Unit 2 Section A - Urban issues and challenges Flashcards
1
Q
What is urbanisation?
A
The increasing percentage of a population that comes to live in towns or cities (urban areas)
2
Q
Global pattern of urban change: slowing
A
Urbanisation is slowing in high income countries (HICs)
3
Q
Global pattern of urban change: greatest reate
A
The greatest rate of urbanisation is in low income countries (LICs) and newly emerging economies (NEEs)
4
Q
What percentage of the world’s urban population is take place in where?
A
90% in Africa and Asia, especially India, China and Nigeria
5
Q
Why do cities grow?
A
Natural increase and rural-urban migration
6
Q
What is natural increase?
A
Where the birth rate is higher than the death rate
7
Q
Why is natural increase higher in LICs and some NEEs?
A
There are lots of young adults aged 18-35 and improvements to health care have significantly lowered the death rate
8
Q
What is rural-urban migration?
A
The movement of people from the countryside into towns and cities
9
Q
Push factors of rural-urban migration
A
- Farming is hard and poorly paid
- Farming is often at subsistence level, leaving nothing to sell
- Rural areas are isolated, often with few services
10
Q
Pull factors of rural-urban migration
A
- A higher standard of living is possible
- There are better medical facilities
- There is a better chance of getting an education
11
Q
What are megacities?
A
Cities with a population of over 10 million
12
Q
Where are most megacities?
A
In less-developed countries
13
Q
Features and examples of a slow-growing megacities
A
No squatter settlements, Tokyo, LA (often in HICs)
14
Q
Features and examples of growing megacities
A
Under 20% in squatter settlements, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro (often in NEEs)
15
Q
Features and examples of rapid-growing megacities
A
Over 20% in squatter settlements, Jakarta, Mumbai (often in NEEs or LICs)
16
Q
Where is Rio de Janeiro located?
A
Around Guanabara Bay in the south-east of Brazil
17
Q
What is the importance of Rio?
A
- A ‘global city’
- An important industrial and financial centre
- A major regional, national, and international centre for many companies
- An international transport hub
- Seen as the cultural capital of Brazil
- A UNESCO World Heritage Site
18
Q
Why has Rio grown?
A
Migration and natural increase
19
Q
How has Rio grown?
A
International migration, natural increase, internal migration (moving to Rio from other parts of Brazil (particularly from rural areas))
20
Q
How has Rio grown? (International increase details)
A
Where: Portugal / When: Until the late 1800s / Why: Portugal is the former colonial power
Where: Germany & Japan / When: 20th century / Why: Labour for coffee plantations
Where: USA & UK / When: 21st century / Why: Skilled workers attracted by jobs
Where: South Korea, the Philippines & China / When: 21st century / Why: New business opportunities
Where: Portugal / When : 21st century / Why: Common language
21
Q
How has urban growth created social opportunities?
A
- High levels of investment in Rio have created features such as Rio’s Olympics in 2016
- Many of Rio’s international migrants are skilled workers. They help to boost the diversity of the city
- Money has been invested in health care and education
22
Q
Access to services in Rio: Health
A
- Residents have free health car and better access to hospitals than in other parts of Brazil
- Health cover has increased from 4% to 70% for people in some slum areas
- ‘Family health teams’ have each provided health care for up to 3,000 people
23
Q
Access to services in Rio: Education
A
- Rio has over 1,000 primary schools, 400 secondary schools, and 6 universities
- In the poorer favelas, NGOs such as ‘Schools for Tomorrow’ are working with communities to improve education provision
- The government provides grants to help children remain in school
24
Q
Access to resources: Water Supply
A
- Rio has the largest water treatment works in the world
- About 96% of the city has safe piped water, though only 88% of houses in favelas are connected
25
Access to resources: Energy
- About 99% of the city's residents have direct access to electricity
- In the Santa Marta slum, a community energy programme has fitted over 150 solar panels to the roofs of many buildings which provide affordable, clean energy
26
Rio's economic opportunities for growth:
- Rio is Brazil's second most important industrial centre
- There is a large labour supply with its growing population
- Existing industries stimulate the development of new industries (multiplier effect)
- A growing number of jobs are in the service sector and public services
- The tourist and oil industries have helped to stimulate economic development
27
Rio's diverse range of industries include:
- A rapidly expanding service and quaternary sector
- Established traditional manufacturing industries such as printing, pharmaceuticals and food processing
28
How have industrial areas stimulated economic development?
- The Brazilian and local governments have benefited from tax revenues and investment into the city
- Local people have secure employment, increasing disposable incomes and better health care and education
- Local communities, particularly the favelas, have benefited from investment and self-help projects, improving service provision
These industrial areas benefit from Rio's port facilities.
Oil refining and shipbuilding employ many local people and encourage supply chain industries to set up
29
Challenges of managing slums
Rio's slums are usually older, abandoned industrial or residential buildings. Often they:
- Are dangerously overcrowded
- Have inadequate services such as bathrooms and lighting
- Are owned by landlords who charge high rents
30
Challenges of managing squatter settlements
Squatter settlements are unplanned invasions of land by homeless people. Favelas are the most common type of squatter settlement. They are self-built houses on public or private land.
Over time, services such as water and electricity may be introduced
31
Challenges of living in favelas
Construction, Unemployment, Crime, Health, Services
32
Challenges of living in favelas: Construction
- Initially houses were poorly constructed. They are now built from concrete and brick
- Heavy rain can cause landslides on steep slopes
33
Challenges of living in favelas: Unemployment
- Unemployment rates are as high as 20%
- Average incomes may be less than £75 a month
34
Challenges of living in favelas: Crime
- A high murder rate of 20 per 1000 people in many favelas
- Drug gangs can dominate
35
Challenges of living in favelas: Health
- Infant mortality rates are as high as 50 per 1000
- Waste can build up in the street, increasing the danger of disease
36
Challenges of living in favelas: Services
In the non-improved favelas:
- 12% of homes have no running water
- 30% have no electricity
- 50% have no sewage connections
37
Managing water supply
Despite plentiful supply, around 12% of Rio's population do not have access to clean running water
- The city does not have a duty to supply water to households in favelas where there is no legal proof of ownership
- Underground pipes are often access illegally
- Poor maintenance and leakages result in water being cut off
38
Managing sanitation systems
- The city's infrastructure (pipes and sewage treatment works) cannot cope with the volume of waste
- About 35% of Rio's sewage is transferred in open sewers and dumping into Guanabara Bay
- About 150 metric tons of industrial wastewater, which may be toxic or contaminate with chemicals, flows into the bay
- Many houses in favelas are not connected to the sewage system because of legal land ownership issues
39
Managing energy
- About 99% of all homes in Rio have access to electricity
- In favelas, the illegal tapping of electricity supply is common. This can lead to fires, electrocution and blackouts
- Demand for energy is rising rapidly, due to Rio's growing population and expanding industrial sector
40
What puts pressure on the health and education systems?
The youthful population in Rio as there are a large number of children
41
What are the challenges in health provision?
- There are only 6 hospital and insufficient health clinics
- Great social and economic inequalities across the city
The challenges are particularly difficult in favelas:
- On average, favela residents live 13 years less than people in wealthier parts of Rio
- there are just 2 health clinics for a favela population of about 100,000
- Many people suffer from diseases because of poor sanitation and a lack of safe water
- The Covid-19 pandemic had devastating impacts on people living in overcrowded favelas
42
What are the challenges in education provision?
- About 90% of children aged 10 can read and write because there are more schools in Rio than in rural areas
- About 25% of the poorest children do not attend school regularly
- Only about half of children in Rio continue with education beyond the age of 14; reasons: shortage of local schools, teenage pregnancy, many children are expected to work
- Violence and drug-related crime in favelas may shut schools
- Schools were closed during Covid but most children didn't have computers or internet access at home
43
Challenges of unemployment
- Huge inequalities in unemployment rates
- High rates of unemployment are due to:
--> economic recession in 2015, an economic crisis in 2018 when many people lost their jobs in public services, the 2016 Olympics created few long-term employment opportunities
44
Challenges of crime
- Robbery and violent crime occur regularly
- Since 2017, the murder rate has increased by 20%
- Police regularly target drug gangs in the favelas
45
Environmental challenges in Rio: Waste disposal
- Each year Rio produces 3.5 million tonnes of waste; less than 2% is recycles
- In the favelas' narrow, steep streets, waste collection is difficult; much of the waste enters rivers
46
Environmental challenges in Rio: Water pollution
- Guanabara Bay is highly polluted, threatening wildlife, fishing and tourism
- Many of the rivers flowing into the bay are heavily polluted with sewage and waste
- Industrial waste, oil spills and other ship discharges contaminate the bay
47
Environmental challenges in Rio: Traffic congestion and air pollution
- Rio is the most congested city in South America
- Traffic delays cost businesses huge amounts of time and money
- Air pollution is estimated to cause 5,000 deaths per year
48
What was the Favela Bairro Project (1995-2009)?
A US$1 billion 'slum-to-neighbourhood' project that aimed to integrate Rio's favelas into the fabric of the city
49
Aims of the Favela Bairro Project: Social
- Daycare and after-school care, enabling adults to seek secure employment
- Improving adult literacy
- Medical services for drug addiction, alcoholism and victims of domestic violence
50
Aims of the Favela Bairro Project: Economic
- Inhabitants can apply to own their properties legally
- Access to credit to allow people to buy materials to improve their homes
51
Aims of the Favela Bairro Project: Environmental
- Replacement of wooden buildings with brick, making them permanent and resistant to the weather
- Removal of houses from dangerous steep slopes
- Infrastructure improvements (water, sanitation, electricity)
- Improved access for waste collection and emergency services
52
Successes of the Favela Bairro Project
- By 2005, around 100 favelas were improved
- Residents were granted land ownership, roads paved and new childcare centres opened
- The quality of life, mobility and employment prospects of the inhabitants improved considerably
- Training was made available in hygiene, computing and community development
53
Issues of the Favela Bairro Project
- Basic literacy was not addressed
- Some of the new infrastructure improvements were costly and were not maintained
- Increased rents in some of the improved favelas
- New raised pavements have caused flooding of homes
- Deaths from vector-borne diseases (e.g. malaria) have not reduced
