Urban Challenges in Developed Cities (Edexcel IGCSE Geography)

Urban Challenges in Developed Cities

• Challenges faced by developed world cities fall under 3 categories:

  • Social

  • Economic

  • Environmental

• These challenges are varied and unique to each city

Challenges Faced by Developed World Cities

General Examples:

Food

• Getting food for the over a million inhabitants is difficult and food is often imported from other countries

• Transportation costs add to the price the consumer has to pay

• This also increases the carbon footprint of the city

Energy

• All cities require energy for their residents and businesses 

• The production of energy is mostly through the burning of non-renewable fossil fuels

• With the continued growth of cities, energy security is becoming an issue

• A mix of energy types is needed depending on location - wind power isn't possible for all cities or a continuously reliable source (not windy every day)

• Regardless of how a city generates its energy, large amounts of resources will be used to add to a city's 'footprint'

Transport

• Any large city will face problems with congestion on roads due to the volume of people trying to get about the city

• Cars and lorries will be polluting through exhaust emissions, buses and trains can be electric, reducing their impact

• Despite technology helping more modern cars produce less pollution, the remaining city's transport infrastructure (rail, tube, buses, etc.) will also be under a lot of stress

Water

• The supply of safe, clean water poses a major challenge for developed cities 

• A megacity will often have a higher demand for water than it can supply

• This means that water needs to be brought in from other areas or other solutions need to be drawn up, such as a desalination plant

Waste

• Every person and business produces waste, making the combined rubbish of a city, huge

• Much of this waste will end up going to landfill; which is both expensive and wasteful

• Space is running out and new laws restrict the dumping of certain wastes in landfill sites, adding to a city's problems in dealing with its waste

Segregation

• There is a tendency for people to live near others of similar backgrounds and status

• This can be through employment, wealth, ethnicity etc. 

• This makes for little interaction between the groups, which isolates and limits social mobility

• Isolation breeds fear and suspicion of 'differences' within the urban area

Example Case Study of a World City - Hong Kong

Case Study: 

Hong Kong - A World City

• Hong Kong as one of the most advanced cities, has had to overcome a number of development issues

• Hong Kong has a land area of over 1000 km² with over 7m people

• It is a Special Administrative Region of China

• It is also an island and a city 

• It has a world city status in Asia

• It is amongst one of the world’s top financial and business centres

Economic Challenges

• De-industrialisation and globalisation

  • Hong Kong has benefitted from globalisation, but with its economy based on trade and financial services manufacturing has never been a major part of the economy, so it has not been affected by deindustrialisation as such

  • It is the world’s 11th-largest trading country and the world’s largest re-export centre, with the majority of the products being made in mainland China

• Food supply

  • With very little arable land on which to farm, agriculture contributes only 0.1% of its GDP

  • Most food is imported

• Energy supply

  • Energy supply is mostly from electricity

  • 75% is generated from fossil fuel power stations (mostly coal)

  • 25% is generated from nuclear power, imported from China

• Transport and traffic

  • Traffic congestion is a major issue for most cities, along with smog and traffic pollution

  • Hong Kong has a well-developed transport network, making movement around the city relatively easy

  • Of the 11 million daily journeys, over 90% are made on an integrated network of public transport - rail, bus, and ferry

  • Smog is still an issue, but not at levels seen in other cities

Social Challenges

• Social services

  • Hong Kong provides some good social services, particularly education and healthcare 

  • There is inadequate support for the ageing population, with some older residents scavenging and selling boxes and scrap to survive

• Housing

  • As one of the world's most densely populated islands, the only way Hong Kong can grow is upwards

  • It has become a vertical city

  • Around half of Hong Kong's residents live in government-rented public housing, which is mainly very high-rise apartments

  • Private housing is ranked 3rd in the world as the most expensive

• Social mobility and polarisation

  • Social mobility is reduced as private house prices are high which makes it extremely difficult for people to move from the public to the private sector

  • This creates dramatic social polarisation, with extreme wealth, poverty and deprivation found together in the compact urban area

• Poverty and deprivation

  • Despite its overall prosperity, Hong Kong has pockets of poverty and deprivation

  • There were a number of squatter settlements in Kowloon City, but these were cleared out in the 1990s

  • However, a new form of squatter settlement has arisen to accommodate the homeless - the 'penthouse slum' or 'rooftop shanty town'

  • These are illegal homes and are thought to be unique to Hong Kong

  • Restrictions by the government on access to social housing, along with the high cost of private renting, people have been forced to utilise the spaces on the roofs of apartment blocks

  • Other forms of cheap housing are obtained through renting a locking cage in a dormitory room with several other people

  • These cages allow just enough space to sleep in, whilst having some safety in being able to lock personal items away during the day

• Ethnic segregation

  • 94% of the population is of Chinese descent, 6% are from the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal and India

  • Most are employed in within the domestic service industry

  • Also, British, Japanese, American, Canadian and Korean employees work within the higher paying jobs of the commercial and financial sector whilst also living in the wealthier areas of Hong Kong

Environmental Challenges

• Ecological footprint

  • Burning of large amounts of fossil fuels

  • The need to reclaim large amounts of land from the sea to create new space for urban growth

  • This subsequently damages the marine environment

  • Smog drifts across the territory from industrial developments on the other side of the Pearl River Delta

• Waste disposal

  • Hong Kong's 7 million residents produce an estimated 6.4 million tonnes of waste a year

  • Until recently, this was dumped in landfill and land reclamation sites

  • Increased recycling and waste-to-energy are being attempted

• Water supply

  • Providing a water supply is difficult as Hong Kong territory has few rivers and lakes

  • Groundwater sources are difficult to access

  • A growing population with seasonal variations in rainfall, means Hong Kong has to import 70% of its water supply from mainland China, adding to a deepening ecological footprint

• Sustainability

  • Because of its size and economic success, Hong Kong is a huge and concentrated consumer of resources

  • These resources range from land and water to energy and recreational spaces

  • All this adds to the deepness of Hong Kong's ecological footprint 

  • Hong Kong's challenge lies in becoming sustainable, which is some way away