Urban Issues & Challenges (AQA GCSE Geography)

World or global cities are cities with status and power. They can be any size, but exert particular influences around the globe.

The three top world cities are London, New York, and Tokyo. These are the financial centres of the world, each with smaller networks of world cities feeding into them, making them alpha cities.

True.

Since the 1950s, South America, Asia and Africa have seen rapid urbanisation.

The three main reasons for urbanisation in LICs are:

• Mass rural-urban migration.

• The lure of the city and the opportunities it represents.

• Natural increase.

The opportunities that urban growth gives NEEs and LICs include:

• The growth of urban industrial development.

• Increased market share through industrial exports.

• Improved public services such as schools, clean water, electricity, etc.

• Improved living conditions and a safer environment through street lighting and policing.

The major challenge faced by LICs and NEEs is the growth of informal (squatter) settlements.

Informal or squatter settlements are unplanned and unregulated housing with little to no sanitary facilities, freshwater or reliable energy supply.

The UN estimates that 1 in 4 people on the planet will live in some form of informal settlement by 2030.

Very large, overcrowded informal housing areas are called mega-slums.

The serious risks that slum housing presents are fires, flooding and landslides.

Over 20 per cent of the population live in around 1000 favelas in and around the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The majority of the favela's residents illegally tap into the main electrical grid, making electricity poles in the street unsafe, with several households connecting to the one pole.

False.

Only a small number of households in Rio's favelas have access to safe, running water.

The government views favelas as eyesores, which portrays a poor image of the city.

The government has to balance improvements without attracting further inward migration and, therefore, further favela developments elsewhere.

The aim of the Favela Bairro Project was to provide essential services to residents and to recognise them formally as neighbourhoods of the city of Rio.

The success of the Favela Bairro Project has been mixed, but many living conditions have been improved. Full development has been restricted because of the topography of the area (steep hillsides).

False.

Abuja is Nigeria's capital city. Lagos used to be the capital until 1991.

Lagos Lagoon limits the growth of the city to the east.

False.

Wealthy residential areas are found on the Lagos and Victoria Islands and the Eko Atlantic.

Housing is mixed in Lagos and ranges from skyscrapers, luxury apartments and high-rise flats within the city centre to colonial mansions and gated communities on Victoria Island to tin shacks and floating slums on the outskirts.

Just 14% of the population of Lagos has a piped and treated water supply to their homes.

True.

The growth of Lagos has led to a widening of inequality. Most residents earn as little as $1.50 a day and are employed in the informal economy, with no minimum wage.

True.

Makoko is the largest squatter settlement in Lagos.

Approximately 75% of families live in just one room, meaning people live in cramped conditions that can spread disease.

False.

Many residents of squatter settlements are forced to work in the informal economic sector.

When the government (local or national) helps to improve an area, this is called a top-down strategy.

Bottom-up strategies are aimed at social development, with smaller community projects that are aimed at improving health, education, or food supplies at a local level.

The Eko Atlantic City is being built on land reclaimed from the sea and will be protected by an 8.5-kilometre sea wall because of the shortage of housing.

Examples of traffic management strategy in Lagos include:

• Creating alternative transport options like rail, building new bridges and roads.

• Using traffic apps and radio bulletins to alert drivers to congestion.

• Encouraging flexible work hours.

False.

There have been major improvements like rebuilding schools, building more schools in underserved areas, and the government paying for school exams.

The Makoko Regeneration Group gives residents a voice in planning for their community, identifying opportunities like new housing, energy, tourism, and water transportation.

A conurbation is an extended urban area that consists of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city.

The fastest-growing cities are in the southeast of England.

London is:

• The capital of the UK.

• The UK’s largest city, with 9.5 million people.

• A global financial centre.

True.

As a general rule, all towns and cities grow outward from a central core.

The four common features of all towns and cities are:

• A central core with a CBD, which is the oldest part of a city.

• An inner-city zone with older, compact terraced housing.

• A suburban zone with semi and detached housing with gardens.

• An urban fringe with clustered housing estates, out of town shopping and industrial parks.

Migration is the movement of people across an official boundary, either internationally or nationally, with the intention of creating a permanent place of residence.

True or False?

Internal and international migration have impacted the UK.

False.

The impacts of migration on the UK are both positive and negative.

The opportunities that urban change can bring are social, economic and environmental.

Deprivation is a standard of living that is below that of the majority of people within an area. It can represent a town, a city, region or a country.

False.

Deprivation is more than a lack of money. It includes levels of:

• health and education

• living environments

• crime rates

• unemployment etc.

Urban sprawl is the uncontrolled growth of towns and cities, encroaching on rural surroundings.

Greenfield sites are areas of land that have never been built on.

Brownfield sites are areas of previously built on land that have been reclaimed and repurposed.

Urban sustainability is about meeting the needs of today and future needs but also of the environment we live in.

Grey water has not been treated but is reused water or rainwater used in homes, such as laundry or toilets.

Urban greening is about including green spaces and elements into urban environments and infrastructure, such as streets, cities, roofs and walls.

Urban greening helps urban sustainability by:

• Reducing flooding.

• Increasing biodiversity.

• Reducing temperatures.

• Improving air quality.

Corporate sustainability is when companies attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by focusing on how their business affects the environment.

An ecotown is an ecologically aware urban housing centre. Built to be as sustainable as possible with as little impact on the surrounding environment.

Some transport strategies used for urban sustainability are:

• Encourage the use of public transport.

• Promote flexible or remote working hours.

• Encourage the use of bicycles.

• Promote car sharing.

• Investment in park and ride schemes.

• Introduce congestion charges.

Curitiba was the first city in Brazil to have a dedicated bus lane and has introduced a number of initiatives to make it a world leading sustainable city.

Curitiba has reduced urban flooding through urban greening, such as building parks and lakes.

Curitiba recycles over 70% of its waste and the poorer residents of the favelas are paid for the waste they collect: not in money but in food.