Geography - Urban Enviroments (Mid-Point test)

The GCSE content for urban enviroments (half of what we learnt)

What is urbanisation?

An increasing percentage/proportion of a country’s population that live in towns and cities

What is a mega city?

A city with over 10 million people living there

What is a world city?

A city that has influence all over the world (a globally important city). World cities are centres for trade and business and they are also cultural and science hubs.

What is a millionaire city?

A city with over 1 million people

What is counterurbanisation

Counterurbanisation is the movement of people out of cities to surrounding areas

what is suburbanisation?

Suburbanisation is when as towns grow, they expand outwards

What problems do increasing urbanised areas posed?

• Poor air and water quality

• Insufficient water supply available

• Waste disposal problems

• High energy consumption

• Overcrowding

• Unemployment > informal economy e.g shoe shining, drug dealing

What is rural urban migration

When people move from a rural area to an urban area

Suggest some PUSH factors from rural areas

• Conflict/wars

• Lack of services

• Poverty

• Bad signal

• Climate change - flooding, drougts (both bad for farming)

• Lack of housing

• Civil unrest

Suggest PULL factors for rural areas

• Safer, less crime

• More fertile land/natural enviroment

• Cheaper, much more affordable

• Cleaner air

Suggest PUSH factors from urban areas

• High crime

• Overpopulation

• Lack of resources/housing (due to overpopulation)

• More expensive

Suggest PULL factors for urban areas

• Job opportunities

• Better education

• Generally easier access to services

• Culture (food, religion)

What is the multiplier effect?

Investment that creaes a positive ‘snowball’ economic effect

Who is most likely to move to urban areas?

Young people - often its young men who send money home to family

Main issues created by rapid urbanisation in URBAN areas

• Overcrowded

• Competition for housing

• Services are strained

Main issues created by rapid urbanisation in RURAL areas

• Decline in population (especially young people leave, so it is left with aging population)

• Services might close (due to lack of people using it)

How many people live in urban areas (approximately)?

Around half of the world’s population (predicted to grow to 2/3rds of population by 2050!)

Problems with rapid urbanisation: CONGESTION. Summarize and give relevant statistics/examples

• Too many vehicles for road capacity; traffic, delays and gridlock etc leading to loss of time

• For example, Istanbul (Turkey), drivers lost an average of 105 hours in 2024 (most congested city in 2024!)

Problems with rapid urbanisation: TRANSPORT. Summarize and give relevant statistics/examples

• Intense pressure/demand due to congestion

• Large enviromental costs + pollution

• For example, in Mumbai: 65% more time spent in traffic than previously

Problems with rapid urbanisation: EMPLOYMENT. Summarize and give relevant statistics/examples

To be completed

Problems with rapid urbanisation: CRIME. Summarize and give relevant statistics/examples

• Increases crime rates due to greater social divide (wealth vs poverty)

• People turn to crime to help family (like theft)

• Competition for resources

• For example, in Kenya national murder is 5.27% per 100,000 people. For example, in Lagos lots of gangs control areas

Problems with rapid urbanisation: ENVIROMENTAL ISSUES. Summarize and give relevant statistics/examples

• Low economical value: can’t afford drought proof areas or waste disposal areas

• For example, Mumbai’s ‘mumbai smog’ - construction dust, high temp catches virus. In 2023, 29000 deaths from this, 2.9 billion lost in productivity

Problems with rapid urbanisation: HOUSING. Summarize and give relevant statistics/examples

• Hard to keep up with accomodation demands

• Lack of affordable housing