Urban Settlements And Urbanisation Flashcards
(24 cards)
Urbanization
Increase in proportion of people living in cities
Burgess model
Towns grow outwards from the CBD in a concentric pattern so the youngest buildings are at the edge of the town
Hoyt model
Transport routes cause settlements to grow in sectors.
If industry begins in one part of town, newer industries will also locate there
Land value away from CBD
Decreases
Available space away from CBD
Increases
Wealth away from CBD
Increases
Poorest near CBD
Accessibility away from CBD
Decreases
Height of buildings away from CBD
Decreases
Structure of British cities
CBD
inner city - high density, low cost terraced housing. Semi skilled workers.
Suburbia - well planned, semi detached privately owned houses occupied by white collar workers.
Rural-urban fringe - mixture of housing types at end of city
Transport in Urban areas
Car ownership high in MEDCs
Traffic congestion increased due to greater affluence, commuting, under-investment in public transport and increased road freight
Traffic congestion causes
Air, noise, visual pollution
Cost of sitting in jams, fuel, building/maintaining roads
Social problems like stress, asthma, danger of accidents in urban areas
Reducing traffic congestion and its problems
Exclude/ reduce traffic with car free zones, park and ride, tolls, ring roads and bypasses, pedestrianised streets
Reduce exhaust emissions with lead free fuel, catalytic converters, emissions tests, diesel bans
Improve public transport e.g trams and metros
Urban shopping hierarchy
Smaller settlements offer low order
Cities offer a wider range of higher order comparison goods
Changes in shopping
Malls now located out of town on large purpose built sites where shoppers can buy everything under one roof
City centres decline and rural-urban fringe expands
CBD have pedestrianized and redeveloped to make more attractive spaces to battle these
Counter urbanization
Cities in MEDcs grew rapidly during Industrial Revolution resulting in urban sprawl
This lead to severe air pollution, overcrowding, traffic congestion, poor quality housing, crime and lack of green spaces
This resulted in people leaving the cities to nearby towns and villages
Re-urbanization
Cities showing a reversal of counter urbanization as people moved back
Environmental legislation made cities become cleaner
Many of the old inner city slums have been cleared and redeveloped (gentrification)
Quality of city life has improved
Urbanization in LEDCs
Lower percentages of urban population (lower than 70%)
Rural to urban migration due to rural push and urban pull factors
Most migrants moving to the city have no money or job and are unable to rent or buy a house
Forced to make temporary shelter, using waste materials and land that does not belong to them
As a result, the gap between rich and poor in LEDCs is much larger than in MEDCs
Push factors
Reasons people leave countryside
Lack of jobs
Land pressure
Overpopulation
Starvation
Limited food production due to soil erosion/exhaustion
Mechanization leads to unemployment
Natural disasters
Wars
Pull factors
Better paid jobs
Better quality of life
Better services
Reliable food source
Attraction of ‘bright lights’
Housing structure in LEDC cities
CBD surrounded by high quality expensive flats, low density houses with large gardens occupied by the rich with maids and small families w children
Poor housing at edge of city where squatters make illegal shelters from scrap materials on hillsides or marsh land, unsuitable for development
Problems with shanty towns/favelas
Tend to have high unemployment
Little to no education
Extreme poverty
Solving problems with favelas/ shanty towns
Jailing or evicting them is not a solution bc they will build a settlement elsewhere
Introduce self help schemes
Small loans for people for people to build their own homes
Supply small plots of land
Government free up money to supply water and electricity
Improving conditions in rural areas
Effects of Urbanization
Air pollution from traffic, homes, power stations and industries
Smog creates breathing disorders such as asthma
Acid rain due to air pollution
Water pollution through release of toxic waste from industry and sewage from homes
Increased waste and litter
Visual and noise pollution
Destruction of habitats - endangerment or extinction
Why are effects of pollution worse in LEDCs
Tends to be less environmental legislation and fewer resources to dispose of waste safely and respinsibly
