Urban Futures Flashcards
Where are most urbanised countries?
The most urbanised areas are mainly ACs of Europe, North America, and South America.
How do urban growth rates vary with different levels of development? [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.
What is a Megacity? Give 4 more characteristics [5]
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
Name the challenges that a megacity faces. [3]
- 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
Describe the distribution of megacities since 1950. [3]
- 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.
Why go to a megacity? [2]
- Usually better healthcare, lower death rates
- Better job opportunities
- Better quality of life
- Economic development, trends
What is a world city?
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)
What is urbanisation?
The growing population of people living in urban areas.
What is internal growth?
When an urban area grows because the birth rate exceeds the death rate; natural increase.
State some push factors of Rural-Urban migration. [3]
- Climate Change causing a drop in crop yield
- Worse transport infrastructure
- Low quality buildings
- Low income jobs
State some pull factors of Rural-Urban migration. [3]
- Better services
- Better traffic, transport infrastructure
- Attraction by “bright lights”(particularly younger people)
- Resilient infrastructure
State some consequences of urban growth in LIDCs. [3]
- 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
What is suburbanisation?
Moving out of a city centre to residential areas on the outskirts.
What are the causes of suburbanisation? [4]
- High population density
- High pollution
- High levels of congestion
- Cheaper land+house pricing in suburbs
- Idea that quality of life is better in countryside
What are the consequences of suburbanisation? [4]
- 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
What is counter-urbanisation?
Moving out of cities to rural areas or smaller towns.
State some causes of counter-urbanisation. [3]
- More scenic environment
- Growth of online jobs
- Less congestion, so better air quality
- Lower house and land prices.
State some consequences of counter-urbanisation. [3]
-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
What is re-urbanisation?
Moving back into cities.
State 2 causes of re-urbanisation.
- Better quality services in cities
- Near city centre there is better transport
State 3 consequences of re-urbanisation.
- More congestion
- More urban pollution and straining of services
- Decline in quality of rural areas.
State 3 things about Lagos’ location, importance within it’s country, and the wider world.
- 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)
What is happening to Lagos’ rapidly growing population and why? What is it’s population like? [2]
- 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.
What are the ways of life in Lagos? [3]
- 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.
