Urban Issues and Challenges

• Urban Area


  Built up areas like towns and cities
• Urbanisation


  When an increasing proportion of a country's population lives in towns and cities (urban areas). It measures the changing percentage of a country's population living in urban areas. Caused by rural-urban migration and natural increase.
• Rural-Urban Migration


  The movement of people from the countryside to the cities (affected by push and pull factors)
• Natural Increase


  When the birth rate is higher than the death rate
• Megacity


  An urban area with over 10 million people living there (e.g. Mumbai)
• Social Opportunities


  • Improve people's quality of life, they include better access to services (health & education) and resources (water & energy)
• Economic Opportunities


  • Enable people to improve their standard of living - so they are richer than they used to be
• Urban Greening


  About how we create, increase and protect green spaces in urban areas to make cities more sustainable
• Urban Deprivation


  The economic and social challenge where people in cities don't have the same amount of resources, services and opportunities as others. It is caused by poor housing, low incomes, few qualifications and unemployment.
• Environmental Sustainability


  • Protecting resources so that future generations can benefit from them
• Social Sustainability


  • Ensuring that local people are involved in decisions to improve their quality of life
• Economic Sustainability

  • Ensuring local people benefit financially from the projects in their local area
• Dereliction


  When buildings fall into disuse - because the owners have died or the business has gone bankrupt. It is an environmental problem because the ground can be contaminated and the buildings look unattractive and can be unsafe.
• Urban Sprawl


  The expansion of an area into the land that surrounds the city where there is more space for housing which is lower density. It is the unplanned growth of urban areas into surrounding countryside.
• Rural-Urban Fringe


  The area of transition found on the edge of an urban area where urban and rural land uses are mixed such as housing estates, hospitals, golf courses, retail parks, industrial estates, roads and farmland. It is often under pressure from urban sprawl.
• Sustainable City


  An urban area where residents have a way of life that will last a long time. The environment is not damaged, local people can earn an income and are involved in design making.
• Green Belt


  An area of land surrounding a city where development is restricted.
• Urban Regeneration


  An attempt to reverse the social, economic and environmental decline of an urban area.
• Why is Congestion an Issue in Urban Areas?

  • Makes areas less attractive
  • Creates noise pollution
  • Causes stress and road rage
  • Congestion costs businesses money for late deliveries time wasted etc.
  • Increases accidents
  • Causes increased air pollution from engines - especially CO2 and NOx
  • Makes people late for work
• Formal Employment


  Legal, pays tax, often in a transnational company, permanent jobs, regular wages, fixed prices, e.g. police, army, civil service
• Informal Employment


  Often outside the law, no government assistance, often self-employed, no sick day/holiday pay, irregular hours, uncertain wages, often low standards of goods, employs 1000s of unskilled workers
• Brownfield Sites


  Abandoned areas that once had buildings
• Greenfield Sites


  Have never been built on
• Pros and Cons of Building on Brownfield

  • Positives: Reduce dereliction as old inner city industrial areas are revives, produces more housing and attracts employment opportunities. It is also easier to get planning permission on brownfield. Infrastructure already exists (electricity, drainage etc.)
  • Negatives: Traffic congestion may be a problem as old road networks are no longer sufficient for all the commuters. There will also be a lot of contamination making the sites unsafe
• Pros and Cons of Building on Greenfield

  • Positives: Land is often cheaper on the outskirts of towns (more space) and cities, have good access to towns but less congestion. New sites are also easier to build on as there is a fresh start.
  • Negatives: Using greenfield destroys habitats and reduces green space. It also sucks out the core from towns as shops and business relocate on the edges of towns.
• Global Urbanisation Rates

  • More than 50% of the world's population currently live in urban areas (3.9 billion people) and this is increasing everyday.
  • HICs: Had highest urbanisation rate between 1850-1900 due to the Industrial Revolution. Most people already live in urban areas in HICs now and their urban growth has slowed. People desire a better quality of life and so move away from the overcrowded cities and work from home/commute.
  • NEEs: Most rapidly urbanising between 1950-2000, from 2020 the rate of increase is expected to slow down.
  • LICs: Rapidly urbanising between 1950-2000. However, currently, not many people live in urban areas. So, between 2000 and 2050 LICs are projected to have almost doubled the percentage living in urban areas.
• Push Factors Encouraging People To Leave Rural Areas

  • Natural Disasters e.g. floods and earthquakes, can damage property and farmland, which people can't afford to repair.
  • Mechanisation of agricultural equipment - farms require fewer workers = les jobs.
  • Desertification (land is unproductive so people can no longer support themselves).
  • Conflict or war can cause people to flee their homes.
  • Poor sanitation, health care, housing, electricity etc.
• Pull Factors Encouraging People To Move To Urban Areas


  • More jobs (often better paid), access to better health care and education.
  • To join other family members who have already moved.
  • People think they will have a better quality of life.
• How Does Natural Increase Cause Urbanisation

  It is normally young people who move to cities to find work. These people then have children in the cities, which increases the proportion of the population living in urban areas. Also, better healthcare in urban areas means people live longer (reducing death rate) again increasing the proportion of people in urban areas.
• Describe the Distribution of Megacities Globally

  • Highest concentration in Asia, fewer are found in South/North America, Africa and Europe. They are also often found in coastal locations and in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Why Is There A Growing Number of Megacities?

  • Migration, economic development (jobs), location (ports on coasts or busy transport routes are good for trade) and natural increase.