Cities and Environment Flashcards
What are the significance of cities?
wellsprings of civilisation, engines of economic growth, nodes of connection in a globalised world, major consumers of natural environment and major producers of waste, living environment for half of the worlds population
Compare the urban and rural population in MDCs and LDCs
MDCs
Rural population decline, urban population increasing
cities growing by international migration, some rural–> urban, growing intercity migration, some cities shrinking
LDCs
Urban population increasing dramatically, rural population increasing until peaking in 2020, then declining
High rural to urban flows
Large rural population feeding urban growth
High levels of natural increase
Attempts to limit population growth in cities
What are sources of urbanisation- how do cities grow?
- Rural–> urban migration
- International migration
- Natural increase
Definition of urbanisation
Process where by a rising proportion of the population comes to live in urban areas, change from rural to urban lifestyle and associated attitudes and values
What are the challenges of cities and natural environments
- Managing growth
- Employment
- Shelter
- Water
- Sanitation
Explain managing growth
Cities are growing outward and upward
Problems
Urban sprawl
- transport, natural habitat, access to services, not as sustainable
Density
- pollution, crowding, congestion cost/ affordability of homes
Explain employment
- Developing countries largely reliant on rural, agricultural labour force
- Developed countries more balanced, strong reliance on services and manufacturing
- Many cities do not provide adequate employment opportunities, movement into informal sector
Explain shelter
- Shelter is a basic human right
- Some societies provide public housing but most do not
- housing can be difficult to access, especially in high cost urban areas
- Informal housing has a high percentage in developing countries
Explain water
Access to water depends on
- Climate - amount of rainfall
- Infrastructure
- GDP (wealth)
-Political conditions
Lack of allocation not lack of production
Urban poor generally pay more for water (as a % of income)
Explain sanitation
Public sanitation is necessary to ensure human health
Higher levels of development create more waste and require more elaborate solutions
product life cycle is currently linear- not circular
Some effects of a growing population
Loss of flora/ fauna
Spoiling of nature
Scarcity of resources - peak oil
Natural disasters
Interaction between population and the environment and explain the environmental impact equation
I=PAT
Population
- size, composition, distribution, affluence, attitudes
Environment
- natural environment
–> biosphere
——> atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere
Atmosphere- degradation of air
Lithosphere- soil contamination
Hydrosphere- depletion of water reserves
What are the impacts of cities and explain these briefly
- Sustainable development
- development that meets the needs the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
- Sustainable development: considers needs and limitations
- Fundamentals of development: equity, international corporation, reducing energy and resource consumption - Ecological footprint
- measures the urban input and output in terms of land area
- estimate the resource consumption and waste assimilation requirements of a defined human population of economy in terms of corresponding productive land area. - Global hectares
Understanding ecological footprint of people - Ecological Deficit
- biocapacity and global hectares - Urban metabolism model + sustainable city linear model
- resource inputs–> cities as centres of human settlement—> waste outputs
resource–> dynamic of settlements–> livability, waste outputs - Approaches to Sustainability
What are some explanations of environmental degradation
- too many people
- capitalism (wealthy)
- increased technology
