Urbanisation

• Urban change

  Process where cities, towns change to meet the needs of their population. E.g. how land is used, types of buildings constructed etc.
• Urbanisation

  Growth of size and number of urban areas (towns/cities). Cause of population change.
• Effects of urbanisation

  • Higher natural increase in population
  • Urban sprawl
  • Immigration
  • Urban decay
  • Migration within city
  • Urban redevelopment and urban renewal
  • Rural to urban migration
  • New towns
• Dublin population versus rural Ireland population

  • Dublin can't accommodate all those who wish to live within its borders, so surrounding Meath, Kildare & Wicklow have also experienced big increases in their population
• Push factors for rural to urban migration

  • Lack of services, e.g. hospitals and health services
  • Lack of access to third-level education
  • Lack of job opportunities
  • Limited number of leisure or entertainment activities
• Pull factors for rural to urban migration

  • Access to services
  • Access to third-level education
  • Access to employment, job opportunities and career progression
  • Perceived better quality of life: access to services as well as to leisure and entertainment activities
• 4 main effects of urban change

  • Urban sprawl
  • Urban decay
  • Urban redevelopment & renewal
  • New Towns
• Urban sprawl

  Rapid spread of urban developments e.g. houses, shops on undeveloped rural land around the city
• Effects of urban sprawl

  • Valuable farmland used for building purposes
  • Old villages lose their unique identity
  • Some large suburbs are 'boring' 'soulless' places with few amenities
• Lack of affordable accommodation in Dublin has led to an increase in cost in urban areas surrounding Dublin
• Urban decay

  Deterioration of urban area due to neglect or age
• Causes of urban decay in Dublin

  • Industrial development - industries needed more land to develop & relocated
  • Rehousing project - government rehomed people from poor inner-city slums to new developments on the outskirts
  • Traffic congestion - made it unattractive place to live
• Dublin city experienced urban decay from 1960-1990
• The Celtic Tiger boom ended suddenly in 2008, impacting the inner-city as people had less money to spend and shop owners couldn't afford rent in the city & were forced to shut
• Urban redevelopment

  Old, run-down buildings are demolished & residents moved to new suburbs. New shops & businesses are then built on the valuable inner-city land.
• Urban renewal


  Old buildings are restored or replaced by new buildings. New facilities built to encourage residents to remain. New facilities built to encourage residents to remain e.g Docklands
• New towns


  Planned towns built outside of the town but still close to the city to reduce urban sprawl. Provide homes, services & jobs for thousands of people.
• New town development in Dublin

  • Adamstown - new planned town development, began Feb. 2005, 16 km west of Dublin city, housing up to 25,000 people
• Development of Adamstown slowed due to the recession, with many houses remaining empty and only 2 shops & a salon completed by 2015
• Work on Adamstown restarted in 2017, with a new housing estate being constructed and the town winning several national awards for sustainability
• Urban settlement: In Ireland, an urban area is any

  built-up settlement, such as a town or city, with a

  population of over 1,500 people.
• Rural settlement: In Ireland, rural settlement is any

  area of settlement outside larger towns and cities, such as small villages in the countryside.

  (Viking settlement and Norman settlement)
• • Dublin is Ireland’s primate city (pop. x2 size of next largest city )Urban settlement has developed in clusters around Dublin city. (Spread out)
• 1. Physical factors

  Ireland’s first settlers landed on shore about

  9000 years ago

  • Hunter-Gatherers
  • Lived nomadic lifestyles (moving place to place)
  • First farmers came later = settled permanently
• The first physical feature that influences settlement Altitude and relief
• The first physical feature that influences settlement Altitude and relief

  Flat or gently sloping lands are easier to build on, farm on and build infrastructure, such as road networks, on.

  • Less exposed to the weather, sheltered from winds and warmer
• The second physical factor Fertile land, found

  in flat lowland river valleys, allows for

  better crop growth.
• 3 physical factor : Drainage

  Most Irish towns and villages are found in areas

  that are well drained by rivers. Areas that were marshy were avoided due to flooding

  risks
• ● For 1st settlers rivers = provided routes through

  country/ to coastline

  ● Water for drinking, cooking etc.

  ● Settlements were built on Dry points where there was no flooding

  ● Towns where bridges were built became bridging points. Roads usually converged (met) on these points.

  ● Port activities e.g trading = growth of urban areas at the mouth of rivers

  mouth
• One problem that is found in Dublin is traffic congestion. This has made the place unattracted to live. Traffic congestion can also lead to air pollution through the gas release/CO2 emissions from the vehicles. This is harmful to human health as it can cause health problems. Although cars release CO2 it isn’t as much as when they are in traffic as they’re crawling on the road and undergoing acceleration and deceleration. The increase of CO2 missions can result in climate change and global warming cause an ice cap is the mode and results in wildfires .
• a brownfield site is any previously developed land that is not currently in use and that could be redeveloped for a new purpose, e.g., a hotel complex or apartment block. The land was previously used for industrial or commercial purposes, e.g., inner city factories and warehouses, which may be run down and unsightly. A new building development could improve the urban environment.
• Urban sprawl is the rapid growth of housing from urban areas outwards into the countryside. Urban sprawl refers to the spreading of the city or urban environment into the surrounding countryside, e.g., North County Dublin. This can occur unregulated in some instances, which can lead to major infrastructural problems.
• The negative effects associated with urban sprawl include the loss of valuable agricultural land to housing developments. This can be seen in areas in North County Dublin such as Rush and Lusk where agricultural land was rezoned for housing. This will lead to a reduction in food production in Ireland. This isn’t people would be buying food with high levels of air miles, this isn’t good for the environment as it adds to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and increases climate change.