URBAN ISSUES + CHALLENGES

• brownfield site


  land that has been used, abandoned and now awaits some new use. Commonly found across urban areas, particularly in the inner city.
• greenfield site


  a plot of land, often in a rural or on the edge of an urban area that has not yet been subject to any building development.
• dereliction


  abandoned buildings and wasteland. Economic opportunities and chances for people to improve their standard of living through employment.
• gentrification


  an area that is traditionally low income or working class becoming wealthier and more middle class.
• green belt


  an area of protected land around a city where building and development is restricted
• inequalities


  differences between poverty and wealth, as well as in people's wellbeing and access to things like jobs, housing and education. inequalities may occur in housing provision, access to services, access to open land, safety and security
• informal economy


  jobs which are unofficial and do not pay tax to the government
• informal settlement (slums or squatter settlements)


  an area of poor-quality housing, lacking in amenities such as water supply, sewerage and electricity, which often develops spontaneously and illegally in a city in an LIC/NEE
• integrated transport systems


  when different transport methods connect together, making journeys smoother and therefore public transport more appealing. This should lead to fewer cards on the read and less congestion
• mega-cities


  an urban area with a total population in excess of ten million people
• migration


  when people move from one area to another with intention
• natural increase


  birth rate > death rate
• pull factor


  negative aspects of someone's location that encourage someone to leave their home and move to another area/place
• push factor


  attractive features of a place that make a migrant want to leave their home and move to that place
• pollution


  the presence of chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment
• quality of life


  the standard of health, comfort and happiness experienced by an individual or group
• rural-urban fringe


  a zone of transition between the built-up area and the countryside, where there is often competition for land use. It's a zone of mixed land uses, from out of town shopping centres and golf courses to farmland and motorways
• sanitation


  designed to protect public health, including the provision of clean water and the disposal of sewage and waste
• social deprivation


  the degree to which an individual or an area is deprived of services, decent housing, adequate income and local employment
• social opportunities 


  chances for people to improve their quality of life, for instance access to education and health care
• traffic congestion


  occurs when there is too great a volume of traffic for roads to cope with, so traffic jams form and traffic slows to a crawl
• urban change


  the changes that happen to an urban area over time, determined by a number of factors
• urban greening


  the process of increasing and preserving open space such as public parks and gardens in urban areas
• urbanisation


  the process by which an increasing percentage of a country's population comes to live in towns and cities. Rapid urbanisation is a feature of many LICs and NEEs
• urban regeneration


  improving old parts of a town/city by either installing modern facilities in old buildings (known a renewal) or opting for redevelopment
• urban sprawl


  the unplanned growth of urban areas into the surrounding countryside
• waste recycling


  the process if extracting and reusing useful substances found in waste
• HIC (high income country)


  rich industrialising countries which are wealthy and generally have a good standard of living.
• LIC (low income country)


  poorer countries that are said to still be 'developing' - wealth, quality of life are not as high as in HICs
• NEE (newly emerging economy)


  include the Asian 'tigers' as well as other emerging industrial nations such as Malaysia, China and the Philippines
• push factors of urbanisation:

  • droughts
  • flooding
  • remote
  • poor housing and harvests
  • little to no jobs
  • no food or water - no clean water
• pull factors of urbanisation:

  • better schools
  • job opportunities
  • clean water
  • modern
  • accessibility
  • healthcare
• advantages of brownfield sites:

  • public transport is better in urban areas
  • reduces need for urban sprawl
  • new development can improve the urban environment
  • sites have been available since the industrial decline
• disadvantages of brownfield sites:

  • old buildings need to be demolished first
  • land is more expensive
  • ground needs to be decontaminated
  • existing services may be overwhelmed
• advantages of greenfield sites:

  • land is cheaper
  • more biodiverse
  • prettier views
• disadvantages of greenfield sites:

  • public transports is worse in rural areas
  • valuable farmland or land for recreation may be lost
  • natural habitats may be destroyed
  • increases urban sprawl
• greenbelt


  a ring of land around a town or city to limit urban sprawl
• how does a greenbelt protect land?

  it offers space for flooding and keeps the land permanently open
• disadvantages of greenbelts:

  • house prices increase
  • areas around can be more expensive