Option G- Urban Environments

Characteristics of urban places, including site

Characteristics of urban places, including function

Characteristics of urban places, including land use

Characteristics of urban places, including hierarchy of settlement (including megacities)

Characteristics of urban places, including growth process (planned or spontaneous)

Factors affecting the pattern of urban economic activities (retail, commercial, industrial), including physical factors

• access to water

• hospitable climate

• agriculture needs arable and fertile land

• topography

• space available (defence, expansion)

Factors affecting the pattern of urban economic activities (retail, commercial, industrial), including land values

Factors affecting the pattern of urban economic activities (retail, commercial, industrial) including proximity to a central business district (CBD)

• Bid rent theory-

Factors affecting the pattern of urban economic activities (retail, commercial, industrial), including planning

Factors affecting the pattern of residential areas within urban areas, including physical factors

Factors affecting the pattern of residential areas within urban areas, including land values

Factors affecting the pattern of residential areas within urban areas, including ethnicity

ethnic groups are more likely to migrate into areas with a sense of community. ethnic populations are often centred around the part of town that was new residential during the migration boom of that period.

Factors affecting the pattern of residential areas within urban areas, including planning 

The incidence of poverty, deprivation and informal activity (housing and industry) in urban areas at varying stages of development

Urbanization & natural increase & centripetal population movement, including 

• rural–urban migration in industrializing cities 

Urbanization & natural increase & centripetal population movement, including  

• inner city gentrification in post-industrial cities 

Centrifugal population movements, including 

• suburbanization 

Centrifugal population movements, including 

• counter-urbanization 

Urban system growth including infrastructure improvements over time, such as transport

Urban system growth including infrastructure improvements over time, such as sanitation

Urban system growth including infrastructure improvements over time, such as water

Urban system growth including infrastructure improvements over time, such as waste disposal

Urban system growth including infrastructure improvements over time, such as telecommunications

Case study of infrastructure growth over time in one city Shanghai

The causes of urban deindustrialization and its economic, social and demographic consequences

Urban microclimate modification and management, including the urban heat island effect

Urban microclimate modification and management, including air pollution patterns and its management 

Case study of air pollution in one city and its varying impact on people 

Traffic congestion patterns, trends and impacts

Case study of one affected city and the management response 

Contested land use changes, including slum clearances

Contested land use changes, including urban redevelopment

Contested land use changes, including the depletion of green space

Detailed contrasting examples of two neighbourhoods affected by land use change and their populations 

Managing the impacts of urban social deprivation, including the cycle of deprivation and geographic patterns of crime

Urban growth projections for 2050, including regional/continental patterns and trends of rural–urban migration

Urban growth projections for 2050, including changing urban population sizes and structures.

Resilient city design, including strategies to manage escalating climatic and geopolitical risks to urban areas

Two detailed examples to illustrate possible strategies for resilient cities

Eco city design, including strategies to manage the urban ecological footprint

Two detailed examples to illustrate possible environmental strategies of eco cities

Smart city design and the use of new technology to run city services and systems, including purpose-built settlements and retrofitting technology to older settlements