Contemporary Urban Environments- Urbanisation Flashcards
Define urban growth
The increase in the total population of a town or city
Define urbanisation
The increase in the proportion of the population living in urban centres
Define urban expansion
The increase in size or geographical footprint of a city
Push factors of rural-urban migration
- population growth leads to over-farming and low yields
- agricultural problems eh. desertification
- high levels of local disease and inadequate medical care in rural areas
- globalisation of agriculture- growing of ‘cash crops’ destroys traditional rural communities
- natural disasters cause people to flee urban areas
- war leads to people fleeing land
Pull factors of rural-urban migration
- employment in factories and service industries (eg. hotels)
- increasingly high demand for unskilled labour in cities
- able to earn money from the informal sector
- better quality social provisions (eg. education and healthcare)
- perceived better quality of life
Define informal sector
People have no salary and no guaranteed income. They are paid ‘cash-in-hand’ and don’t pay taxes
Define formal industry
People are given a salary and pay taxes
Define urban sprawl
The spread of an urban area into the surrounding countryside
Negative impacts of urban sprawl
- requires more roads and infrastructure such as pipes, cables and wires
- one of the main causes of wildlife habitat loss
- causes more commuting- more fuel consumption and traffic congestion
- increases air pollution
- contributed to loss of farmland
- movement of people and businesses out to suburbs contributes to decentralisation
Characteristics of brownfield sites
- derelict sites in urban areas
- land can be costly to reclaim if it has been polluted by industrial use
- housing likely to be built at high density
- sites tend to be small patches of land
- environment is generally improved
Characteristics of greenfield sites
- new sites, usually in agricultural land in green belts around urban areas
- land not available unless planning permission is obtained
- housing relatively low density
- infrastructure costs high
- sites tend to be larger
- environment changed from rural to urban use
Why is there likely to be a faster growth of the no. of households in the UK?
- increase in adult pop. which accounts for 77% of growth in demand- ageing pop. contributes to this
- more divorces and later marriages- 71% of households will be single people
Define suburbanisation
The movement of people from city centres to the outskirts
Push factors of suburbanisation
- some housing in cities is poor quality
- as countries develop, gov. often clears low quality housing in city centre and builds new houses outside
- deindustrialisation in city centres leads to people losing their jobs
- as unemployment increases in the city people have less money to spend there so local shops/services close- move to the suburbs
Pull factors of suburbanisation
- planning laws more relaxed outside city centres- easier to build houses
- housing estates are more spacious- green environment
- improvements in public transport makes commuting easier- also increasing car ownership
- as businesses move to outskirts, more jobs are created in the suburbs
