Challenges & Opportunities (Edexcel GCSE Geography B)

Urban Decline

• London has experienced periods of decline and growth

Deindustrialisation

• Between 1960 -1980 there was a rapid decrease in industry in London

• Containerisation led to larger ships which could not be accommodated in the London Docks

• The last docks closed in 1981

• Manufacturing across London relied on the goods coming in through the docks

  • The closure of the docks led to decline in manufacturing in areas like Lea Valley, Tottenham and Stratford

• Between 1966-74 almost 400,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in London

• In 1971 one million people were employed in manufacturing by 2004 it was only 245,000

• The unemployment rate in 1981 was almost 18%

• Over 60% of the Docklands area was derelict or vacant in 1981

Depopulation

• The population of the Docklands area fell by 20% as people moved away to seek work

• London's population in 1961 was 8 million

• By 1991 it had fallen to 6.8 million

Decentralisation and suburbanisation

• People were able to move to the suburbs of London due to:

  • Improvements in transport - underground network completed by 1930

  • Increased bus network

  • Increased car ownership

• People were attracted by: 

  • Nicer environment

  • Less pollution

  • Less traffic and congestion

  • Larger homes with gardens

  • More space

• Businesses, retail and industry followed leading to increased decentralisation

• Examples of decentralisation from London include:

  • Shopping centres such as Bluewater, Dartford and Centrale, Croydon

  • Retail parks such as Cork Tree, Tottenham and Grove Farm, Ilford

  • Business parks such as Uxbridge Business Park and Riverwalk Business Park in Enfield

• The businesses are attracted by:

  • More space

  • Cheaper rents

  • Nicer environment

  • Customers and workers living nearby in suburbs

  • Greater accessibility 

  • More parking space

E-commerce

• There has been an increase in online shopping, particularly since the Covid 19 pandemic

• This has led more businesses to locate outside the city as they do not need to be located near to customers 

Urban Growth

• London has experienced growth in recent years

• The population has increased to 8.8 million in 2021

• The growth is not even, most has occurred on the west and east edges

• This has led to urban sprawl

• Growth has been limited by the green belt 

• This has led to growth outside the green belt of towns such as Reading and Maidstone

Re-urbanisation

• The movement of people back to the urban areas

• There are a number of reasons for this in London:

  • Clearance of industrial areas has created space for new developments on brownfield sites

  • Gentrification means that high earners now want to live in the city to be close to work, culture and leisure

  • Investment by TNCs has created jobs in their headquarters such as HSBC and Unilever, many TNCs have their European headquarters in London such as Bloomberg and Starbucks

  • Culture and leisure also attract people back to live in the city:

    • The 2012 Olympic Games

    • Large numbers of museums and galleries

    • West End for theatre

    • O2 Arena