Suburbanisation

Suburbanisation

1. the movement of people from the central areas of a city to the suburbs

2. Causes

   • council housing built in the 50's and 60's were built on the edge of existing settlements
   • greater ability to work from home
     • growth of transport system
   • decline in heavy industry
   • few planning controls in 1930's
   • desire for a garden
   • population increase
   • lower price of land further from CBD
   • inner city decline
   • perception of better education

3. Effects

   • growth of out of town shopping centres
   • increased use of cars
   • growth of transport systems
   • surrounding areas engulfed by outward spread of urban area
   • concentration of lower income residents in the inner city
   • growth of out of town office parks

4. Problems

   • expensive to put in services
     • people are spread out
   • urban sprawl
   • countryside lost
   • expensive to commute
   • pushes people into cars
   • can cause decline in inner city

5. Solutions

   • green belt land
   • revitalisation of inner cities
   • new towns
   • brownfield over greenfield development
   • regeneration of inner cities

6. Case Studies

   • New Towns
     • built to stop urban sprawl and provide a better standard of living for those in overcrowded areas
     • the concept of self-contained settlements which had crescents of low-density housing arranged in cul-de-sacs to ‘maintain privacy’ yet were clustered around a village green to ‘maintain community’.
     • The New Towns Act in 1946 lead to eight new towns being built - since 31 have been built.
     • Built with three principles
       • They should be free-standing, not physically joined to a larger settlement
       • They are designed to be self-contained, with a balance of jobs, residents and services.
       • They are planned to be socially balanced communities with a range of housing.
     • How were they succesful
       • Collectively house over 2 million people
       • Have attracted 50,000 companies and offer 1 million jobs
       • Have been test beds for planning and design innovation e.g. Milton Keynes has the construction of the first eco-friendly home estate.
     • How were they not succesful
       • The success of new towns came at the expense of the inner city, and the CBD has seen outward emigration as people move to the more attractive area
       • New towns were built on Greenfield sites and lacked community
       • Taken over by commuters
   • Milton Keynes
     • Milton Keynes is the UK’s fastest growing urban area with a population that is increasing by 3000 people annually and today stands at over 210,000.
     • The government built Milton Keynes in 1967 on 9000 hectares which were predominantly Greenfield in north Buckinghamshire.
     • The roads are arranged in a grid pattern which reduces rush hour congestion associated with other cities
     • Land uses e.g. housing, industry, open space, and shopping, are spread throughout the city, even if there is a central shopping centre.
     • Local facilities, schools, pubs etc. are grouped around ‘activity centres’ to make them easy to walk or cycle to promoting green travel and minimising the need for cars e.g. pavements, under paths, and bridges allow pedestrians to walk around almost the whole city.