T3:Urban Challenges Flashcards
What is a megacity?
A city which has a population of over 10million people.
What is a primate city?
The most dominant city in a country, significantly bigger than any other city in terms of population, economy, and political influence.
What is an informal economy?
Is an unofficial and unregulated economy, where no records are kept.
People in the informal economy have no contracts or employment rights.
What is a formal economy?
An official economy and meets legal standards for accounts, taxes
and workers’ pay and conditions.
What is the Clark-Fisher model?
Pre-industrial: Most people farm, mine, or fish.
Industrial: Factories and towns grow, with some service jobs.
Post-industrial: Service jobs like healthcare and banking dominate.
Later stage: Technology and research jobs expand.
What is regeneration?
Regeneration means improving run-down areas by adding new buildings, jobs, and services.
What is urbanisation?
Urbanisation is the growth of cities as more people move in, leading to more buildings, jobs, and services.
What is counter-urbanisation?
Counter-urbanisation is when people move from cities to smaller towns or rural areas for a better quality of life.
What is de-industrialisation?
Deindustrialisation is the decline of manufacturing industries, often due to automation, outsourcing, or changing economic trends. This leads to factory closures, job losses, and a shift towards service-based jobs.
What is suburbanisation?
When developed cities become too crowded and polluted, people who can afford it move out of the city centre to the suburbs, often on the edge of cities where the land is cheaper.
What is the CBD of a city?
The CBD (Central Business District) is the heart of a city, where most businesses, offices, shops, and entertainment are located.
What all the 4 layers of the city?
Rural urban area, suburbs, inner city, CBD.
What is the name of the case study megacity?
Lagos
Why are there slums and more upper class areas in Lagos?
Lagos has slums and upper-class areas due to rapid population growth, migration for jobs, and economic inequality, with limited resources leading to the growth of informal settlements and wealthy neighborhoods.
What are informal settlements?
Areas where people live without legal permission or proper infrastructure, often built on land that isn’t officially zoned for housing. These areas lack basic services resulting in slums.
What is spatial growth?
The outward growth of the city either into and beyond the Rural urban fringe or on reclaimed
land (land built on the sea)
What is the urban function?
The typical function of an area affects the types of buildings you find there
What is land use
Refers to how people utilize land for different purposes, such as residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial, or recreational activities.
3 types of land usage
Residential – Housing and living spaces.
Commercial – Businesses, shops, and offices.
Agricultural – Farms, crops, and livestock.
What is reclaimed land?
Land that has been created or restored from oceans, rivers, or other water bodies for human use.
Why do people expect their standard of living to improve moving to Lagos?
More job opportunities, better wages, access to education, healthcare, and modern infrastructure
Why can be the rapid population growth in Lagos be a negative?
By overcrowding the city, leading to housing shortages, traffic congestion, and the expansion of slums.
What is the Gini coefficient?
Measure of income inequality in a country, ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 means perfect equality and 1 means maximum amounts of inequality.
What is top-down and bottom-up
Top-down: Development or decision-making led by governments or large organisations.
Bottom-up: Development or decision-making driven by local communities or individuals.
One way the government (top-down) and NGOs (bottom-up) are trying to make Lagos more sustainable
Government (top down)- reducing congestion by adding new railways and roads.
Oando foundation (bottom up)- they help with education and skills. It improves the skills of teachers
India has rising inequality despite growth.
Rich urban areas vs. poor rural states like Bihar.
The increase in the percentage of people living in towns and cities. Driven by migration and natural increase.
Why is the world becoming increasingly urbanised?
Migration from rural to urban areas
Natural increase (high birth rates in cities)
Economic development (more jobs in cities)
When did urbanisation take place in developed countries?
Mainly during the Industrial Revolution (1800s). Rural workers moved to cities for factory jobs.
What are megacities?
Cities with a population over 10 million. E.g., Lagos, Mumbai, São Paulo.
Where are most megacities found?
In Asia and developing countries (emerging and developing economies). The fastest growth is in Africa and Asia.
What are primate cities?
Dominant cities in a country that are significantly larger and more influential than others (e.g., London, Lagos).
Push factors of migration?
Poverty, poor education, conflict, lack of services.
Pull factors of migration?
Jobs, healthcare, education, better quality of life.
What is suburbanisation?
Movement from city centres to suburbs. Caused by desire for space, better housing.
What is deindustrialisation?
Decline of industry in urban areas (especially in developed countries), causing unemployment and urban decline.
What models explain urban land use?
Burgess Model: Zones from CBD out to suburbs.
Hoyt Sector Model: Cities grow in sectors from CBD outward.
Why do cities change over time?
Economic shifts, migration, infrastructure projects, suburbanisation, regeneration.
What is formal employment?
Legal, taxed jobs with contracts and rights.
What is informal employment?
Unofficial work (e.g., street vending, recycling). No taxes or legal protection.
Where is Lagos and why is it important?
Nigeria’s largest city, port and financial centre. Hub for oil, Nollywood, trade, tech.
Why has Lagos grown so quickly?
High birth rate
Rural-urban migration from northern Nigeria
Economic opportunities (formal & informal)
Nollywood & tech hub
Where do migrants come from?
Mainly rural Nigeria, but also neighbouring countries and returnees from abroad.
What challenges does Lagos face?
60%+ live in slums
Poor access to water, sanitation, electricity
Unemployment, crime, flooding
Traffic congestion
What is life like in Lagos’ informal sector?
Work is accessible but unsafe, unregulated. No health benefits or minimum wage. Common jobs: vending, waste picking.
How do slums affect living conditions?
10% have piped water
Overcrowded homes on stilts or tin shacks
Poor sanitation → disease risk
What is Vision 2025?
Government plan to upgrade slums, improve roads, build schools/hospitals, invest in transport and water access.
Floating school in Makoko (Example of a community project)?
Sustainable school on water, provided education & resilience to floods. Criticised for being a one-off solution.
Successes of government projects?
BRT transport system improved
Job creation in housing & tech
Water treatment projects started
Limitations of government efforts?
Schools/hospitals don’t reach all
Slum clearance leads to homelessness
Unemployment remains high
What are the traffic problems in Lagos?
Congestion on narrow roads
Poor quality roads and lack of traffic law enforcement
3-hour daily commutes
Pollution and stress
Why is sustainable planning important?
Reduces poverty, improves quality of life, manages waste, lowers emissions, ensures future development is possible.
What does sustainable urban living include?
Efficient transport
Waste recycling
Renewable energy use
Community services
