Contemporary Urban Environments

Urban areas

Areas characterised by extensive infrastructure & majority not working in agriculture

Urbanisation

The process by which an increasing proportion of a country’s population lives in towns and cities

Global patterns in urbanisation

1. % living in urban areas: 30% (1950) > 59% (present) > 66% (2050)

2. 90% concentrated in Africa/Asia

3. Most urbanised: North America

4. China/India/Nigeria: 37% of projected growth of world urban population

Consequences of urbanisation/urban growth

1. Urban sprawl

2. Shortage of (affordable) housing in LICs

3. Lack of urban services e.g. waste disposal

4. Un(der)employment

5. Transport issues

Suburbanisation

Movement of people from inner to outer urban areas, relies on transport

Urban Resurgence

The movement of people and investment back into urban areas that previously experienced decline

Montreal: Urban Resurgence

• Ubisoft: computer-animation firm with 2,700 employees

• Resurgence > PME but gentrification

Factors leading to urban growth (incl. Bangalore vs London)

Economic:

1. Tech. industry (Texas Instruments), Indian “Silicon Valley”

2. Informal Clothes manufacturing

• Cost of land highest in CBD/Chelsea (as close to work/transport/shops)

• De-industrialisation > better air quality/less traffic congestion

Social:

1. Economic opportunities > rural-urban migration

• Cost of land cheaper elsewhere & public transport/motorways > outward migration

Technological:

1. 95% use mobiles

2. Tanzania mobile banking > UK (as cheaper than building physical banks)

Political:

1. “Hi-tech city”, business parks

Demographic:

1. <18s: 30% of pop.

• <18s: 23% of pop.

De-industrialisation (incl. causes of decline, trends, cities affected most)

1. Loss of jobs in manufacturing sector

2. Mechanisation cheaper, international competition, lower demand for traditional products as new materials/technologies developed e.g. coal/oil being replaced by natural gas

3. 60% decrease in UK jobs e.g. Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool (affected most due to over-specialisation)

Decentralisation

Movement of people away from industrialised centre

Why service economy rises

1. Financial services

2. Increased tech. sophistication

3. Wealthier incomes

Urban Policy: Thatcher

Right to Buy: 33%-70% home discount for council tenants (who rent council-provided homes)

Urban Development Corporation

Using government money to attract FDI e.g. London Docklands (which was bombed)

Successes:

1. 80k jobs

2. £1 of public money > £3 in private investment (£8.7 billion)

3. 200,000 trees

Failures:

1. Locals didn’t benefit

City Challenge Partnership

Works with local community/private companies to improve inner city e.g. Hulme City challenge

Successes:

1. Cities compete for govt regen grant > higher standards

2. 40k homes improved, 53k jobs, 2k hectares of derelict land restored

Failures:

1. Resources thinly spread

2. Better plan exceeds greater necessity

3. Inefficiency: spending on bids rather than regen

New Deal for Communities

Designed to transform 39 (most)-deprived neighbourhoods in England e.g. Devonport

Successes:

1. 32/36 areas: core indicators improvement e.g. crime

2. Lower inequality between local/national authority

Failures:

1. Changing place over people > education/worklessness unchanged

Factors influencing land-use patterns, economic inequality, cultural diversity (LA/Mumbai)

LA:

1. Water/coast, gold, cars > suburbanisation

2. Cheaper in subur

Mumbai:

1. Growing middle class > Colaba Causeway Corner (shopping centre), cheap/skilled labour > tech