Changing cities Flashcards
What are the 2 reasons why cities grow so rapidly?
Natural increase
(or decrease) - this is the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths.
Migration - this is the movement of people into or out of the city.
What is a conurbation?
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area.
What is rural to urban migration?
The movement of people from the countryside to the city.
What are push and pull factors and give examples
Push factors are things that make people want to leave rural areas and pull factors are the things that attract people to a city.
Push factors:
unemployment
lower wages
crop failure
poor living conditions
poor health and education services
few facilities
natural disasters
civil war
Pull factors:
more jobs
higher wages
better living conditions
better education and health services
better facilities
less chance of natural disasters
What is the site of birmingham?
Birmingham was established on a dry point site, on a raised plateau overlooking the Rea River’s fording (crossing) point. This location provided the first settlers with a water source, and the intersecting paths offered access to local resources such as timber, iron, and coal. During the 18th century, Birmingham functioned as a market town, overshadowed by nearby county towns, including Stafford, Worcester, and Warwick. The primary route to London from the northwest crossed the Midlands via Lichfield and Coventry, bypassing Birmingham.
Birmingham fostered its unique industries, specifically jewellery, firearms production, and brass trades. Before constructing canals to transport bulky goods, these industries required skilled labour but minimal raw materials to manufacture high-quality products.
Starting from the 1830s, Birmingham experienced rapid expansion as industries and workers migrated to the city. Its central position on the Birmingham plateau became critical to transforming into a significant city.
What is the situation of birmingham?
Birmingham, a city in the West Midlands, enjoys a central position within England, extending along most of the Welsh border. Nestled in the heart of the West Midlands, Birmingham lies south of Telford, east of Wolverhampton, and west of Coventry and Leicester. With a population of 1,144,900 at the last census (2021), it ranks as the second most populous city in the United Kingdom, trailing only London.
Why does birmingham hold natural importance?
It is the most centrally located city in the UK.
It serves as the terminal for routes from London to the Midlands.
The M1, the first motorway built in the UK, linked London and Birmingham in 1959. The forthcoming High Speed 2 train route will further enhance this connection.
Birmingham is a key link between the North West (Manchester and Liverpool) and the North East (Leeds and Newcastle) with London and the South East.
Birmingham Airport offers direct connections to roughly 150 domestic and international destinations.
The city connects routes from the South West (Cornwall, Devon) with those from the North West and North East.
How is birmingham structured?
Birmingham has a Central Business District (CBD). This area primarily comprises department stores, speciality and variety goods retailers, offices, banks, theatres, and hotels
The CBD forms the city’s heart and centre for local government. Due to recent redevelopment initiatives, most structures in the CBD, such as the Bull Ring shopping centre, are relatively new. The environment within the CBD is of high quality, featuring patches of open green spaces. The expensive land prices have led to high building density, with structures situated closely together. Buildings here are taller than in other parts of the city as it is cheaper to build upwards than outwards.
Surrounding the CBD are the inner city areas, many of which were initially constructed in the 19th century and later redeveloped in the 1970s under Comprehensive Development Areas (CDAs) schemes. Tower block flats or high-density terraces characterise these areas. There’s a scarcity of shops and factories, a few churches, and minimal green spaces.
Some redevelopment has occurred in the inner city, such as Brindley Place – canal side. There are also derelict factories due to deindustrialisation and decentralisation.
Beyond the inner city lie the suburbs, which encompass a significant portion of the city’s area.
While some suburbs originated in the 19th century, most developed between the 1930s and 1960s. Some serve as council housing centres (many of which have been privately acquired), while others were established as private estates (owner-occupied). Here, the building density is lower, and the predominant land use is housing, interspersed with a few shops and ample high-quality green spaces.
What are the 4 different types of urbanisation in Birmingham.
Urbanisation 18th and 19th century: the growth of the city due to the industrial revolutions and increased number of workers migrating to work in the factories.
Suburbanisation 1930s: Many semi detached housing and council housing built to house the population of the city while still maintain green space to keep the environmental quality.
Counter urbanisation 1970s: People were abandoning the city in favour of places more rural. People moved to live in towns such as Redditch. This was also due to the demolition of old factories and
terraced housing.
Reurbanisation post 1990s: More people want to live near the City Centre as it contains a lot of amenities. New apartment blocks are constructed and old factories converted to housing and shopping centres such as the Mailbox.
Why people migrate nationally to birmingham.
Education and Search for better jobs.W
Why people migrate internationally to birmingham?
Flee from conflict, better standards of living and jobs, shortages of workers.
What are the opportunities of Birmingham?
Social - ethnic and
cultural diversity
allows people to experience different religions and foods. The Balti Triangle is an area of Birmingham famous for its restaurants and curry houses. St Paul’s Square is a popular venue for live music. The Birmingham Royal Ballet and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra help to create a culturally-rich city. The city also has five universities, which cater for over 80,000 higher education students.
Economic - the Bullring shopping centre includes 140 shops generating employment and income for the local economy. Brindley Place is a city centre development which includes bars, retail, offices and entertainment facilities and which generates a large income.
Environmental - canals in Birmingham have been cleaned up. The towpaths have been upgraded to encourage people to walk and cycle along the canals in the city. Birmingham also has over 8,000 acres of green space and is home to Sutton Park, which is one of Europe’s largest urban parks. To reduce pollution, traffic has been managed by creating a park and ride scheme, encouraging the use of buses and the Birmingham Metro tramline.
What are challenges for Birmingham?
Social and economic challenges:
Urban decline - Birmingham used to have a large
manufacturing industry
. Due to competition from abroad, most of Birmingham’s manufacturing industry has now gone. This has led to urban decline as manufacturing buildings were left empty and became derelict.
Deprivation
- with the closure of the manufacturing industry and high unemployment, parts of Birmingham experienced a spiral of social and economic decline leading to deprivation.
Inequalities in housing - Birmingham’s high population has resulted in pressures on housing. There is not enough good quality and affordable housing for people in the city.
Education - the quality of education was particularly poor in
inner city
areas such as Aston. Aston is an area of deprivation with an ethnically diverse community where many children struggled to access and succeed in education.
Health - in Aston, people with poorer English language skills found it difficult to access healthcare facilities.
Unemployment - the closure of factories in the manufacturing industry led to high unemployment.
Environmental challenges:
Dereliction - derelict buildings from the manufacturing industry are common in inner city areas.
Building on
greenfield sites
- this results in the loss of more green space and may make
urban sprawl
worse. However building on
brownfield sites
- this will improve a derelict site as the space is reused for a new development.
Waste disposal - a large urban population produces a lot of household and commercial waste which creates challenges for how to manage and dispose of this waste.
Atmospheric pollution - with more people in a city, there are more vehicles on the road, leading to atmospheric pollution.
What are the factors to the decline of Birmingham’s inner city?
Insufficient room for expansion.
Deteriorating and outdated structures.
Derelict and unappealing environments, leading new businesses to favour the rural-urban fringe over the inner city.
A congested road network, ill-equipped for modern vehicular traffic.
An abundance of ageing 19th-century metalworking industries reflects a national downward trend.
Global competition is causing Birmingham’s traditional industries to suffer due to less expensive imports.
Factory closures and rising unemployment rates resulted in fewer customers for local shops, leading to their eventual closure as trade diminished.
What 4 processes caused de-industrialisation in Birmingham?
Globalisation- When cities become part of the world market then Birmingham suffered greatly competing its car industry to the industry in countries like Japan.
Decentralisation-The process of decentralisation in Birmingham started when stores and shopping centres began emerging in the city’s suburbs or rural-urban fringe regions like the Black Country. Starting in 1984, the Merry Hill centre was developed in Dudley, on the site of an old steel works. Factories also closed or moved out of the city forcing people to move elsewhere.
Technological advancements-Birmingham’s old factories could not integrate new technology making manufacturing slow and expensive forcing some factories out of business.
Transport Development- The building of the Inner Ring Road demolished many factories and gave a way for people to escape Birmingham.
