Paper 2 - Urban Issues And Challenges

Question 1

What is urbanisation?

Answer 1

Its the growth in the proportion of a country’s population living in urban areas.

Question 2

How much of the world population currently live in urban areas?

Answer 2

More than 50% and increasing.

Question 3

What’s the rate of urbanisation in HICs?

Answer 3

They’re more economically developed, and most of the urbanisation happened earlier than the NEEs and LICs.

They have very slow rates, and lots of people are now moving to rural areas.

Question 4

What’s the rate of urbanisation in LICs?

Answer 4

They’re less economically developed.
Not many live in urban areas.
Generally the fastest rates of urbanisation.

Question 5

What is the rate of urbanisation is NEEs?

Answer 5

The economic development is increasing rapidly.
The percentage of the population living in urban areas varies.

Some have rapid urban grow others not.

Question 6

What is urbanisation caused by?

Answer 6

Rural-urban migration and natural increase.

Question 7

What is rural-urban migration?

Answer 7

Its the movement of people from the countryside to the cities.

The rate is affected by push and pull factors.

Question 8

What is meant by push and pull factors?

Answer 8

Push = things that encourage people to leave an area.

Pull = things that encourage people to move to an area.

Question 9

What are some push factors?

Answer 9

1. Natural disasters, can damage property and farmland, which people can’t afford to repair.
2. Mechanisation of agricultural equipment - farms require fewer workers so there are fewer jobs.
3. Desertification, can make land unproductive so people can no longer support themselves.
4. Conflict or war can cause people to flee their homes.

Question 10

What are some pull factors?

Answer 10

1. There are more jobs in urban areas that are often better paid.
2. Access to better health care and education.
3. To join other family members who have already moved.
4. People think they will have a better quality of life.

Question 11

What is natural increase?

Answer 11

Its when the birth rate is higher than the death rate, so the population grows.

Question 12

What are megacities?

Answer 12

An urban area with over 10 million people living there.

There are currently 34 - more than 2/3 are in LICs/NEEs.

Question 13

What are the social opportunities of urban growth in NEEs/LICs?

Answer 13

1. There is better access to services (health care and education).
2. There is so better access to resources (clean water, food, electricity).

Question 14

What are the economic opportunities of urban growth in NEEs/LICs?

Answer 14

1. The growth of urban industrial areas can increase economic development.
2. As industries develop, more people move to urban areas to work in the factories - there are more jobs and better wages than in rural areas.
3. Industries sell the goods they produce o the international market. Manufactured goods make greater profits than unprocessed goods (agriculture), so industrialised countries get wealthier.

Question 15

What are the social and economic challenges of urbanisation?

Answer 15

Many people who move to the city form rural areas end up in squatter settlements (slums).

1. They can’t afford proper housing so are often badly built and overcrowded.
2. People often don’t have access to basic services (clean water, proper sewer, electricity).
3. The unclean conditions and lack of access to medical services means people often have poor health.
4. People may not have access to education, so they get stuck in a loop. They often work long hours for little pay.
5. There can be high levels of unemployment and crime.

Question 16

What are slums?

Answer 16

Settlements that are built illegally in and around the city, by people who can’t afford proper housing.

Question 17

What are the environmental challenges of urbanisation?

Answer 17

1. Rubbish often isn’t collected or it may end up in big rubbish heaps. It can damage the environment especially if toxic.
2. Air pollution comes from burning fuel, vehicle exhaust fumes and factories.
3. Sewage and toxic chemicals can get into rivers, harming wildlife.
4. The road system may not be able to cope with all the vehicles. Congestion causes increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Question 18

What are the main parts of a city?

Answer 18

Central business district
The inner city
The suburbs
The rural-urban fringe

Question 19

What is the central business district?

Answer 19

CBD is usually found right in the centre of a city.
Its the commercial centre of the city, with shops and offices, and its where transport routes meet.
It has very high land values as there’s a lot of competition for space.
Buildings are tall and building density is very high.
Very few people live in the CBD.

Question 20

What is the inner city?

Answer 20

This is the part found around the CBD.
It has a mix of poorer quality housing (like high rise tower blocks) and older industrial buildings.
The inner city can be quite run-down and deprived but there’s also newer housing and industry where derelict land has been cleared and redeveloped.

Question 21

What are the suburbs?

Answer 21

These are housing areas found towards the edge of the city. 
Land here is cheaper and its still close enough to commute into the centre for work quite easily. 
In the UK and USA middle class families tend to live in the suburbs, because its a nicer environment and there’s less crime and pollution than the inner city.

Question 22

What is the rural-urban fringe?

Answer 22

This is the part right at the edge of a city, where there are both urban land uses (factories) and rural land uses (farming).
Here you tend to find fewer, larger houses.

Question 23

What opportunities come from urban change?

Answer 23

1. Immigrant communities were attracted by low cost inner city housing. Many UK cities are now very multicultural.
2. Redevelopment presents opportunities for new investment. Hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues can be upgraded to make the city centre more attractive.
3. CBDs have been redeveloped with offices and entertainment facilities - creating employment opportunities.
4. Cities dealing with congestion problems and high numbers of commuters coming into CBD have developed innovative transport solutions.
5. The importance of green space in cities is being increasingly recognised by planners. Parks, gardens and open spaces are being incorporated into regenerated areas.

Question 24

What challenges come from urban change?

Answer 24

1. Industrial decline in cities caused a decrease in wealth. People move away, leaving derelict buildings that became a target for crime, and areas in many inner cities became deprived.
2. Deprived areas are linked to poor access to health care, education and job opportunities compared to other areas - these inequalities can lead to social unrest.
3. Derelict land in inner cities provides brownfield sites. However, high demand for housing means new estates also sprawl onto rural greenfield sites.
4. The rural-urban fringe is under pressure from the development of business parks and large shopping centres - the land here is attractive because of good transport links and its lower cost.

Question 25

What is a brownfield site?

Answer 25

Land that has been used, abandoned and now awaits reuse; often found in urban areas.

Question 26

What is an enterprise zone?

Answer 26

A scheme supported by the government to encourage new businesses and new jobs in areas where there were no pre-existing businesses.

Question 27

What is gentrification?

Answer 27

When a decaying area is modernised and improved, the cost of living there increases and the original inhabitants are forced out.

Question 28

What is a green belt?

Answer 28

The area of countryside around the edge of a city with strict planning controls to stop houses being built.

Question 29

What is a greenfield site?

Answer 29

A plot of land, often in a rural or on the edge of an urban area that has not been built on before.

Question 30

What is an integrated transport system?

Answer 30

Different forms of transport are linked together to make it easy to transfer from one to another.

Question 31

What is migration?

Answer 31

When people move form one area to another.

Question 32

What is population density?

Answer 32

The average number of people living in a place, per square kilometre.

Question 33

What is the quaternary sector?

Answer 33

Employment sector that includes jobs in hi-tech industries, research, information technology and the media.

Question 34

What is regeneration?

Answer 34

Improving run down areas by improving the housing and the environment.

Question 35

What is social deprivation?

Answer 35

The extent to which an individual (or an area) lacks services and adequate housing, income or employment.

Question 36

What is the tertiary sector?

Answer 36

Employment sector that includes service industries, such as health care, offices, financial services and retailing.

Question 37

What is urban greening?

Answer 37

Process of increasing and preserving open space in urban areas.

Question 38

What is urban regeneration?

Answer 38

Reversing the urban decline by modernising or redeveloping, aiming to improve the local economy.

Question 39

What is urban sprawl?

Answer 39

Unplanned growth or urban areas into the surrounding rural areas.

Question 40

What does sustainable living mean?

Answer 40

It means doing things in a way that lets the people living now have the things they need, but without reducing the ability of people in the future to meet their needs.

Question 41

What things can be done to make urban areas more sustainable?

Answer 41

Water conservation schemes
Energy conservation schemes
Creating green space
Waste recycling

Question 42

What is meant by water conservation schemes?

Answer 42

Only as much water should be taken from the environment as cna be naturally replaced.
Conservation schemes reduce the amount of water used:

Collecting rainwater for gardens or toilet water.
Installing water meters, so people pay for the water they use.
Encouraging people to use less water.

Question 43

What is meant by energy conservation schemes?

Answer 43

Burning fossil fuels to generate power isn’t sustainable because they’ll run out. It also increases the rate of climate change.

Conservation schemes reduce the use of fossil fuels:

1. Promoting renewable energy sources (wind, solar, tidal) instead of traditional.
2. Make homes more efficient (solar panels) and let homeowners sell excess energy to the national power grid.
3. Encouraging people to use less energy.
4. Make sure new homes that are built meet minimum energy efficiently requirements.

Question 44

What is meant by creating green space?

Answer 44

Creating green space within urban areas helps to make sure that they remain places where people want to live and work - this is because:

1. They provide naturally cooler areas where people can relax in hot weather.
2. They encourage people to exercise more and to use alternative transport. This makes people healthier and less stressed.
3. They make people feel happier by providing a break from the noise and bustle of the city.
4. Reduce the risk of flooding.
5. Reduce air pollution.

Question 45

What is meant by waste recycling?

Answer 45

More recycling means fewer resources are used. Less waste is produced, which reduces the amount that goes to landfill.

Waste recycling schemes include:

1. Collection of household recycling boxes.
2. Recycling facilities for larger items
3. Websites, where items are offered for free so they can be used by others instead of being thrown away.

Question 46

What are the environmental problems with traffic congestion?

Answer 46

Lots of traffic increases air pollution and the release of greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.

Question 47

What are the economic problems with traffic congestion?

Answer 47

Can make people late for work or meetings and delay deliveries by lorries, which causes companies to lose money.

Question 48

What are the social problems with traffic congestion?

Answer 48

There is a higher chance of accidents.

Can also cause frustration for drivers, health issues for pedestrians and cyclists and can delay emergency vehicles.

Question 49

How can traffic flow be managed?

Answer 49

1. Ring roads and pedestrianised shopping streets keep traffic away from the city centre, making it safer and less polluted, and preventing congestion on narrow city centre roads.
2. Bus priority lanes stop buses being held up in traffic, making them more attractive than driving.
3. Parking restrictions make sure parked cars don’t block traffic.
4. Congestion charging discourages drivers from entering the city centre at peak times.
5. Car sharing schemes connect people with similar commutes so that fewer cars are needed.