Urban Futures

Question 1

Where are most urbanised countries?

Answer 1

The most urbanised areas are mainly ACs of Europe, North America, and South America.

Question 2

How do urban growth rates vary with different levels of development? [2]

Answer 2

• In ACs the rate of urban growth has slowed down as many people already live in cities.
• In EDCs the rate of urban growth is much higher as there is a larger rural population, naturally moving into urban areas with development.

Question 3

What is a Megacity? Give 4 more characteristics [5]

Answer 3

A metropolitan area with over 10 million people
- Megacities have a wider range of jobs available.
- Generally have large amounts of pollution, poor air quality
- They have a dominant tertiary sector(or secondary in EDCs like Dhaka)
- They generally have a younger population, leading to higher birth rates
- They are also often more culturally diverse

Question 4

Name the challenges that a megacity faces. [3]

Answer 4

• Inequality of supply/resource distribution
• Poor infrastructure; housing, transport
• City planning; hard to control things like sewage with rapid-growing population
• Poor air quality due to large amount of people using non-eco-friendly methods

Question 5

Describe the distribution of megacities since 1950. [3]

Answer 5

• In 1950, it was only New York and Tokyo.
  -In 1975 this increased to Sao Paulo, Shanghai, and Mexico city as well
  -In 2015 there are megacities in South Asia, Europe, much more in East Asia and South America, and Lagos+Cairo in Africa.

Question 6

Why go to a megacity? [2]

Answer 6

• Usually better healthcare, lower death rates
• Better job opportunities
• Better quality of life
• Economic development, trends

Question 7

What is a world city?

Answer 7

A city that acts as a major hub for finance, trade, business, politics, etc., and serves not just a region but the whole world.
(TNCs often have headquarters in World Cities)

Question 8

What is urbanisation?

Answer 8

The growing population of people living in urban areas.

Question 9

What is internal growth?

Answer 9

When an urban area grows because the birth rate exceeds the death rate; natural increase.

Question 10

State some push factors of Rural-Urban migration. [3]

Answer 10

• Climate Change causing a drop in crop yield
• Worse transport infrastructure
• Low quality buildings
• Low income jobs

Question 11

State some pull factors of Rural-Urban migration. [3]

Answer 11

• Better services
• Better traffic, transport infrastructure
• Attraction by “bright lights”(particularly younger people)
• Resilient infrastructure

Question 12

State some consequences of urban growth in LIDCs. [3]

Answer 12

• Development of slums(over 1billion currently live in slums)
• No clean water supply, or sanitation, or sewage, or electricity, or roads
• Can also strain services, damaging factors like healthcare, education, and crime

Question 13

What is suburbanisation?

Answer 13

Moving out of a city centre to residential areas on the outskirts.

Question 14

What are the causes of suburbanisation? [4]

Answer 14

• High population density
• High pollution
• High levels of congestion
• Cheaper land+house pricing in suburbs
• Idea that quality of life is better in countryside

Question 15

What are the consequences of suburbanisation? [4]

Answer 15

• Segregation by wealth brackets
• Wasted space on lawns, detachments
• Loss of environment and biodiversity for housebuilding
• Wasted energy
• Costly local services
• Car dependent; lack of connectivity, pollution, can create homogeneous neighborhoods

Question 16

What is counter-urbanisation?

Answer 16

Moving out of cities to rural areas or smaller towns.

Question 17

State some causes of counter-urbanisation. [3]

Answer 17

• More scenic environment
• Growth of online jobs
• Less congestion, so better air quality
• Lower house and land prices.

Question 18

State some consequences of counter-urbanisation. [3]

Answer 18

-Cities shrinking in size
- Inner city areas left with derelict buildings
- Rural public transport goes into decline due to more car users - bad for people reliant on it, particularly the elderly

Question 19

What is re-urbanisation?

Answer 19

Moving back into cities.

Question 20

State 2 causes of re-urbanisation.

Answer 20

• Better quality services in cities
• Near city centre there is better transport

Question 21

State 3 consequences of re-urbanisation.

Answer 21

• More congestion
• More urban pollution and straining of services
• Decline in quality of rural areas.

Question 22

State 3 things about Lagos’ location, importance within it’s country, and the wider world.

Answer 22

• It is on the coast of Nigeria around the western shore of a large lagoon.
• It is the biggest city in Africa, with 21 million people, containing 80% of Nigeria’s industry.
• It has an international port and airport(Murtala Muhamad airport)

Question 23

What is happening to Lagos’ rapidly growing population and why? What is it’s population like? [2]

Answer 23

• It is growing rapidly due to rural-urban migration(many people come from within Nigeria looking for better jobs as Lagos income is 4x that of other Nigerian areas)
• It’s population is very diverse with many different nationalities.

Question 24

What are the ways of life in Lagos? [3]

Answer 24

• Thriving publics spaces such as Freedom Park. Vogue magazine considers the National Gallery of Art to the top museum. The Lagos International Jazz festival is very popular.
• Lagos has around 250 different ethnic groups
• Nollywood worth over 6.4 billion has Lagos as a key centre for film production
• 18 shopping malls, including the Greenville Shopping Mall.

Question 25

What contemporary challenges does Lagos face? [4]

Answer 25

• 2/3rds of population live in slums like Makoko(3m in Makoko alone); flimsy wooden huts built illegally on the lagoon
• The slums share 1 toilet per 15 people and waste goes straight into lagoon; no sewage, roads(BIG MALARIA PROBLEM)
• 1 primary school in Makoko and families can’t afford schooling
• 60% of Lagosians work in informal economy on less than $1.65/day
• Huge population produces 900 tonnes of waste/day, and only 40% officially collected, rest dumped in landfills

Question 26

With regards to problems Lagos is facing,

How can these be solved? [4]

Hint: Focus on Transport

(1 Issue, 4 methods to solve it)

Answer 26

• 3 million cars on road every day in Lagos(caused by immense amount of lorries going to docks for trade)
• Second worst traffic congestion in the world(average travel time increase of 63%).
• Expansion of Bus Rapid Transit System introduced in 2007, to cover more areas with cheap, reliable public transport.** Carried 65m people 2019-2021**
• Lekki Ikkoyi Bridge(Nov. 2012)
• Uber Boat creating cheap, affordable transport to draw people away from roads
• Lagos Peace Railway is an integrated approach going 26km in 35 min, 2 different routes to discourage driving

Question 27

What is London’s location and importance within it’s region, country, and the wider world?

Answer 27

• Region: 790k people commute into London/day, and therefore depend on London for income
• Country: London accounts for 20% of England’s GDP+dominates political landscape(Houses of Parliament)
• World: Most influential city in the world (Forbes 2014)

Question 28

What are the patterns of national and international migration in London and how is it changing the growth and character of London? [3]

Answer 28

• Internal: Highest rate of internal migration in English regions(9.1/1000 people), 240,000 people leave to South-East each year
• International: 37% of Londoners foreign born in 2021, and Indians are the largest contingent of migrants
• Changing: Become much more multi-ethnic, food is very international, much younger population. BAD because high population density leads to supply outstripping demand; hike in house prices(5,342 people/km2 in London vs 69 in Scotland)

Question 29

Culture, Ethnicity, Housing, Consumption

What are the ways of life in London? [4]

Answer 29

• Culture: 5th most culturally influential city in the world ranked 2017
• Ethnicity: China Town and Korea Town, curry houses shows strong ethnic influence
• Housing: London has to build 40,000 homes/year to keep up with rising population, and people spend 12.2 times their income buying a house
• Consumption: West End contains the largest retail areas in Europe. Westfield as well, Harrods has 15m visitors/year.

Question 30

What are some contemporary challenges affecting life in London? [3]

Answer 30

• Housing: Housing is becoming very unaffordable(1996-2016 518% increase), and supply of housing is running short(sleeping rough has increased by 167%)
• Transport: up to 10m public transport users a day in London; likely to grow as more people move. Amplified by strikes and signal failures
• Inequality: London contains the highest proportion in the poorest tenth(worth £3,240 average), and the 2nd highest in the richest tenth(worth £934,000 average).

Question 31

What is an initiative to make London more sustainable and what problem is it solving?

Answer 31

Olympic Park in Newham uses brownfield(previously used for industrial purposes) site to decontaminate the land that was causing pollution and wasting space and build houses, provide sporting facilities for the 2012 Olympics, and infrastructure to leave a positive legacy. Solving the issue

Question 32

Regarding the Olympic Park in Newham,

What are the social, environmental, and economic positives of this initiative? [3]

Answer 32

• Environmental: 764,000m2 of contaminated soil and treated 235,000m2 of groundwater.
• Social: 2,818 new homes built, for 8000 residents. Two new underground lines connecting to King’s Cross and Dockland’s for good transport.
• Economic: Brought more than £9bn of investment into East London and employed 80,000 construction workers.

Question 33

Regarding the Olympic Park in Newham,

What are the social, environmental, and economic negatives of this initiative? [3]

Answer 33

• Environmental: Much wildlife had to be relocated and the games produced 3.3 million tonnes of CO2.
• Social: Even the “affordable” homes were unaffordable for residents and 450 flats were pulled down for redevelopment
• Economic: Very few jobs created for local people, so still high levels of unemployment and existing businesses had to move like H. Forman and Sons.

Question 34

Regarding the Olympic Park in Newham,

What is the conclusion for this initiative?

Answer 34

It has undoubtedly improved the quality of the area environmentally and turned it into a brilliantly landscaped area with world class buildings. One of the best regeneration projects in the Olympics.
However, it has not done much for locals or reducing poverty, and low-paid people in Newham rose by 10% during the project.