Urban Challenges in Emerging Cities (Edexcel IGCSE Geography)
Revision Note
Urban challenges in emerging cities
Housing issues
Urban populations are increasing at a rapid rate
Availability and affordability of housing cannot keep up with the rate of population increase
This leads to people building their own homes on any vacant land using scrap materials like cardboard, corrugated iron and plastic
These homes are unplanned and unregulated housing (informal settlements) with little sanitary facilities, freshwater or reliable energy supply
The settlements are usually on land not owned by the people building them and are found:
in areas of no economic value
on the urban edges or fringes
along main roads or railways
clinging onto the side of steep slopes
Depending on the country, these informal settlements or squatter settlements are also called:
Favelas in Brazil
Shanty towns in the West Indies and Canada
Bustees on the Indian subcontinent
Skid row in the USA
Townships in South Africa
In developing countries, about a quarter of urban inhabitants (1.6 billion) live in these impoverished squatter settlements
By 2030, the UN estimates that 1 in 4 people on the planet will live in some form of informal settlement
Some cities have 'mega-slums', which are very large overcrowded informal settlements usually within megacities
The largest examples are found in:
Nairobi, Kenya with a population of 1.5 million crowded into three sprawling slums of mud huts and tin shacks - Kibera being the largest of the three
Neza, Mexico City, Mexico with a population of 1.1 million people
Dharavi, Mumbai, India with 1 million people in a warren of narrow lanes, interconnected shacks and single-room living spaces that double as factories
Orangi Town, Karachi, Pakistan with an estimated population of 2.4 million people across 8000 acres of concrete block homes with 8-10 people sharing two or three rooms
Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa with a population of 400,000 in iron and wooden shacks
These unregulated housing areas present serious risks such as fire, flooding and landslides
Squatter settlements typically suffer from housing which is:
made from poor-quality materials
overcrowded
small
built very close together
The settlements have restricted access to water and electricity supplies
There are little to no sanitation facilities and no solid waste disposal
This leads to a polluted and degraded local environment
There are inadequate health facilities
Together with poor living conditions, this increases sickness and death rates
The population in these areas have insecure living conditions as they may be forcibly removed by landowners or other authorities
Informal economy
Issues of the informal economy
Megacities have rapidly growing populations
Job creation cannot match the pace of growth
As a result, unemployment and underemployment are not unusual
People will often work on street corners doing informal work including:
shining shoes
giving haircuts
taxing
selling water or food
These jobs are often unskilled and labour-intensive and require little money to set up
The informal economy leaves cities without revenue to provide adequate services as workers pay no taxes
It also makes wages and working conditions difficult to regulate
Urban pollution
Energy supplies:
Electricity supplies are often inadequate and unreliable in megacities
This results in frequent blackouts and brownouts
Power outages reduce foreign investment and quality of living for residents
Power theft is also rampant in megacities
Without electricity for cooking, biomass (such as wood or dung) is often used by the poorest households
This contributes to low air quality and greater household fire risk
Sanitation and water supplies
The UN estimates that:
over 1 billion people do not have access to adequate supplies of fresh, clean drinking water
approximately 2 billion do not have adequate access to sanitation facilities, organised sewage disposal or waste collection
The lack of safe water means that people have to find alternative sources which may lead some people to drink from pools of water on the ground
This poses a serious health risk, as these conditions make it a perfect breeding ground for diseases such as cholera, and accounts for 2 million deaths each year worldwide
Open water attracts mosquitoes which may lead to the spread of malaria
Open defecation and industrial waste pollute water sources
Transportation
Roads in developing and emerging cities were never designed to take large volumes of traffic
A drop in the rate of extreme poverty around the world makes vehicle ownership possible
This worsens congestion and pollution
Two features add to the congestion problems:
Firstly, the type of vehicle can restrict movement
It is not uncommon for 2-stroke engine taxis (such as auto-rickshaws or "tuk tuks"), cycle rickshaws, bullocks, elephants, motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks to all share the same roads
Because these forms of transport move at different speeds and with different manoeuvrability they often block each other's flow, creating congestion and pollution (noise and air)
Secondly, traffic is also hampered by a culture of "unstandardized" driver training
Without a significant culture of road rules, traffic becomes more gridlocked
This adds to pollution through exhaust emissions (smog)
Air pollution from using old, un-serviced vehicles that emit dirty and harmful fumes adds to serious health problems such as asthma and bronchitis
Unregulated factory emissions pollute not only the air but water sources as well
Quality of life
Cycle of poverty
Developing cities have high levels of inequality
Many low-income families are 'pulled' to informal settlements around towns and cities looking for a sense of 'belonging' with others in the same situation
For others without a strong social network or cities with recently arrived large populations, high levels of crime, begging and petty theft are more common
Overall, this creates urban poverty that degrades both the physical and social environment around that area
This makes it difficult for people to escape from poverty and they fall victim to the vicious 'cycle of poverty’
Urban poverty becomes ingrained within the city
Combined with a lack of suitable work, housing, water supply, sewerage, solid waste disposal and pollution, the quality of life for people in emerging and developing cities is low
Deprivation
Deprivation is connected with poverty
It occurs when a person’s well-being falls below an acceptable minimum standard
The minimum standard varies from country to country and applies to several different aspects of daily life
In the UK, there is a multiple deprivation index (MDI)
The UK MDI has 7 different indicators:
Income
Employment
Health
Education
Access to housing and services
Crime
Living environment
It is more than just not having enough money
Quality of life index
The Quality of Life Index (QLI) looks at the availability of eight different variables:
Political and economic stability
Legal system and civil rights
Health and medical services
Safety
Climate
Costs and incomes
Education
The Index reflects the differences between emerging, developing and developed countries
The higher the index number the better the quality of living in that area
Low quality of life
Poverty and deprivation are passed on from one generation to the next
Children will tend to get less parental support and usually have to attend inadequate schools
They also tend to leave school early with few qualifications
Lack of qualifications means they cannot find well-paid employment and rely on social handouts
Children they have will be born into this cycle and so families remain ‘trapped’ and unable to improve their circumstances
This feeds into a lower quality of life
Example case study of Rio de Janeiro & Nairobi
Case Study
A developing City - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Background
Brazil is an important agricultural and industrial power, with the strongest economy in Latin America
Brasilia is its capital
In 1950, Rio de Janeiro (Rio) was the capital of Brazil with a population of 3 million
Today it is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo) with a population of over 12.5 million
Rio is a major trading port, with oil refining and shipbuilding industries
The main exports are iron, steel and crude petroleum
Rio is also a major tourist destination and hosted the 2016 summer Olympics and Paralympics
Migration
Rio is experiencing rapid growth due to rural to urban migration in search of jobs
Despite having a large agricultural sector, there is no land ownership and few opportunities for advancement
It is difficult and unprofitable farming, with low wages and huge wealth disparities
For many internal migrants, the city offers:
better job opportunities
higher wages
better schooling
healthcare
the potential for a higher quality of life
Housing
Inward migration has put pressure on services and amenities which has led to a housing shortage
Most rural migrants begin life in the favelas
Rocinha is the largest, most developed informal settlement, just south of Rio
Over 20 per cent of the population live in around 1000 favelas in and around the city
Favelas are found mainly on the edges of the city, on poor-quality land that is not suitable for urban development
People have no legal rights to the land they occupy
Many of the favelas in Rio are now well-established
Over 95% of favela homes are built of solid materials, such as brick, with 75% having a tiled floor
Some favelas have electricity, running water, televisions, computers and access to the Internet
The newer and less well-established neighbourhoods are overcrowded, consisting of shelters made from materials like timber and corrugated iron
Transport
The rapid expansion of Rio from the 1950s was not supported by the necessary urban infrastructure planning
Rio de Janeiro’s roads are seriously congested
Rail services are limited
Private bus services are the main means of public transport
The number of cars in the city is increasing as the population rises and people become wealthier
Underground rail services are efficient but with limited stops along its network
Education
Children start school at 4 years old
School days typically last between 3 and 4 hours, due to lack of space in the classrooms
There is no strict national curriculum in Brazil, but teachers follow national guidelines for the state (county) that they are teaching in
Education is often low quality, due to Brazil investing late in its education system
Many of Rio's public schools are in desperate need of repair adding to poor educational attainment
Rio has the highest rate in Brazil of non-attendance in school, teenage pregnancy and lack of opportunities for further education
Violence can be a barrier to education as in some neighbourhoods it is not always safe for children to travel to school
Crime Rates
Crime rates have increased as the city has grown
This is due in part to high unemployment rates and petty crime such as pickpocketing
Rio has a problem with youth crime and gang violence within the favelas
Many residents feel unsafe in their homes as the gangs control the streets with guns, and trade in drugs
Environmental challenges
The majority of the favela's residents illegally tap into the main electrical grid
This makes electricity poles in the street unsafe with several households connecting to the one pole
Many households in Rio do not have access to safe, running water as many of the main water pipes are damaged and are leaking
Very few houses in the favelas have water directly to their houses
Access to doctors and healthcare varies across the city
Healthcare access for people in the favelas is poor, raising the risk of spreading diseases such as cholera and typhoid
Urban sprawl is an issue as the city continues to grow rapidly, encroaching on surrounding rural (countryside) areas
Air pollution is a major problem, particularly from traffic congestion in the city centre and from industrial zones
Waste disposal is a particular problem in the favelas, where access is difficult and there are no organised sewage or waste recovery systems
Sewage isn't properly treated or disposed of
It often ends up in local rivers and Guanabara Bay, polluting the water and damaging the marine wildlife there
Case Study
An emerging city - Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
Kibera is the largest informal settlement in Kenya
Over 60% of the people who live in Nairobi live in informal settlements
Between 800,000 and 1 million people live in Kibera 255 ha (around the size of 255 football pitches)
The settlement has an extremely high population density of 1 meter of floor space per person
There are around 100,000 orphans under the age of 18 years – this is due in part to the AIDS epidemic in Kibera
Due to rapid expansion, Kibera lacks sewers and has poor levels of sanitation, making diseases the main killer
Unemployment
Kibera is near the industrial area of Nairobi where up to 50% of the available workforce are employed - usually as unskilled labour
Changaa is a cheap alcoholic drink, which is widely available, and very strong (over 50% alcohol)
It is usually made incorrectly, and has a very high level of methanol
The cost is only KES 10 (7p) per glass and after a couple of glasses people become very drunk
With over 50% unemployment in Kibera, many start drinking early in the morning leading to problems of violence, crime, rape etc.
Several charities are trying to help by showing Changaa makers how to make the drink less dangerous
Cheap drugs and glue sniffing are an increasing problem
Initially taken to alleviate boredom but then people find themselves hooked, again leading to a rise in crime rates
Land ownership
The Government owns all the land
10% of people are shack owners and many of these people own many other shacks and let them out to tenants
The remaining 90% of residents are tenants with no rights
Housing
The average size of a home is 12ft x 12ft built with mud walls, a corrugated tin roof with a dirt or concrete floor
The cost is about KES 700 a month (£6)
These 'shacks' often house up to 8 or more with many sleeping on the floor
Electricity
Only about 20% of Kibera has electricity
The UN-Habitat is providing electricity to some parts of Kibera
This includes street lighting, security lighting and connection to shacks
Whilst this costs KES 900 per shack (£6.50), in most cases cannot afford it
Water
Water was collected from the Nairobi dam until recently
As the dam water is polluted, typhoid and cholera were prevalent in Kibera due to a lack of sanitation
Now there are two water mains in Kibera, one from the municipal council and one from the World Bank
Residents pay KES 3 per 20 litres (25 pence) for clean, safe water
Sewage
Most of Kibera has no toilet facilities
One latrine (hole in the ground) is shared by up to 50 shacks
Once full, young boys are employed to empty the latrine and take the contents to the river, further polluting the water and spreading diseases
UN-Habitat and a few other agencies are trying to help improve this situation but it is a slow process
Medical facilities and HIV/AIDS Clinics
Kibera has no government clinics or hospitals
The providers are NGOs (charitable organisations): Oxfam, Red Cross, MSF, churches plus others
All people are encouraged to have a free HIV test and if positive to take free generic ARV medicines
Many men in Kibera do not use condoms and with the availability of Changaa, many girls become pregnant
At any one time about 50% of 16 to 25 yr. old girls are pregnant
Most of these pregnancies are unwanted, resulting in abortions, which are due to lack of medical care are dangerous in such a poor area as Kibera
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