Urban Area

Question 1

Name the 6 different land use zones in urban areas.

Answer 1

• the central business district (CBD)
• industrial zone
• low-cost housing
• medium- cost housing
• high-cost hosting
• rural/urban fringe

Question 2

Explain the land use zone CBD

Answer 2

• contains important buildings near central, eg shops, banks, transport and entertainment
• noticed by narrow or gridded street pattern, major roads converging for greater accessibility and the presence of bus and railway stations and public buildings such as town halls.

Question 3

Explain the urban land zone industrial zone.

Answer 3

• old industrial areas with factories are usually located close to the CBD
• accessibility is normally the main reason as it allows factories to bring in their raw materials and distribute their finished products easily
• it also allows workers to get to their workplace easier
• this zone can be identified by large block shaped buildings and words such as ‘works’
• is normally serviced by main roads and railways lines
• many industrial zones are abandoned now

Question 4

Explain fully the urban land zone of low-cost housing.

Answer 4

• since this is near factories it is not the most pleasant to live in, housing is usually the cheapest and would have originally been built for workers and their families
• the streets may form a gridiron pattern with narrow streets
• high density of housing consisting mainly of tenements most of them fairly old
• population density is high
• there are areas where the houses have been demolished and are now brownfield sites and have been replaced with warehouses, new housing, roads or railways.

Question 5

Fully explain the land zones of medium and high-cost housing.

Answer 5

• people who can afford it start to move further away from the city centre and as a result many cities and towns have different qualities of residential areas.
• in zone 4, streets may have a curvilinear pattern with cul-de-sacs and houses may consist of a mixture of tenements, terraced houses and semi-detached houses
• zone 5 may have a mixture of detached and semi-detached villas and bungalows with house prices being higher
• the streets may be wider and the housing density will be much less than any other residential zone
• there are some council schemes with lower-cost housing in these areas.

Question 6

Explain the land zone rural/urban fringe.

Answer 6

• found at the edge of the city
• marks the boundary between the built up area and the countryside
• may be linked to an A-class road or motorway.

Question 7

State some recent developments in CBDs.

Answer 7

• the building of undercover shopping centres
• the closure of city centre shops and other businesses due to a fall in the number of customers
• some warehouses and former public buildings have been converted into modern flats
• many shop shave closed and moved to more affordable premises, often in out-of- town shopping centres
• improvements and changes to roads and streets to ease traffic congestion
• the introduction of pedestrianised zones
• congestion charges
• improved public transport
• new office blocks
• conversion of old buildings into modern flats.

Question 8

State some impacts on the CBD that take place.

Answer 8

• discouraging people from coming into the city can create problems, especially for shopkeepers and other businesses that rely on customers
• offering alternatives such as out-of-town shopping centres may help to solve traffic problems but these centres often lead to the decline of the CBD.

Question 9

Explain what has been happening in Glasgow to improve the inner city.

Answer 9

There has been renewal schemes along the river Clyde including new flats, SECC, science centre and the IMAX cinema complex.

Question 10

What is happening in many inner cities?

Answer 10

The old original structure is replaced by a modern landscape as industries are declining and disappearing leaving many derelict buildings.

Question 11

State some of the land uses now in fringe areas.

Answer 11

• science parks, business parks and industrial estates
• golf courses, leisure parks and other recreational land users
• housing has grown out here and small villages have expanded
• out-of-town shopping centres
• farming

Question 12

State some facts about São Paulo

Answer 12

• city is 750m above sea level
• coastal location offered advantages for port development with associated industries such as warehousing, food processing, petrol chemicals and an integrated steelworkers
• the population increased due to factors such as high birth rates and decreasing death rates and migration into the city from rural areas
• this growth has led to a number of problems including the growth of squatter areas and shanty towns.

Question 13

State some of the problems in São Paulo.

Answer 13

• lack of housing results in homelessness
• lack of proper facilities (clean water, electricity and sewage disposal) led to health problems, including the spread of diseases such as typhoid and cholera
• inadequate water supplies are common and in the worst cases people use polluted wells and open pipes
• infant mortality rates often increase and life expectancy decreases as a city’s population grows
• lack of industry and high demand for jobs affect employment opportunities - this creates problems of low income and poor standards of living, involving a lack of food, poor education and little healthcare
• there are shanty towns where people live in makeshift housing without basics such as electricity, cooking facilities, proper sanitation or access to clean water
• crime rates are often very high due to extreme poverty - local police may be unable to deal with the level of crime due to lack of manpower.

Question 14

Explain some of the measures being taken in São Paulo.

Answer 14

• Funding is often from sources such as United Nations sub-agencies
• city authorities have introduced primary healthcare schemes and local self-help schemes, particularly in shanty towns
• these self-help schemes involve improving infrastructure in an area using local labour
• improvements to water supplies in many residential areas have been treated as a priority
• materials have been supplied to help improve the poorest quality houses
• in some cities efforts have been made to re-house people into new town areas
• financial incentives nave sometimes been offered to residents to move to other parts of the city
• this has often been due to the expansion of commercial enterprise and the need for land, rather than simply efforts to help residents of shanty towns.