Geography - urban fixtures

Urbanisation

The increasing proportion of a country’s population living in towns and cities. (Urban growth is the increase in the number of people living in urban areas.)

Global pattern of urbanisation

In 1950 about 30% of the world’s people lived in cities. In 2007 the urban population passed 50% for the first time. Today it is about 57% and the UN expects 68% by 2050, with about 90% of the growth in Asia and Africa.

Urban growth in ACs

Already highly urbanised (the UK about 84%, Japan 92%, the USA 83%) so growth is slow, under 1% a year. Some cities have shrunk or spread into suburbs. Growth now comes mainly from international migration.

Urban growth in EDCs

Rapid urbanisation in the late 20th century as industry grew: China went from 20% urban in 1980 to over 65% today and Brazil is 87% urban. Growth is now slowing but the cities are huge – most megacities are in EDCs.

Urban growth in LIDCs

The lowest proportion urban (Ethiopia about 23%, sub-Saharan Africa about 43%) but the fastest rates of growth at 3–5% a year, driven by rural–urban migration and high birth rates. Cities such as Lagos and Kinshasa double in size every 15–20 years.

Megacity

A city with over 10 million people. In 1950 there were two (New York and Tokyo). Today there are about 35, and the UN expects over 40 by 2030. Tokyo (37 million) is the largest, followed by Delhi, Shanghai, Dhaka and São Paulo.

Changing distribution of megacities since 1950

In 1950 both megacities were in ACs. By 1975 there were three (adding Mexico City). Now about two-thirds are in Asia (Delhi, Shanghai, Mumbai, Dhaka, Beijing, Karachi) and growth is fastest in Africa (Lagos, Kinshasa, Cairo). Only a handful – Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Osaka and (on some counts) London – are in ACs.

World city

A city with global influence through finance, trade, politics, culture and transport, such as London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore. They have stock exchanges, headquarters of transnational companies, major airports and universities. Size is not the test: London is a world city, Dhaka is a megacity but not a world city.

Rural–urban migration

The movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities – the main cause of urbanisation in LIDCs.

Push factors (from rural areas)

Few jobs and low wages from subsistence farming, mechanisation reducing farm work, drought, floods and soil exhaustion, land shortage and large families, lack of schools, hospitals and clean water, and war and conflict.

Pull factors (to cities)

Better-paid jobs in factories and services, schools and universities, hospitals, electricity and piped water, entertainment, family already living there and the ‘bright lights’ image of a better life, often exaggerated by the media.

Internal (natural) growth

Migrants are mostly young adults who then have children in the city, so cities grow further from births exceeding deaths. High fertility and improving health care in LIDC cities make this a major source of growth.

Consequence of rapid urban growth in LIDCs: housing

Housing cannot keep up, so informal settlements (slums or shanty towns) grow on land nobody else wants – steep slopes, floodplains, beside railways and rubbish dumps. About 1 billion people worldwide live in informal settlements (Kibera in Nairobi, Makoko in Lagos).

Consequence of rapid urban growth in LIDCs: services and health

Shortages of clean water, sanitation, electricity, schools and clinics. Open sewers and shared toilets spread cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea. Air pollution from traffic and burning waste causes respiratory disease.

Consequence of rapid urban growth in LIDCs: economy

Not enough formal jobs, so people work in the informal sector (street selling, waste picking, rickshaw driving) with no contracts, taxes or protection – often over half of all jobs. Child labour and crime increase.

Consequence of rapid urban growth in LIDCs: environment and transport

Traffic congestion and smog, uncollected rubbish, polluted rivers, loss of farmland and forest at the city edge, and flooding of informal settlements built on riverbanks.

Suburbanisation

The outward growth of cities as people and businesses move from the centre to the edge. Causes: car ownership and commuter railways, cheaper land, the wish for gardens and quiet, inner-city decline. Consequences: urban sprawl onto greenfield land, longer commutes and decline of the inner city (London’s suburbs spread along the Metropolitan line in the 1930s).

Counter-urbanisation

People moving out of cities altogether to villages and small towns. Causes: retirement, working from home and broadband, fast rail, high city house prices and the wish for a rural lifestyle. Consequences: village house prices rise and locals are priced out, commuter villages lose shops and services, farmland is built on and cities lose wealthier taxpayers.

Re-urbanisation

People moving back into the city centre, usually after regeneration. Causes: redevelopment of brownfield sites (London Docklands, Salford Quays, Birmingham’s canals), new flats, jobs in services and the creative sector, and young professionals and students wanting city life. Consequences: revived centres, but gentrification pushes out poorer residents.

Gentrification

Wealthier people moving into a run-down area, improving the housing and attracting cafés and shops, which raises rents and displaces the original lower-income residents (Shoreditch in London, for example).

Brownfield and greenfield sites

Brownfield: land that has been built on before, often derelict industrial land in cities – services already exist but it may need decontaminating. Greenfield: land never built on, usually at the city edge – easier and cheaper to build on but it destroys countryside and habitats.

AC city case study: Birmingham – location and importance

The UK’s second city, in the West Midlands in central England, with about 1.15 million people (4.3 million in the metropolitan area). At the hub of the motorway network (M6, M5, M42), with New Street station, Birmingham Airport and the future HS2 terminus at Curzon Street. Nationally a centre of manufacturing, finance, five universities and the NEC. Globally it hosts HSBC UK’s headquarters, staged the 2022 Commonwealth Games and has strong links with Commonwealth countries.

Birmingham – history and growth

Grew in the Industrial Revolution as the ‘city of a thousand trades’ (metalwork, guns, jewellery, cars at Longbridge, Cadbury’s chocolate at Bournville). Deindustrialisation in the 1970s and 1980s destroyed many jobs (the Longbridge car plant finally closed in 2005) and left derelict land, now regenerated for offices, shops and homes.

Birmingham – migration

Commonwealth migration from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the 1950s–70s to work in factories and transport, later Polish and Somali migrants, students at its universities and refugees. Internal migration of young people into the city and of families out to the suburbs and commuter towns.

Birmingham – changing character

One of Europe’s youngest cities (nearly 40% of residents under 25) and ‘super-diverse’: the 2021 census found 51% of residents belong to ethnic minority groups (Pakistani 17%, Indian 6%, Black Caribbean and African 11%). Over 100 languages are spoken. Areas such as Sparkbrook, Handsworth and Alum Rock are home to distinct communities.

Birmingham – ways of life

Culture: Symphony Hall, the Library of Birmingham (2013), Mela festivals, the Balti Triangle’s restaurants, Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Housing: inner-city terraces and tower blocks, suburban semis and leafy Sutton Coldfield. Leisure and consumption: the Bullring and Grand Central shopping centres, canals (more miles than Venice), Brindleyplace bars, Cadbury World and Edgbaston cricket ground.

Birmingham – challenge: housing

The city needs about 89,000 new homes by 2031 but has little spare land, so it builds on brownfield sites and some green belt. About 20,000 households are on the council waiting list, homelessness is rising and much inner-city private rented housing is poor quality.

Birmingham – challenge: transport and services

Heavy congestion on the A38 and ring roads, poor air quality (a Clean Air Zone has charged polluting vehicles since 2021), pressure on schools and GP surgeries from a young and growing population, and the city council’s financial crisis (it declared effective bankruptcy in 2023) cutting services.

Birmingham – challenge: inequality

Among the most deprived cities in England: about 40% of children live in poverty, unemployment (around 9%) is roughly double the UK rate, and there are sharp contrasts between wealthy Sutton Coldfield and deprived inner wards such as Sparkbrook and Ladywood. Life expectancy differs by about 10 years across the city.

Birmingham – sustainability initiative: the Big City Plan and brownfield regeneration

A 20-year plan from 2010 to regenerate the centre: Eastside and Curzon Street around HS2, the Paradise and Smithfield developments, the old Longbridge car plant turned into 2,000 homes, a college, shops and a technology park, and canal-side housing at Brindleyplace. Reusing brownfield land saves countryside and brings people back to the centre (re-urbanisation).

Birmingham – sustainability initiative: transport and energy

Midland Metro tram extensions, the Clean Air Zone (2021), ‘Birmingham Cycle Revolution’ cycle routes, Sprint bus routes, a target of net-zero carbon by 2030, district heating from the Tyseley energy-from-waste plant, and the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village at Perry Barr converted into housing.

Birmingham – how successful?

Successes: the city centre has been regenerated with thousands of new jobs around the Bullring, Paradise and HSBC, cleaner air (nitrogen dioxide fell about 13% in the first year of the Clean Air Zone) and new homes at Longbridge. Limits: deprivation and unemployment remain high, HS2 has been delayed, the council’s debts have cut services and regeneration has raised prices for local people.

EDC city case study: Rosario, Argentina – location and importance

Argentina’s third-largest city, with about 1.3 million people (1.7 million in the metropolitan area), on the west bank of the Paraná River 300 km north-west of Buenos Aires in Santa Fe province. Its port complex is Argentina’s main outlet for grain and soybean exports (around 80% of farm exports), with oil refineries, a General Motors car plant and food processing. The birthplace of Che Guevara and Lionel Messi.

Rosario – migration and growth

Grew from a river port in the 1850s with Italian and Spanish immigrants into a major industrial city. Since the 1950s rural–urban migration from the poorer northern provinces (Chaco, Corrientes) and from Paraguay and Bolivia has driven growth. Recent growth is slower, with suburbs spreading outwards and gated communities for the wealthy.

Rosario – ways of life

A European-style grid centre with cafés, the Monumento a la Bandera (National Flag Monument), riverside parks and beaches on the Paraná, two big football clubs (Rosario Central and Newell’s Old Boys), a strong asado (barbecue) culture and a large university. Housing ranges from high-rise riverside flats to informal settlements (villas miseria) on the edges.

Rosario – challenges

Informal settlements: around 10% of the population live in villas miseria with no legal title and poor water, sanitation and drainage. Informal sector jobs: street vendors and waste pickers (cartoneros), especially after the 2001 economic crash when unemployment passed 20%. Health and waste: pollution of the Paraná from factories and farm chemicals, uncollected rubbish and flooding of low-lying areas. Drug-gang violence gives Rosario Argentina’s highest murder rate.

Rosario – sustainability initiative: urban agriculture

The Urban Agriculture Programme (2002) turned vacant land, roadsides and flood-prone riverbanks into community vegetable gardens (‘garden parks’). Over 2,400 families have farmed about 75 hectares organically, selling at weekly markets and supplying food banks. It gives jobs and food to the poor, reuses derelict land, cuts food miles and reduces flood risk. It won the 2020–21 World Resources Institute Prize for Cities.

Rosario – other initiatives

Rosario Hábitat (from 2001, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank) upgraded informal settlements with roads, water, sewers and legal titles for thousands of families. The ‘Mi Bici Tu Bici’ public bike scheme (2015) and new cycle lanes, pedestrianised shopping streets, a riverside green belt and a waste-separation scheme.

Rosario – how successful?

Successes: the urban gardens feed thousands and have been copied worldwide, settlements have been upgraded, the riverfront is cleaner and more people cycle. Limits: economic crises (inflation above 100% in 2023) keep poverty high, informal settlements still grow, and gang violence and pollution remain.

Alternative city case study note

If your school studied Lagos, Istanbul, Mumbai or Rio instead of Rosario, or London instead of Birmingham, learn that city – the question always asks for a named city under the same headings: location and importance, migration, ways of life, challenges and one sustainability initiative.

How can cities become more sustainable?

Use brownfield sites, build energy-efficient homes, improve public transport, cycling and walking, recycle waste and generate energy from it, create green spaces, conserve water, provide affordable housing and involve local communities. A sustainable city meets today’s needs without damaging the chances of future generations.