IGCSE Geography Urban Environments

What is 'Urbanisation'?

the process where an increasing proportion of people live in towns and cities rather than in rural areas

What are the three main causes of urbanisation?

economic development, natural increase, rural-urban migration

Why are cities in LICs growing faster than in HICs?

Higher rates of natural increase, higher rates of rural-urban migration, HICs are already very urbanised

What is 'suburbanisation'?

creating large areas of low density housing

what is 'decentralisation'?

the movement of people, jobs and services away from the centres of towns and cities

what is 'counterurbanisation'?

the movement of people and jobs away from large cities and into towns and rural areas

what is 'urban regeneration'?

improving the image and fabric of rundown urban areas by finding new uses for old buildings

What is a 'dormitory settlement'?

a town or a village where most of the working population work elsewhere

How are conurbations formed?

either by the growing together of once separate towns and cities into a single large urban area, or by one large city engulfing former villages

What is a Megacity?

a city with a population of over 10 million

How is the number of Megacities changing?

it is increasing; in 40 years, the number of megacities has increased from 4 to 24

How is the distribution of Megacities changing?

Megacities used to locate in HICs. Now, they locate mostly in MICs and LICs

What are 'global cities'?

They are leading cities in the world. They are economic hubs for the global economy, because they are all important centres of international finance

Give 3 examples of 'global cities'

London, Tokyo, New York

What are the main causes of rapid urbanisation in LICs?

High rates of natural increase, rapid economic development, large volumes of rural-urban migration

What is the name of the poor quality housing settlements created by rapid urbanisation?

Shanty Towns

Give four problems caused by rapid urbanisation

Environmental pollution, shortage of employment, traffic congestion, shortage of facilities

What are the four zones of a city?

CBD, inner city, suburbs, urban fringe

Why do similar activities tend to locate at particular locations in the city?

Their location is controlled by the same factors e.g. accessibility, they can afford the same general land, they often benefit from clustering in the same part of the city

What are the typical features of a CBD?

high densities of people and traffic, vertical development of buildings, land use is mostly non-residential, it is often the oldest part of the city

What are the features that distinguish different groups of people in the city?

social class, wage, ethnicity, type of residential occupancy (landlord or tenant)

Why do similar types of people locate in the same location?

Because groups vary in what they can afford to pay for housing

What is a 'ghetto'?

an area in which a minority ethnic group concentrates

Give 2 reasons for the existence of 'ghettos'

'Safety in numbers' mindset, and because of discrimination by the majority in a variety of matters e.g. housing, employment, education

What are Shanty towns?

areas of slum housing built of salvaged materials and located either on the urban fringe or within the city on marginal land

What causes the growth of Shanty Towns?

mainly as a result of large volumes of rural-urban mirgration

Give four ways to improve living conditions in shanty towns

providing basic services (water), recognising that residents have a right to live on the land they occupy, setting up self-help schemes, providing social services such as schools and hospitals.

Give 2 push factors for moving to the urban fringe

poor quality housing and environments, and the closure of factories and a decline in services in the centre

Give 2 pull factors for moving to the urban fringe

Better housing and residential environments, and cheaper housing

Why is retailing moving out of CBDs

Urban fringe has better accessibility, more parking space, closer to customers, more and cheaper land available

Give 3 types (excluding retail) of developments occurring on the edges of HIC cities

industrial estates, business parks, science parks

What is a 'brownfield site'

An place usually in an urban area which has previously been built upon for a non-agricultural activity

What is a 'greenfield site'

An area usually outside a city which has not been built upon yet for non-agricultural purposes, however it may still have been used previously for agricultural purposes

Give 4 benefits of brownfield sites

reduces the loss of countryside, helps to revive old and abandoned areas, the services needed by the development are already there, being closer to the jobs and services reduces transport costs

When does Deprivation occur?

when a person's well-being falls below a level which is widely thought to be the absolute minimum

What is the 'cycle of poverty'

idea that poverty and deprivation are passed on from one generation to the next.

What were the reasons for the decline of the inner city in the 20th century?

Buildings became old and costly to maintain, people preferred to live in suburbs, deindustrialisation resulted in factories closing down

What were the reasons for the revival of the inner city in the 21st century?

people realising the advantages of living close to jobs, increasing costs of transport, changing public tastes, effective rebranding

What is 'Gentrification'

The movement of better-off people back into inner-city areas.

What are 'Gated communities'

Areas where expensive housing is protected by a perimeter wall or fence and controlled entrances