define urbanisation
Urbanisation is an increasing number of people of a country’s population living in an urban area.
Why does urbanisation occur? (Factors affecting urbanisation)
More/better education
More/better services (hospitals, schools, shops)
More people —> higher sociability and more people to interact with within the community
Entertainment (more to do and activities)
More/better job opportunities (bigger tourist industry, higher wages, more job types and variation which ranges from high to low skill. Also, mechanisation in rural areas displaces rural jobs)
Higher Quality of Living
Higher accessibility (better transport connectivity, connecting cities to other cities)
More access to culture (different cultures living in such close proximity also decreases prejudice, xenophobia etc in urban areas)
More/better housing (MODERN)- connections to amenities (such as gas, electricity and water. However, it may make the city overcrowded)
Natural increase (childbirth due to reproduction with8n the urban environment)
What are the factors affecting urbanisation called?
These are known as push and pull factors, and lead to the migration of people from rural to urban areas. It is expected that by 2080, 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas.
What are the factors which affect the growth and development of megacities?
Economic development: the economic growth that drives urbanisation. When the speed of growth in secondary and tertiary sectors is fast, so is urbanisation.
Population growth: economic growth needs an increasing supply of labour. The labour can be made by:
- A natural increase in urban population
- Rural-Urban migration.
Multiplier effect:
when a large city is prospering, it gathers a momentum which leads to more wealth. There are more jobs, so more people move into the city, so more people need goods and services. This creates more jobs and the cycle continues.
Economies of scale:
The more buildings that are crammed together, the easier it is to get from place to place with cheaper transport costs.
What are the urban processes?
Time Increasing level of development
————————————————————————>
Agglomeration, Suburbanisation, Commuting, Urban regeneration, Counter-urbanisation, Urban re-imaging, Urbanisation of suburbs
What is agglomeration?
The starting point: people moving to areas for their favourability and resources.
What is suburbanisation?
People moving to the suburbs as the city has become too busy, and expands outwards.
What is commuting?
People moving to quieter, more rural areas but still travelling to work and getting resources in the city.
What is urban regeneration?
Re-using areas in old, abandoned parts of cities.
What is counter-urbanisation?
People moving to rural areas instead of urban ones.
What is the urbanisation of suburbs?
Suburbs becoming more developed and built up to accommodate more people and become urban areas.
What are the issues associated with the rapid development of megacities?
- Megacities can grow at the expense of other smaller urban areas, creating a CORE and a PERIPHERY. They tend to ‘absorb’ all of the governmental undated of the country, as there is more investment in the CORE (megacity).
- Overcrowding.
- Lack of housing.
- Pressure/stress on resources eg. Water.
- Lack of services eg. Hospitals, schools etc.
- Increase in conflict (religious, political etc).
- Increase in crime rates.
- More pollution.
- Large numbers of unemployed- too few jobs to support whole population.
- Disease can spread faster.
- More traffic congestion, especially in the CBD.
Define Shanty Town
A shanty town, or squatter settlement, is an informal, unplanned settlement of improvised housing which is generally poorly built of materials such as corrugated iron sheets (or other metal sheets) and sheets of plastic, materials that are easily found.
They are a feature of rapidly growing urban areas all around the world, but especially in emerging and less developed countries.
What are the main characteristics of shanty towns?
- Overcrowding, densely populated - diseases spread very quickly.
- Poor quality buildings built themselves.
- Poverty.
- Dirty, no green spaces.
- Few services (limited clean water, no electricity etc).
- Air and water pollution.
- Free-roaming animals and livestock.
- Dangerous.
Where and why are shanty towns found?
Shanty towns are usually found on the periphery (edge) of large urban areas, mostly in developing or emerging countries. They are often found on marginal land (land that has no other purpose or is dangerous eg. Near railway tracks, marshy areas or dump sites).
Give an example of a shanty town
Agbogbloshie in Ghana.
One of the world’s most polluted countries and toxic shanty towns.
Built next to an extremely toxic waste dump as most technology is dumped there, therefore people living in the shanty go there to pick up valuable metals and other materials to use and recycle.
What are the names of shanty towns around the world?
Favelas in Brazil. Bustees in the Indian Subcontinent. Barriadas in Latin America. Bidonvilles in North Africa. (Townships in the country of South Africa, created by the apartheid (division of black and white people with the white being prioritised)).
What is the informal sector?
This comprises types of work that are not officially recognised; informal work is done by people working for themselves on the streets of cities, mainly in developing countries (in their shanty towns).
Give an example of the informal sector and it’s advantages and disadvantages.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Advantages and benefits of the informal sector:
- Provides a wide range of services and cheap cheap goods which would otherwise be unattainable.
- Provides a means of survival for the poor.
- Decreases crime rates (people don’t have to steal to survive).
Disadvantages and costs of the informal sector:
- On the long term, because the pay for these informal activities is so low, it does nothing to help people break out of their cycle of poverty.
- There are no healthcare or unemployment benefits.
- It creates a much higher risk of work-related health problems.
- It is illegal.
- It may cause discrimination from outside the shanty town and within the shanty’s hierarchy of employment.
- Forces children to work and therefore not having the education that they deserve and need to break out of the ‘cycle of poverty’.
- Causes a much higher death rate, and people die at a much younger average age.
- There is more pollution (especially water and air) - environmental issues.
Why is there rapid urbanisation in LICs?
Rural-urban migration for more jobs with higher pay and varying levels of skill.
Technological advancements in rural areas take over jobs.
Education is better and more accessible.
Higher birth rates: natural increase.
