Urban issues and challenges Flashcards
Where has urbanised the most recently?
Mainly in Asia and Africa, and newly emerging economies. Lagos Nigeria.
What does urbanisation mean?
The increasing proportion of people living in towns and cities(urban areas).
Give 4 push factors to urban areas.
1.Lack of employment opportunities.
2.A lack of services, for example healthcare.
3.Mechanisation leading to a reduction in jobs available on the land.
4.Limiting food production due to overgrazing or the misuse of land.
Give 4 pull factors to urban areas.
1.Better paid jobs.
2.A better chance of having suitable services
3.The bright light syndrome where they think the urban area will be amazing.
4.Higher quality of life.
What are the trends of urbanisation of HICs and LICs?
More developed countries are more urbanised than the poorer countries. It goes in levels of urbanisation, HIC, NEE and then LIC.
What is natural increase?
When the population is full of young adults, who are fertile, causing an increase in the population. This also means that it is a younger population, so less deaths due to old age.
What is a megacity?
A population with 10 million or more people, usually located in South-East Asia. e.g. bejing, Nigeria, London
What factors increase the rate of urbanisation?
Push factors, pull factors, higher natural increase in cities, rural to urban migration.
What percentage of people live in urban areas?
55%
Where is Lagos built?
It is built on a delta of the river Niger, it it one of the biggest ports in Nigeria.
What is Eko-Atlantic
Being built on the shoreline on reclaimed land next to a sea wall, to attract investment into Lagos. It should be home to 250,000 people, employ 400,000 people. It should help assist the trickle-down effect where the poor people benefit from the rich success.
How many people live in Lagos?
20 million people, increasing by 600,000 per year.
How much wealth does Lagos have as a percentage of Nigeria?
30%
What is Lagos like?
It has inequality, with the poor living next to the rich. It is a dual-city. The poor live in squatter settlements such as Makoko and the rich in Eko-Atlantic
What is the population growth in Lagos like?
It is increasing by 600,000 per day, exponential growth, also known as hyper-urbanisation.
What is the landfill site called?
Olusosan, where people scavenge for goods put in waste. 500 people work on it every day. There are houses, a mosque and even restaurants
What sector do most people work in?
The informal sector, which is a bad thing as they do not pay tax so the government cannot cope with the level of urbanisation. It is 60% informal.
What is Makoko like?
It is a squatter settlement, where it is vulnerable to sea level rise as the houses are built on the lagoon. It is dirty as there are no rubbish disposable and many do not have sufficient sanitary resources. The government do not help as people do not pay tax as they are in the informal sector. There is lots of crime due to a lack of police and groups called the area boys.
Why is water supply an issue in Lagos?
People do not have clean water as the sea levels are rising so it contaminates the ground water. It is also expensive to have piping systems so many people can not have clean water unless they are wealthy. It also has 2000mm of rainfall a year so the sea level will sometimes flood the boreholes in the tropical monsoon season.
What are three ways of getting water?
Boreholes, which are dug into the grounds but it may be polluted or salty from the sea. Water vendors, in the informal sector but it may be dirty, got from a contaminated borehole o the lagoon. Or a piped water system, which 10% of Lagos have, which is perfectly safe but expensive.
What is the problem of traffic in Lagos?
People in Lagos call the traffic the ‘go-slow’. Most Lagosians spend 1-2 hours each day in traffic if they own a car, so it is inefficient. 28 accidents per 1000 on the road per year, it also causes pollution.
What is BRT?
Bus rapid transport, which gets people on Danfos -the buses. This means that not everyone has to use their cars so it takes a bit of pressure of the roads. They have separate bus lanes as well.
What is a way to avoid the problems of urbanisation or sea level rise.
Floating communities, using local sourced timber, so it is affordable. There was a floating school with solar panels, however it was damaged in a storm and burnt down later.
What was the floating school like?
It was built in 2014, which is floating on the sea so it would stay afloat as the sea was rising at 0.3 cm per year. However it was torn down in a storm and only housed 60 children.
Where in the UK are cities growing?
Usually in the South cities are growing more rapidly due to a shift in people from the North to the South of the UK, due to deindustrialisation and the fact the South is more of an economic hub. Even some cities in the North are falling in population.
How has the population of London changed over time?
London’s population started small but then experienced an increase due to urbanisation, it then experienced suburbanisation -where the suburbs of the city increased due to the centre being full. London’s population then decreased, called counter-urbanisation, because of a green-belt being established around the city and post war. It has now and is continuing to experience re-urbanisation where it is rising yet again.
