Urban Futures Flashcards
(12 cards)
Urbanisation
The rising percentage of people living in urban areas, compared to rural areas
Megacity and World city definitions
Megacity: an urban area with >10 million people
World city: an urban area exerting huge influences across the globe, and critical hubs in the global economy
Natural increase
B-D
Births minus Deaths
Changes in distribution of megacities/world cities since 20th century
- Megacities increased from 4 in 1970 to 33 in 2018, largest growth seen in Asia
- Thought that by 2050, 2/3rds of world population will live in urban areas
- 4 world cities in southern hemisphere, 27 in northern hemisphere
Urban trends across the world for different countries (acs/edcs/lidcs)
ACs - Slow rate of urban growth, due to many people being pushed away from overcrowded cities towards rural settlements
EDCs - Rapid rate of urban growth, as there is high investment into key trade hub cities from TNCs and govts, e.g Lagos, Shanghai, Mumbai
LIDCs - Fastest rate of urban growth, due to most new economic development being concentrated in big cities, and high levels of natural increase in urban areas, with Asia expected to contribute to 60% of global growth by 2030
Causes of rapid urbanisation in LIDCs
- Mass rural-urban migration due to population growth and lack of resources in rural areas
- City has huge opportunities compared to rural areas, good pull factors
- Natural increase, as infant mortality reduces due to improved healthcare in cities
Rural push factors
- Jobs
- Inaccessibility
- Low food security
- Poor services
- Manual labour
- Conflict
Urban pull factors
- Jobs
- Stable food security
- Good services
- Good transport links
- Prepared for natural hazards
- Protection from conflicts
- Quality of life
- Leisure facilities
Consequences of rapid urbanisation in LIDCs (social, economic, environmental)
Social - dangerous cities; social divisions; high housing demand; informal settlements; high cost of living; demand for jobs
Economic - high investments needed for infrastructure, water, jobs, housing, etc
Environmental - more people leads to more air and water pollution
Suburbanisation - causes and consequences
- The spread of cities outwards and the development of new residential areas
- Causes: congestion in the inner city; deindustrialisation as many factories close; great transport links means easy access to city; lower house prices, taxes, everything; safer environment
- Consequences: inner city declines; long commutes to city centre; large demand on resources especially water; more air pollution from traffic
Counter-urbanisation - causes and consequences
- The movement of people from urban to rural areas, particularly to where people had originally moved from to the city
- Causes: congestion in city; perceived better quality of life in rural areas; much lower house prices; safer and cheaper areas; less pollution; businesses are relocating to rural areas; working from home is possible
- Consequences: rural house prices increase; local pubs and services thrive; community spirit lost; pollution increase; more traffic so more accidents; increased train usage so increased train prices
Re-urbanisation - causes and consequences
- The redevelopment of inner urban areas creating new homes and jobs, attracting people from outside the area to move in
- Causes: wealthier people move into the area, and can afford to improve housing; govt invests in run-down areas e.g Canary Wharf/O2 area
- Consequences: new businesses open, house prices rise, poorer people pushed out, huge wealth gap, crime rate increased, taller buildings so more crowding
