Changing Urban Environments

Changing Urban Environments

1. Global Urbanisation

   • Pace of urbanisation
     • Rich world
       • 80% of the UK live in urban areas
     • Poor world
       • Fastest urbanisation here
       • 25% of Bangladesh live in urban areas
   • Causes
     • Rural-urban migration
       • People move from rural to urban areas
       • Rich
         • Push factors
           • Agricultures revolution - machinery replaced labour jobs
         • Pull factors
           • Redevelopment of run-down areas - new houses
       • Poor
         • Push factors
           • Shortage of services (education)
         • Pull factors
           • more jobs in urban areas

2. Land use

   • Functional zones
     • CBD - Central Business District
       • City centre
     • Inner city
       • Corner shopd
     • Outer city/ suburbs
       • Shopping parades (short rows of shops)
     • Rural-urban fringe
       • Out-of-town shopping centre
     • Villages
       • Village shops
   • High order goods (comparison goods)
     • only bought occasionally and are more expensive
   • Low order goods
     • bought frequently and are quite cheap

3. Rich World Urban Issues

   • 1. Housing
     • Solutions
       • Brownfield Development
         • Building on land which is not used anymore. Stops green space being used up
       • Greenfield Development
     • Increasing number of households needed
   • 2. Inner city decline
     • Urban Development corporations
       • LDDC
     • City Challenge
       • Regeneration
     • Sustainable communities
   • 3. Traffic
     • Park-and-ride schemes
     • Congestion charge
     • Pedestrianisation
     • Bus priority lanes
   • 4. CBD decline
     • Converting old buildings into housing blocks
     • Pedestrianising (stopping car access
     • Improving access
     • Improving public areas
   • 5. Cultural mix
     • Segregation
       • Solutions
         • Everyone can access info and services (multi-language leaflets)
         • Improving communication so leaders of ethnicities make decisions
         • Providing interpreters
         • Suitable services for different cultures
       • Different ethnicities not mixing
       • Reasons
         • People prefer to live close to others with same background/language
         • People live near services that are important to their culture
         • People are restricted to where they can live (lack of money)

4. Squatter Settlement Issues

   • Living in sqatter settlements
     • No basic services like running water, sewers or electricity
     • Many work within the settlements
       • Informal sector - long hours, little pay - cash in hand
     • Life expectancy is lower
     • Jobs aren't taxed/ monitored by the government
     • Strong community spirit
   • Improvement strategies
     • Self help schemes
       • Government and local people working together. The government provide the building materials and the locals build houses
     • Site and service
       • Locals pay rent for the site and can borrow money from the government for building materials and improvements
     • Local authority schemes
       • Funded by the local and are about improving temporary accomodation
   • Built illegally around a city - Rural - urban migrants

5. Problems of Rapid Urbanisation - Poor World

   • Problems
     • Air pollution - burning fuels by factories and cars
     • Water pollution - pollutants from cities onto rivers and streams which can cause health problems and harm wildlife
     • Waste and pollution - damage health and environment
   • Solutions
     • Waste disposal/ recycling
     • Air pollution limits
     • Sewage treatment plants and laws for factories to remove pollutants

6. Sustainable Urban Living

   • Features of sustainable cities
     • Conserving historic & natural environment
     • Reducing & disposing of waste
     • Adequate open spaces
     • Involving local people
     • Providing efficient transport
     • Building on brownfield sites
     • Building carbon neutral homes
     • Schemes to reduce waste and safely dispose of it

7. Counter Urbanisation

   • Happening in rich countries
   • People move out of cities into rural areas
   • Push Factors
     • Pollution in city
     • high crime rate
     • Houses are expensive
   • Pull factors
     • Transport (private cars
     • Work from home (IT)
     • more jobs
   • Rural impacts
     • house prices increase
     • Local shops shut down
     • decline in community spirit
   • Urban impacts
     • Inner city areas become disused and run down
     • CBD businesses lose cutermers and close