UK Human Landscape Flashcards
Population
Highest in the urban cores
Lowest in rural areas
Economic activity
Highest in Urban cores. . The main tertiary employment opportunities are located there. Lots of people live in urban cores because of the amount of well paid Job opportunities and good education opportunities.
Rural areas have fewer job opportunities. Primary industry is usually located there which is in decline. Many rural areas have become commuter settlements . People live in the rural areas and travel to urban areas for work
Poverty in rural areas
Many rural areas are struggling to grow economically.
Areas that are isolated will have few job opportunities as farming will be difficult and people will have to leave for employment. Depopulation will lead to a loss of services.
Also rural areas around former industrial areas have suffered a unemployment as the manufacturing industry has declined
Enterprise zones
Government has created 55 of these in England , scotland and wales
They offer huge benefits if companies locate there. Reduced taxes, simpler planning rules and improved infrastructure.
These zones are in areas of unemployment so that companies will move there and encourage them to employ the locals.
For example Dorset Green has two high tech companies creating many jobs
Transport infrastructure
Government plans to link London , Birningham, leeds and manchester with a new high speed line . This will increase capacity and allow faster journeys into major cities promoting industry and jobs in poorer rural areas .
Regional development
The EU has the european regional development fund that promotes growth in poorer areas by investing in small businesses so that more people will be provided with more jobs and training .
CAP is an Eu initiative to make sure that EU farmers will still make a profit. They provide training for young farmers and assist these younger farmers to start up subsides for rural diversification .
Migration - distribution and age structure
Distribution- younger migrants will move to major cities for better paid jobs.
Older people will move out of cities “counter urbanisation” for a better quality of life
Age structure- migrants increase the age group 20-29. Migrants also effect the structure by the birth rate as many when they move are pregnant
Primary and secondary industry
Since 1960 primary has decreased. Farming has become more mechanised meaning the need for people has decreased . The morning industry has also declined due to competition over seas and alternate duel sources
Secondary has also decreased . People employed in manufacturing fell from 36 percent of the workforce in 1961 to 9 percent in 2011.
Burnley and secondary industry
In the early 20 th century it had a thriving economy based on textiles . It was one of the worlds leading cotton weaving towns.
However since 1914 the textile industry was in decline due to cheap imports .
Other industries in Burnley struggled and in the 1990s -2000s hundreds of jobs have lost.
The wages are well below the UK average and the employment rate is only 65 percent because many of the people are still dependent on manufacturing for employment as they have no other skills
Tertiary and Quaternary sectors in wales
For much of the 18 the century the economy of south wales was based on cole mining but this eventually declined. This caused unemployment levels to increase.
In 1992 different parts of the region started to work together to improve infrastructure and attract businesses . Because of it’s relaxed business regulations south wales is not home to many digital and media companies providing work and allowing the economy to thrive
FDI in the UK
FDI has been increasing in the UK . It rose from 726 billion in 2010 to 1065 billion in 2014.
Why has FDI increased ?
Globalisation-Transport and communication links have improved making it easier for external companies to operate in the UK
Privatisation-Services that were previously run by UK government have been offered to foreign firms .
Free trade policies- reduces import and export restrictions making it easier for countries to trade . This also allows companies to move goods and services to the UK easily
Pros and cons of TNCS
Jobs are created therefore they reduce unemployment rates
Large scale projects can be built that the Government cannot afford . For example 15 billion was invested in UK infrastructure such as offshore wind turbines
However
If a country becomes reliant on these TNCS then if there is a problem elsewhere in the world impacting the investors then these TNCS may have to leave .
Local bussiness struggles to compete with TNCS.
They can often leave with little warning impacting employment rates
