Changing Urban Environments Flashcards
Define ‘urbanisation’.
Rural areas becoming towns/cities.
State 6 Push factors for rural to urban migration
- Mechanisation of agriculture [economic]
- Lack of transport links [social/economic]- Poor pay/ lack of career opportunities [economic]
- Access to clean water + fresh food [social]
- Fleeing from conflict/ persecution [political/social]
- Isolation [social]
- Environmental reasons (e.g. flooding, forests being chopped down, mining) [environmental]
State 11 pull factors for rural to urban migration
- More jobs/ economic opportunities [economic]
- Better healthcare, education, social services etc. [social]
- Bright Lights Syndrome [social/economic]
- Better standard of living [social/economic]
- Greater equality [social]- Improved communication [social]
- Transport links [social/economic]
- Better quality housing (in some areas) [social/environmental]- Improved infrastructure [social]
- More sites available for development [economic/environmental]
- Increased access to raw materials [economic/environmental]
What are the 4 areas of the Burgess model?
- Central Bussiness District (CBD)
- Inner City
- Suburbs
- Rural-Urban Fringe.
What does ‘CBD’ stand for?
Central Business District.
Describe Zone A of the Burgess Model. (I.e. Give an example + describe land use)
CBD
Example: Broadmead/Cabbot Circus
- Shopping (large chain stores)
- Cinemas, clubs, restaurants
- Business headquarters
- Offices
- Multi-storey carparks
Describe Zone B of the Burgess Model. (I.e. Give an example + describe land use)
Inner City
Example: Stokes Croft/Harbourside
- Small shops (corner shops)
- Small cafes + restaurants
- Housing (terraced)
- Brownfield sites + abandoned buildings
Describe Zone C of the Burgess Model. (I.e. Give an example + describe land use)
Suburbs
Bemmie/Southville/Knowle/Clifton/Totterdown
- Large semi-detached family houses
- Corner shops- Schools
- Parks/gardens
- Small, local trainstations
- High street shops
Describe Zone D of the Burgess Model. (I.e. Give an example + describe land use)
Rural-Urban Fringe
Abbots Leigh/Long Ashton/Pill
- Woodlands + fields (sometimes farmland)
- Large parks
- Small villages
- Housing often large + detached
- Small, local businesses
What are the 5 key issues for people living in urban areas in richer parts of the world?
- Housing
- Inner City Decline
- Traffic
- Decentralisation + CBD Decline
- Multiculturalism + segregation
Why is the demand for housing increasing?
- People living longer + occupying houses for longer (ageing population)
- Divorce rates increasing + people marrying later (smaller household + more of them)
- Lack of space but people want more
- UK pop has increased by 7% since 1971. In 2021, population of ENGLAND will be 52.5 million.
Define ‘gentrification’.
Wealthier residents moving in + ‘raising standards’ by spending money + investing money into local economy. Encourages others to do the same.
What can be do to solve the housing crisis?
- Split up existing housing into smaller housing (e.g. splitting up a large terraced house)
- Build more houses! Preferably smaller ones.
- Build on brownfield or greenfield sites
What are the advantages of building on brownfield land?
- Existing utilities e.g. water pipelines
- Already connected to infrastructure through roads etc.
- Commuting quicker
- Easier to get planning permission
- No other use
- Can help regenerate deprived areas
- Access to central shops + faccilities in Inner City + CBD
What are the advantages of building on greenfield land?
- No restrictions regarding exisiting road network/infrastructure
- No demolision required
- More pleasant - in the countryside
- More room, especially for family housing + gardens
- Cheaper to purchase, so more profit + plots can be larger
What are the disadvtanges of building on greenfield land?
- Can destroy wildlife habitat
- Harder to get planning permission
- Longer commute
- Can put pressure on smaller local shops
- No exisiting utlities
- Lots of opposition normally
What are the disadvantages of building on brownfield sites?
- May have to demolish existing buildings
- Infrastructure restrictions
- Less space than greenfield sites
- Area may be deprived
Describe the inner city improvements carried out by Urban Development Corporations in London
- 25,000 new homes
- New health centres
- New schools
- Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
- 2000 businesses
- 85,000 employed in area
- Area now recognised as UK’s economic heart
Describe the inner city improvements carried out in Hulme, Manchester
1970s:
- Slums demolishes, ‘cresent’ low-rise flats built
- No sense of community generated
- Led to anti-social behaviour, crime, keys given out to anyone, infested with vermin
- Not heated properly due to oil crisis
1990s - City Challenge:
- Replaced with 2/3 storey flats and family housing - 2000 new
- Hulme Arch bridge + new road infrastructure
- Regeneration of Princess Road
- Ne park + youth centre
- Birley Fields Bussiness Park
Why is traffic increasing in richer urbanised parts of the world?
- Increased demand for personal mobility
- Car ownership has skyrocketed - 27% of households have 1+ cars
Why is traffic a problem?
- Air pollution
- Noise pollution
- Buildings discoloured
- Health problems (e.g. asthma)
- Unsightly
- Reduces productivity
What are the positives and negatives of the London Congestion Zone?
- Cuts down pollution
- Persuades people to use public + alternative transport
- Reduces traffic
- Income for the city
BUT
- £8 a day - too expensive? Just a flat tax?
- Moves problem to inner suburbs
- Financially affects bussinesses + tourism
What are the positives and negatives of the Park & Ride in Bristol?
- Cheaper than CBD parking
- Reduces traffic flow
- Reduces pollution
- Encourages use of public transport
- Community cohesion
- Income for city
BUT
- Increases traffic around Park & Ride sites
- Weather - waiting for bus
- Not guaranteed a seat - not as comfy as a car journey
- Initial cost of buses
What are the positives and negatives of using alternative fuels for transport?
- Hydrogen vehicles are zero emission vehicles
BUT
- Cheapest way to produce hydrogen is still to use fossil fuels
- Lack of hydrogen fueling stations
In Bristol, the ‘Poo Bus’ is used, but only on the number 2 route
Describe the Resident’s Parking Scheme in Bristol
- Aims to ban commuters from parking in residential streets during the day in the hope of reducing congestion in the city
- Parking charges - £48 for 1st permit, £96 for 2nd, £146 for 3rd
- Runs at set times of day on certain days
Describe car sharing in Bristol as a scheme to manage traffic problems
- Designated 2+ lanes on arterial routes into Bristol
- Provides an incentive as they are less congested
- E.g. A370 from Backwell
- Fines if only 1 person in car
Why does segregation occur?
- Language barriers
- Access to places of worship
- Saftey in numbers
How does Manchester City Council combat segregation?
Works with Roma communitites through Manchester University to train them to become classroom assistants and interpreters
How does Cumbria City Council combat segregation?
Councillors are now trained in equality awareness following complaints
What is the Runnymede (London) Trust’s Race Equality Scorecard?
Project which monitors race inequality at local level across seven indications including employment and health
How is segregation dealt with in Leeds?
Free gym/sports club membership for minorities.
Encourgaes community cohesion
Describe how the redevelopment of Broadmead in Bristol helped regenerate the CBD and combat decentrilisation
- Bussiness Improvement district
- 2008, BID1 redeveloped store fronts in Broadmean
- BID2 focussed on environmental maintenance and marketing
- Increased footfall
- Cabot Circus new face of central Bristol + creation of ‘Bristol Shopping Quarter’
- Bristol Alliance - spent £500 million redeveloping CBD
Name, locate, and describe the characteristics of a squatter settlement you have studied.
Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
- 1 million people, densely populated
- 1m floor space per resident
- Outskirts of city on flood-prone land
- 80% unemployed or informal employment
- HIV/AIDS rate on of the highest in Africa
- Poor sanitary conditions + little infrastructure - low standard of living
- No running water, only 20% has electricity
Describe how the ‘DIY’ strategy has helped residents in Kibera improve their lives and living conditions
- Locals illlegally tap into mains grid to provide electricty for homes
- Over time, structure, quality, and materials of houses are improved. Flimsy plasitics + corrugated iron are replaced with wood and bricks. Primative structures made more permanent + sturdy
- Informal employment. One resident sells wheelbarrows with car tyres.
Describe how the Assisted Self Help has helped residents in Kibera improve their lives and living conditions
- Nathan Collett’s Kirbera Film School. Educated + skills up residents through practical film making. Highlight issues through films - Kibera Kid
- Andre Leenheer’s Muay Thai boxers at Coliseum Gym. Channels positive energy + learn discipline
- Local authority beginning to provide finance, sanitation, water
Describe how the international help has helped residents in Kibera improve their lives and living conditions
- Kibera UK - Gap year company. Students assist with slum upgrading + work with local people and organisations
- 2011 Comic Relief sent celebrities to live there. Reggie Yates + Lennie Henry.
Describe how the site and service/relocation has helped residents in Kibera improve their lives and living conditions
- Kenya Slum Upgrading Project (KENSUP)
- Relocation - residents moved from homes to decanting sites
- Site + Service - Slums improved/rebuilt. Connected to mains, sewers, electricity
- Residents move back in and pay a monthly rent
Describe the attempts to solve urban problems in Mexico
Problem: Air Pollution, Mexico City
- 3 million cars per day
- Industrial pollutants - rapid urbanisation/industrilisation meant laws + regulations unenforced + ingnored
- Catalytic converters
- Only odd/even plates on alloted days
- Tighter emissions testing during MOT
- Pollutant Release + Transfer Register
- Low sulphur coal
Describe the attempts to solve urban problems in Bhopal, India
Problem: Toxic Waste Disposal
- 1984 - World’s worst industrial accident. Union Carbide plant leaked MIC, killed 3000 + 50,000 permanent disabilities
- Pressure groups campaign to TNCs and gov. for safer disposal + greater regulation
- Stricter laws but not always enforced
Describe the attempts to solve urban problems in Bangalore, India
Problem: E-Waste Disposal
- Poor burn + melt electronic goods to extract valuble metals
- During this process they inhale poisonous chemicals, leading to health problems
- Small team of safety inspectors to cover entire city - inadequate
- Greenpeace campaigns against manufacturers
- EnviroPhone encourage people to use more eco-friendly alternatives
Describe the attempts to solve urban problems in Shagnhai, China
Problem: Rapid Industrialisation
- Construction industry creates 30,000 tonnes of waste per day
- 73% of city’s electricity from coal fired power stations
- CO2 emissions cause health, visiblity, and environmental problems
- 400,000 die annually
- 4 million cublic metres of human shit entrer Huangpu River per day
- Now uses low sulphur coal
Describe the attempts to solve the urban problems created by the Three Gorges Dam in China
Problem: Water Pollution
- Cost $39 billion
- 265 billion gallons raw sewage dumped in Yangtze annually
- Reservoir flooded 1600 abandoned factories, mines, dumps, potential toxic waste sites
- Yangtze flows through several city centres, including Shanghai
- Plastic bags, bottles, animal corpses, tress, other debris collect behind dam
- Most polluted reservoir in the world
Describe how Bristol aims to encourage sustainable urban living
- Conserving historic, cultural, and natural environment
- Reducing + safely disposing of waste
- Provding adequate open spaces
- Involving locals
- Providing an efficient public transport system
Describe how Curitiba in Brazil encourages sustainable urban living
Transport - Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
- No one lives more than 400m from bus stop
- Recycled waste traded for bus tokens + flat fare
- 2 million passengers per day - 80% commuters use
Recycling
- 75% of city’s waste recycled
Green Spaces
- 1000 green parks - built on old quarries. 52m2 per person
- Sheep graze + small farms for growing own food
