Contemporary Urban Environments Flashcards
Urban Policy 1997-2000s
Greenwich Millenium Village
- Area has focus on ‘village life in the city’, started in 2000s
- total of 1377 multi-bedroom houses, mean value of £523,596
- Key facilities: schools, grocery shops, GP surgeries, green spaces and parks
- well-connected through Jubilee line to large shopping centres (which ones?)
Urban policy 1997-2000s
Modern housing and environmental changes under Blair overview
NEW LABOUR- Blair’s commitment to a balance of market and public ownership and creation of wealth.
Decent Homes Program (DHS)
- gov initiative ot improve condition of social housing in UK
- criteria = must be in reasonable state of repair, thermal comfort, modern facilities and services, current statutory minimum standard for housing
Plymouth Development Corporation (PDC)
- project ran from 1993-1998 in Plymouth, Devon
- budget of $45m for 5-year lifetime
- claimed it had the potential to create >1300 new jobs, and attract private sector finance of £50m
Urban Policy 1997-2000
Impacts of Modern Housing and Environmental Changes Under Blair
SHOCKING FAILURE compared to what was predicted.
- National Audit reported that only built 11,900m^2 of commercial floor space and 99 homes
- only £8m of private finance (I) leveraged in/brought in
- 427 new jobs created
- CORRUPTION: John Collinson suspended in June 1995 from PAC bc spent £9000 of corporation’s money on private expenses during visits abroad
Urban Policy 1997-2000s
Blair’s New Deal for Communities overview
Took place between 1998-2009
- Targeted 39 communities w average of 10,000 residents (in most deprived areas)
- each received £50m over the 10 years
- First 17 = £774m over 10 years
- The next 22 in 1998 = £2b spent
- partnership approach taken
Urban Policy 1997-2000s
Successes + Failures of NDC
Successes:
- By 2006 crime in Newcastle fell by 21% bc £3.4m dedicated to crime
- 45% of residents in NDCs felt safer in communities by 2008
- 2000 new homes built in some NDC areas
- 10,000 adults participated in education and skill-development programs
Failures:
- only 2000 of the 10,000 who got the education acc got long-term stable employment by end of program
- unemployment still high in these areas only fell by around 1% between 2002 and ‘08 in Newcastle’s West Gate area
- 40% of small businesses supported by NDC grants struggled or closed w/in two years after funding finished
Global patterns of Urbanisation
Patterns are shifting towards NEEs and LICs
- by 2050, India will have increased its urban population by 416 million, China 255m and Nigeria 189m
- low fertility rates in European cities and in a few in Japan and S Korea = declining populations
- 2020 55% of total global population living in urban areas, incr by 20% from 1960, projected to be 60% in 2050
- N America = most urbanised w 82% living in urban areas in 2018
- Latin America and Caribbean = 81%, Europe = 74% and Oceania = 68%, Asia = 50%
Africa is still relatively rural w 43% in urban areas
Consequences of urbanisation
- shortage of housing in LIC because there are more people than houses, over 1 billion around the world live in slum conditions as a result, increased from 860m in 2013
- less jobs available
- Cities are responsible for consuming 3/4 of world’s resources
Background on two contrasting urban areas
Becontree: Dagenham…
- in borough of Dagenham and Barking
- 11 miles east of Central London
- was constructed between 1929 and 1935 and was the largest council estate in the world at the time
- > was built mainly to accomodate people from slums in the east end
- typically two floored terraced housing
- in the 1980s, the right-to-buy scheme led to 2/3 of housing becoming privately owned
Surbiton: RICH RISHI
How have two contrasting urban areas been successful/unsuccessful in creating social and economic wellbeing?
(back up studies - becontree and surbiton)
Becontree:
- 5% of the population can’t speak English
- 40% of people aren’t UK born, 30% asian 40% white
- the Ford car plant in Dagenham went into decline in 80s, and closed in 2000s unemp = 12% at time is now 7%
- 50% of children in Becontree currently live in poverty
social and economic impacts of suburbanisation
Detroit:
Key facts:
- America’s major industrial cities , in the 1900s African Americans and others moved here for work
- They were met with hostility and
Two contrasting urban areas: Mumbai and the character of the place
Location:
- located on south west of India in the state of Maharashtra, is the capital city of the state
History:
Population
- Mumbai is India’s largest city =almost 27m as of now
- financial and commercial centre of Bollywood industry
- Originally, Mumbai was series of 7 islands separated by swamps, but by 1845 these had been filled in and Mumbai became one large island. Mumbai has natural deep-water harbour and has been the main port in the Arabian Sea since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
- The resulting population is very diverse and 16 major languages of India are spoken here
How has the character changed over time?
* Mumbai developed rapidly after indep from British in 1947 - High-rise, modern architecture, Bombay Stock Exchange, tarred roads and boom in manufact and serv changed the city’s status and brought it on world stage
* It now generates** 33%** of India’s income tax revenue - 6.16% of GDP = largest contributor in India, 25% of industrial output + 40% of foreign trade = shows the economic importance of Mumbai and greater maharashtra region to India, but also shows economic inequality as this is how much the top richest make
* Now has population of 22 million, projected to be** 24m in 5 years**, incr 7 times since 1950, pop density of **28k/km^2 **(London is around 5k)
What are the experiences and attitudes of Mumbaikans towards their city?
What is the nature of Mumbai’s physical characteristics and what does this impact upon? - how has this changed over space and time
Mumbai is located in:
Key physical landforms and their impacts:
* location near the Arabian Sea means that high tides can worsen flooding, especially when they coincide with heavy rainfall
*
Climate and rainfall:
- Mumbai has tropical climate - temperatures almost always above 24 deg, January typically coldest at this temp and May hottest at 30
- In SW (spatial) get monsoons which bring heavy rainfall to MUMBAI (directly affects city then), btwn June and Sep
- While Mumbaikers have adapted, can be devastating for city esp because its on low lying land
- *EXAMPLE: *
- more rainfall than usual, more than 250mm fell on one day in August, and 403mm in early Sep, monthly avg is 341MM GIRL WHAT
- 2019 had worst monsoon in a decade (temporal), worst was 2005 on record tho, more than 400 people died; and over 10,000 homes were destroyed
- The overflowing Mithi river caused widespread flooding in the Kurla neighborhood, leading to preemptive evacuation
How is Mumbai attempting to become more environmentally sustainable?
How is it changing Mumbai compared to how it was before?
Waste disposal:
* Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been processing this waste using Bio-Reactor Technology at the Kanjurmarg site, handling about 88% of the city’s waste. This approach aims to reduce landfill dependency and promote waste-to-energy solutions. The city has been addressing its legacy waste problem, particularly at the Mulund dumping ground
* What percentage of plastics are recycled in Dharavi?
80%
What are Mumbai’s patterns of economic and social well-being
How have they changed over time, have they changed? What historical processes
Economic:
* the average Indian would need to work for** three centuries to pay for a luxury home** in Mumbai
* the higher up you live the richer you are as there’s less air and noise pollution, i.e Antilia is the residence of billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family.[3] It is located on Billionaires’ Row in Mumbai, India.[4] Built from 2006 to 2010 at a cost of nearly US$2 billion,[2][5][6][unreliable source] it was valued at US$4.6 billion in 2023.[7] It is the most expensive house or residence in India.
Social:
* Floodwaters have a lot of sewage in them and cause high levels of cholera and typhoid (waterborne illnesses).
* It has the third-highest crime rate of all Indian cities. Nearly one-third of the population have been victims of crime. Corruption is rife, and 22.9% of citizens have been exposed to bribery.
* Mumbai literacy rates are high at 89.7% - even in slums estimated to be more than 69%
* over 1000 primary and secondary schools in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government is duty-bound to provide compulsory, free education to every child from age 6 to 14
* SLUMS:
* *60 percent of Mumbaikars live in ‘informal settlements’ *
* Dharavi has an area of just over 2.39 square kilometres and a population of about 1,000,000
* In the Dharavi slums population density per square kilometre = 300,000
* Dharavi is the largest informal settlement in Mumbai and the second largest in Asia
How do London and Mumbai’s patterns of economic and social well-being compare?
Why does Mumbai need to become environmentally sustainable?
The built environment:
* the built environment of Mumbai has increased fourfold since 1925 at cost of green cover and wetlands
* Mumbai being the 2nd most congested city in the world
Waste:
* Mumbai produces 7,500 metric tonnes of waste every day
Air pollution:
* (NO₂) levels in Mumbai exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, with a recent report indicating that 22 out of 24 monitoring stations showed annual averages above the recommended limit in 2023.
* Mumbai being the 2nd most congested city in the world
Water pollution:
* 800 million litres of untreated sewage go straight into the river, every day
How is Mumbai/London excluding parts of society
Links to urban forms and landscapes
What is waste?
unwanted material disposed of into the environment
What are some examples of how cities are socially segregated
- linked to globalisation and deindustrialisation, also social causes like caste system
Cheonggyeon River Restoration project Seoul
Olympic Park Regneration
How did Stratford change because of the regeneration?
