Contemporary Urban Environments

Flashcards about Contemporary Urban Environments for A Level Geography

__ is an increase in the proportion of the population living in urban areas.

Urbanisation

A __ is a city with a population of over 10 million inhabitants.

Megacity

A __ is a large and heavily populated urban region which consists of several interconnected cites.

Megalopolis

__ are cities that have a major influence on other cities and countries around the world due to their international connectedness.

World city

__ factors such as the anticipation of improved quality of life encourage people to move to cities.

Urban 'pull'

__ factors such as droughts and food shortages encourage people to leave rural areas.

Rural 'push'

__ can account for around 40% of urban population growth.

Natural increase

An __ is a dense concentration of inhabitants living in a built-up area with supporting infrastructure and a high density of buildings.

Urban area

Urbanisation in __ is particularly rapid today.

Africa

Megacities have doubled over the past two decades, from 14 in 1995 to __ in 2024.

34

Efficient infrastructure and global hubs for manufacturing and export are __ of megacities.

Benefits

Congestion, waste disposal issues and a lack of housing are __ of megacities.

Drawbacks

Concentration of major banks and commercial HQs, stock markets are __ of world cities.

Characteristics

The movement of people, businesses and retail out from the central city into new estates around the edge of the city is called __.

Suburbanisation

__ causes urban 'sprawl' and the loss of agricultural land.

Suburbanisation

A decline in the proportion employed in manufacturing industries is known as __.

Deindustrialisation

__ is the reverse flow to 'urbanisation' and occurs when people leave the city altogether.

Counter-urbanisation

Transferring administrative, governance, planning and other functions from dominating urban areas to more local smaller urban areas is known as __.

Decentralisation

__ is the revitalisation of areas within a city following a period of decline or stagnation.

Urban resurgence

Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) were set up to attract __ for redevelopment.

Investment

Enterprises Zones (EZS) aimed at growing or attracting new __ to establish to improve employment prospects.

Businesses

City Challenge used a __ approach rather than 'top-down'.

'Bottom-up'

New Deal for Communities (NDCs) aimed at improving the most __ residential areas of 39 cities.

Deprived

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) were established to fund housing and __ developments.

Infrastructure

__ are the characteristics that make up built-up areas, including the shape, size, density and configuration of settlements.

Urban Form

___ factors which influence urban form include flows of people, money/capital, and ideas.

Exogenous

___ factors which influence urban form include physical geography, location and situation and demographics.

Endogenous

As you move to the edge of a city personal __ increases.

Wealth

Wealth varies across urban areas and refers to how the characteristics of an urban area vary across the city, this is also known as __.

Spatial pattern

The six main __ types are residential, transport, commercial, industrial, institutional, and recreational.

Land use

The __ is usually where mainly commercial and retail locates due to the highest land prices.

CBD

__ are secure developments for the wealthy.

Gated communities

__ are often 'illegal' and on marginal land, with limited sanitation, water, basic amenities.

Informal settlements

__ is where faith, language, culture, and tradition are distinctive from others in the city.

Self-segregation

__ is when certain areas of a city becoming trapped in a cycle of deprivation

Enforced segregation

__ may develop within a city where there is limited assimilation between immigrant communities with each other and/or the rest of the urban population.

Social enclaves

__ allow locals to purchase the land and rebuild their houses to a better standard and authorities lay on basic water and sanitation provision.

Site and service schemes

In __ schemes people are provided with building materials to reconstruct their housing.

Self-help

The __ is where the urban area is significantly warmer than its rural surroundings.

Urban Heat Island effect

__ surfaces are the cause of the Urban Heat Island effect because they are often dark and readily absorb solar radiation and re-radiated as heat at night.

Urban

Incoming winds from rural areas are intercepted by __ so heat is not dispersed causing the Urban Heat Island effect.

Buildings

The higher temperatures in the urban area cause __ to form, resulting in more low-level atmospheric convergence and condensation, increasing cloud cover and precipitation.

Convection currents

__ from traffic and industry generates larger cloud particles that condense quickly, forming dense low cloud causing rainfall in urban areas.

Pollution/dust

Specific urban form can lead to an increase in winds as the straight streets between the buildings act as wind channels and can cause __.

Venturi force

__ is poorer in urban areas than rural areas due to the greater use of fossil fuels in urban areas.

Air quality

__ are liquid and solid particles suspended in the air that are given off from transport, factories, and construction.

Particulate matter (PM)

__ in urban areas, such as concrete and tarmac, are impermeable so water collects as puddles and flows rapidly into drains as surface run-off increasing the risk of flooding.

Surfaces

Flooding caused by excessive rainfall and impermeable surfaces is called __.

Pluvial flooding

Flooding caused overflowing rivers or streams after heavy rainfall is called __.

Fluvial flooding

__ aim to store or slow down the pathway of rainfall to the river channel.

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)

Infiltration basics, swales and permeable services are all examples of __.

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)

People view waste as a potential __ in developing world cities.

Resource

__ recycling takes place in developing world cities.

Unregulated

In developed world cities, __ takes place instead of disposing of waste, the original material is reused for another purpose

Recovery

__ involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials and converts the waste into ash, gas, and heat.

Incineration

During waste disposal, __ involves placing waste into water, possibly leading to toxins in water.

Submergence

During waste disposal, the most common waste management strategy involves __ waste in existing landfill sites.

Burying

During waste disposal, there is often __ of waste, including e-waste, to the developing world where it will be sorted and disposed of by poor residents.

Trade

Burning fossil fuels in transport and industry releases sulphur dioxide which can lead to __.

Acid rain

Atmospheric pollutants, sewage and industrial waste is causes of __ pollution.

Water

Transmitted through polluted water causes intestinal infections, and common water-borne diseases such as dysentery and cholera due to __.

Pathogens

Cities that have seen deindustrialisation are often left with derelict building and old industrial sites this is known as __.

Dereliction

Public-private partnerships look to develop __ sites over greenfield sites for development to protect green belt.

Brownfield