Geography Paper 2

• megacities are the world's largest cities with a population over 10 million. Tokyo, Japan is the largest megacity with around 38 million people.
• Urban trends of megacities

  • most of the megacities are found on the coasts of countries except for Paris.
  • MIC or LIC are developing and rapidly urbanising like Jakarta
• factors which affect the rate of urbanisation

  • rural to urban migration
  • natural increase
• rural to urban migration


  when people from rural or countryside areas are moving into cities

  • mostly young adults who are leaving behind an ageing population in the rural areas because of more opportunities
• natural increase


  when the birth rate is higher than the death rate.

  life expectancy is higher and people are living for longer due to more advance medical treatments
• Push factors = reasons which cause people to move out of an area

  Pull factors = reasons which attracts people to a new area
• Push factors

  • poor employment
  • poor education
  • lack of medical supplies
  • unreliable salary and work
  • difficult climate
  • high mortality rate
  • land ownership problems
  • lack of facilities
  • war or political conflict
• Pull factors

  • more facilities and infrastructure
  • more job opportunities
  • educational opportunities
  • political stability and freedom
  • safe atmosphere
• urban growth


  when the city physically grows
• urbanisation


  when the population size in an urban area increases
• rates of urbanisation in richer parts of the world have been increasing since 1950s but the rate is slowing down since 1990s
• there is a 20% difference in rates of urbanisation between developed and less developed parts of the world
• choropleth maps

  • positive = it is easy to read
  • negative = it hides internal differences