urban issues and challenges vocab

Question 1

Brownfield site

Answer 1

Land that has been used, abandoned and now awaits some new use. Commonly found across urban areas, particularly in the inner city.

Question 2

Dereliction

Answer 2

Abandoned buildings and wasteland

Question 3

Economic opportunities

Answer 3

Chances for people to improve their standard of living through employment.

Question 4

Greenfield site

Answer 4

A plot of land, often in a rural or on the edge of an urban area that has not yet been subject to any building development.

Question 5

Inequalities

Answer 5

Differences between poverty and wealth, as well as in peoples’ wellbeing and access to things like jobs, housing and education. Inequalities may occur in housing provision, access to services, access to open land, safety and security.

Question 6

Integrated transport systems

Answer 6

When different transport methods connect together, making journeys smoother and therefore public transport more appealing. Better integration should result in more demand for public transport and should see people switching from private car use to public modes of transport, which should be more sustainable. It may also lead to a fall in congestion due to less road users.

Question 7

Mega-cities

Answer 7

An urban area with a total population in excess of ten million people.

Question 8

Migration

Answer 8

When people move from one area to another. In many LICS people move from rural to urban areas (rural-urban migration).

Question 9

Natural increase

Answer 9

The birth rate minus the death rate of a population.

Question 10

Pollution

Answer 10

The presence of chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment.

Question 11

Rural-urban fringe

Answer 11

A zone of transition between the built-up area and the countryside, where there is often competition for land use. It is a zone of mixed land uses, from out of town shopping centres and golf courses to farmland and motorways.

Question 12

Sanitation

Answer 12

Measures designed to protect public health, including the provision of clean water and the disposal of sewage and waste.

Question 13

Social deprivation

Answer 13

The degree to which an individual or an area is deprived of services, decent housing, adequate income and local employment,

Question 14

Social opportunities

Answer 14

Chances for people to improve their quality of life, for instance access to education and health care.

Question 15

Squatter settlement

Answer 15

An area of poor-quality housing, lacking in amenities such as water supply, sewerage and electricity, which often develops spontaneously and illegally in a city in an LIC.

Question 16

Sustainable urban living

Answer 16

A sustainable city is one in which there is minimal damage to the environment, the economic base is sound with resources allocated fairly and jobs secure, and there is a strong sense of community, with local people involved in decisions made. Sustainable urban living includes several aims including the use of renewable resources, energy efficiency, use of public transport, accessible resources and services.

Question 17

Traffic congestion

Answer 17

Occurs when there is too great a volume of traffic for roads to cope with, so traffic jams form and traffic slows to a crawl.

Question 18

Urban greening

Answer 18

The process by which an increasing percentage of a country’s population comes to live in towns and cities. Rapid urbanisation is a feature of many LICs and NEEs.

Question 19

Urban regeneration

Answer 19

The revival of old parts of the built-up area by either installing modern facilities in old buildings (known as renewal) or opting for redevelopment (ie demolishing existing buildings and starting afresh).

Question 20

Urban sprawl

Answer 20

The unplanned growth of urban areas into the surrounding countryside.

Question 21

Waste recycling

Answer 21

The process of extracting and reusing useful substances found in waste.

Question 22

geog

Answer 22

a subject