Issues of Urbanisation (Edexcel IGCSE Geography)

Issues of Urbanisation

• Urban areas offer a variety of opportunities to people and businesses

• For others, migration can result in poor housing, deprivation, and unemployment

• Rapid and unplanned urbanisation creates a range of problems, including congestion, transport, employment, crime, and poor environmental quality

• The speed of development is greatest in emerging countries, e.g. Sao Paulo in Brazil, which grew from 7 million people to over 20 million in 40 years and is now the second largest urban area in the Americas

Congestion

• Rapid development leads to large-scale congestion of people and industry

• As poor rural migrants arrive, there is a lack of affordable housing and demand is high

• Transportation issues mean people will have to live close to their employment

• Temporary or informal settlements arise, adding to overcrowding and poor living conditions, so adding to already cramped/congested conditions around the city

Transport

• Provision of roads and public transport tend to be poor in quality, size, and reliability

• Transport systems become easily overloaded and overcrowded

• Urban congestion varies over the week, time of day, the weather, and the season

• High numbers of vehicles create high levels of atmospheric pollution: smog

Housing

• Housing is expensive in relation to general wages, with many families sharing one house or just a room

• Opportunities for landlords to set high rents and no building maintenance (slum landlord)

• Poor transport links, make inner city housing the most desirable and expensive

• Many houses have no running water or sanitation

• Waste removal is inadequate or non existent, leading to the spread of diseases

• Lack of access to electricity leads to people burning wood for fuel

Employment

• Many people are unable to find formal, regular employment leading to high levels of unemployment, underemployment, self-employment or informal employment

• The informal sector is the main employment for many people in emerging and developing cities

• Even when there are new factories with regular paid opportunities, these are often too far away from areas where newcomers live

Crime

• Crime is concentrated in areas of high population densities: the congested areas

• Crime is partly due to a lack of job opportunities and large-scale unemployment

• Main criminal activity is a drug and human trafficking, drug abuse, violence (domestic and social), rape, and robbery

• The poorest areas of the city (slums) are usually ruled by gangs and intimidation

• The wealthier areas see car theft, kidnapping, and property damage

Education

• Rapid growth means a lack of schools, colleges, and universities

• This leads to a lack of general education and skills

• Most families expect their children to work to help support the family

• Literacy & numeracy rates are lowest in emerging countries

Environmental Issues

• Waste products and disposal are major issues

• Rubbish dumps are usually just outside city limits with limited or no collection of waste leading to rats etc. 

• Most emerging cities have no adequate sanitation or sewage disposal and open defecation is common in local rivers, increasing the spread of disease

• Air pollution is common from traffic congestion and industrial manufacturing, leading to breathing issues

• Water pollution is widespread as rivers are used to dump chemicals and other toxic wastes due to a lack of regulations

• Water shortages are common due to over-abstraction and poor quality, forcing people to buy water from sellers at a high price

• Noise pollution from traffic, people talking, music in public places, etc. 

• Light pollution from street lighting, homes, shops, factories, and offices

• Visual pollution from graffiti, slum housing, traffic congestion, advertising, etc. 

• Urban spread into the surrounding countryside: unplanned and unregulated