3.2 Urban trends and issues of urbanisation

Question 1

Define sphere of Influence

Answer 1

The distance or area people travel from to access a service

Question 2

Define threshold population

Answer 2

The minimum amount of people required for a service to be offered and remain open.

Question 3

Define comparison and convenience goods

Answer 3

• High Order Goods (Comparison): Goods that people buy less frequently. They tend to be more expensive and people will normally compare quality and price before purchasing e.g. a TV, car or holiday.
• Low Order Goods (Convenience): Goods that people buy every day. They don’t usually cost much money and people would not normally travel far to buy them e.g. bread and milk.

Question 4

Define urbanisation

Answer 4

Urbanisation is the increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities

Question 5

Define suburbanisation

Answer 5

the outward growth of urban development which may engulf surrounding villages and towns into a larger urban agglomeration

Question 6

Define urban growth

Answer 6

The absolute increase in physical size and total population of urban areas

Question 7

Difference between urbanisation and urban growth

Answer 7

• Urbanisation is the increase in the proportion of people living in cities
• Urban growth is the when the cities are growing in the size and population size

Question 8

Define counterurbanistion

Answer 8

when large numbers of people move from urban areas into surrounding countryside or rural areas

Question 9

Define reurbanisation

Answer 9

After a period of decline,the population of a city begins to increase again

Question 10

Cycle of urbanisation

Answer 10

• Compromises the stages of urban change
• Urbanisation -> Suburbanisation -> Counterurbanisation ->Reurbanisation

Question 11

Issues with urbanisation

Answer 11

• Congestion (an increase in the amount of traffic leading to traffic jams)
• Destruction of greenfield sites
• Pollutions (air, water, noise, visual)
• Electricity blackouts
• Water shortages
• Unemployment
• Homelessness
• Growth of informal settlements
• Crime
• Imbalance between urban and rural population
• Core periphery

Question 12

Define land use zoning

Answer 12

A mapping exercise by local government which decides how land should be used in the various parts of the of the city

Question 13

Define urban decay

Answer 13

The process by which an urban area becomes economically depressed and through this environmentally derelict.

Question 14

Competiton for land in urban area

Answer 14

• The best measures for competition are the land price and the costs of rents
• However, planning measures such as land use zoning complicate the free market process
• Some areas are derelict for a long period because it is unattractive for both residential and business purpose and may require governement substantial investment to be back in active use

Question 15

Define urban redevelopment

Answer 15

the complete clearance of existing buildings and site infrastructure and construction of new buildings, often for a different purpose, from scratch.

Question 16

Define urban renewal

Answer 16

keeping the best elements of the existing urban environment and adapting them to new usages.

Question 17

Define urban regeneration

Answer 17

improve an urban area in decline with a mixture of urban redevelopment and urban renewal

Question 18

Define cumulative causation

Answer 18

The process whereby impulses for economic growth are self-reinforcing, resulting in an upward spiral of economic development

Question 19

Define filtering

Answer 19

Occurs as housing deteriorates and it moves downwards through the social groups

Question 20

Define gentrification

Answer 20

Process in which wealthier people move into, renovate and restore run-down housing in an inner city or other neglected area

Question 21

Why does gentrification occur?

Answer 21

An area which was once a low -income area can become fashionable through gentrification normally because it has certain features which draw higher social groups towards it. e.g. an attractive park, larger than average housing, close proximity to a railway station or the city centre

Question 22

Effects of gentrification

Answer 22

– House prices rise as demand rises for them

– Many derelict or deteriorating housing is renovated

– Trendier shops and restaurants open in the area

– Working classes are displaced by middle classes as house prices become too high

– A change in housing tenure from renting to owning

Question 23

Issues with gentrification

Answer 23

– Lower classes feel pushed out by middle classes

– House prices are too expensive for low income groups to afford

– Often ethnic minorities in lower income groups are dispersed from the area and the area becomes “white middle class

Question 24

Define accessibility

Answer 24

Refers to the relative ease with which a place can be reached from other locations. Accesibility increases due to the increase in car ownership

Question 25

Reasons for increase in car ownership

Answer 25

• Rising incomes
• High cost and low quality of public transportation
• Decentralisation and suburbanisation which has resulted in people living further from their places of work

Question 26

Effects of the increase in car ownership

Answer 26

• Quality of the environment deteriorates
• Population increase along with car usage outstrips investment in urban infrastructure
• Economic costs of pollution
• Aesthetics issues that have adverse effects on tourism industry

Question 27

Define global/world city

Answer 27

A city that is judged to be an important nodal point in the global economic system. Are defined by influence rather than size

Question 28

Define mega/millionaire city

Answer 28

A city with more than 1 million inhabitants. Are defined by size rather than influence

Question 29

Reasons for the growth of global cities

Answer 29

• Globalisation has deepened => more aware of opportunities in other cities
• Development in transport nodesin global trading system
• Demographic trends - significant rate of natural increase and in-migration. Large population clusters offer potential in terms of workforce and markets
• Many global cities are capital cities benefitting from high levels of investment and infrastructure

Question 30

How are global cities being ranked?

Answer 30

Measures over five areas:

• Business activity
• Human capital
• Information exchange
• Cultural experience
• Political engagement