Geography

• Urbanisation


  Increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas
• Settlement hierarchy


  • Megacity
  • City
  • Large town
  • Small town
  • Village
  • Hamlet
  • Isolated dwelling
• Settlement hierarchy


  • As you go up, increase in size of settlement, larger population and more services
  • As you go down, decreases in frequency (amount)
• Megacity


  A city over 10 million population
• Rise of megacities


  1. In the 1950s New York and Tokyo were the only megacities in the world, today there are 33 and by 2030 there will be more than 40

  2. Megacities increase with technological advances, as well as global overcrowding

  3. Before technology advances, the places with higher populations were mostly in developed countries like France and England as they were from the countries that had the developments happen there first, or earlier than other countries

  4. Nowadays we see high population of people wanting to live in urban cities in other areas in Asia and poorer countries as they are trying to catch up to the technological advances that they were behind on, while the countries that were developed earlier want to visit rural areas to escape or to have a break from urban cities and areas
• Land use models


  • Central business district
  • Residential
  • Industrial
  • Detached house
  • Semi-detached
  • Terrace housing
  • Bungalow
  • Suburbs
  • Urban-rural fringe
  • Inner city
• Burgess and Hoyt land use models


  • Both agreed that the heart of the city is in the CBD
  • Burgess thought that the city is layered out in layers of circles around the CBD
  • Hoyt thought it was laid out in different sized wedges that depend on the transportation routes
  • Burgess also believed that as you go further away from the CBD, the houses got bigger, better, newer and more modern
  • Hoyt's diagram also shows that high class housing the furthest away from industry
• Multiple Nuclei Model


  Theory of urban development that suggests that cities grow and develop around multiple CBD with different purpose
• Multiple Nuclei Model


  • Has multiple CBD within a single city
  • Explains the development of suburbs and satellite towns
  • More realistic, more practical assumptions
• Multiple Nuclei Model weaknesses


  • Fails to explain the development of slums and informal settlements (does not consider refugees or very poor people)
• The difference between Dubai's landscape and environment between 2000-2005 and today, is that in 2000-2005 there were barely any buildings and the land was very spacious and empty, but over the years more buildings have been built and settlements were formed and dubai has transformed from a desert into an urban city
• Comparing Dubai to the land use models

  Dubai best follows the multiple nuclei model because it has more than one CBD
• • Port Talbot is on the West coast of Wales (Wales is Northwest of Europe)
  • Surrounded by mountains on one side and by water on the other. It is very green and has not too many skyscrapers. It is an industrial area that is also coastal as it is a coastal strip (flat land that runs by the sea). It has semi-detached, detached and terraced houses, as well as not modern and old buildings. It is flat but is guarded with mountains
• Comparing Port Talbot to the Burgess model


  We can see it follows some aspects because the houses get bigger, newer and better quality as they get further away from the CBD as well as the CBD being in the centre
• Comparing Port Talbot to the Hoyt model


  Port Talbot also follows the Hoyt model as the land use and industries follow transport routes and everything else falls in place. In addition, high class housing is the furthest from industries. Also, the CBD is in the centre
• Port Talbot is not shaped in circles or in wedges as it is a linear town as it is coastal with water on one side and mountains on the other
• Comparing Port Talbot to Dubai


  • Similarity: Both cities cannot grow in a circle following the Burgess model because they both have an ocean running along them. Also, both cities grow along transport routes following the idea of the Hoyt model
  • Difference: Port Talbot only has one CBD whereas Dubai has numerous CBDs around the city. In addition, we can say that Dubia is a more modern city compared to Port Talbot
• Urbanisation


  An increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas
• Rapid urbanisation


  An increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, faster than governments can plan and prepare for
• Mumbai is a city located on the West Coast of India. India is a country located in the northern hemisphere within the continent of Asia. Mumbai is also within the state of Maharashtra
• Trend in fertility in Mumbai


  From 1974 to 2013 the average fertility rate has decreased to more than half. It went from 4.03 per fertile woman to 1.80 per fertile woman. This tells us that the fertility rate is not the one to blame for the growth of Mumbai because it is actually dropping. This means that migration is what contributed to and caused the growth of Mumbai
• Positives of Mumbai growth

  • Increase in population in urban areas creates a skilled workforce that attracts large businesses
  • Increase in wealth is used to develop sanitation within urban areas reducing water-borne diseases
• Negatives of Mumbai growth


  • Crime rates increase. The poorest communities are often inhabited by violent street gangs
  • Visual population from unsightly self-made shelter and graffiti
  • Roads and public transport lag behind the growth of the population. Transport becomes overcrowded; congestion causes issues
  • Poor access to water and electricity as the provision of basic services cannot keep up with the growth of population
  • Low doctor to population ratio. Diseases spread quickly. Atmospheric pollution leads to breathing problems
  • Lack of schools. Not all children attend secondary school because of the cost and they work to support their family
  • Many people are unable to find proper work. They are either unemployed or become part of the informal sector, working as a cleaner or shoe shiner
• Push factors for rural to urban migration in Mumbai


  • Poor education
  • Unsafe housing
  • Low wages
  • No clean water
  • Being a subsistence farmer (grows to get food for themselves)
  • Lack of healthcare
• Pull factors for rural to urban migration in Mumbai


  • Better education
  • Higher wages
  • Safer buildings
  • Consistent resources (water and electricity)
  • Better healthcare
  • Better transport
• Most migrants come from within Maharashtra (internal migration). Most of those are from rural areas. Most people move to Mumbai for marriage. Men usually move to Mumbai for a better job
• Consequences of rapid urbanisation in India


  • Overcrowding is made worse in Mumbai as there is one CBD in old Mumbai so people who live in new Mumbai still want to live in the old one
  • Urban stress - the result of overcrowding
• Slums start as a one level small shelter that would be made of random materials like cardboard from the street. After a while they start using more stable structure like wood and would build a small second level. They would also use their home to sell products. With more time they would have fully built concrete houses with around 3-4 levels but would not have any electricity or water systems from the government that is legal, which is why they would connect their own wires and use the local electricity illegally and use the local water which turns on in certain and specific times
• Positives of slums


  • Little to no rent (as low as 185 rupees a month)
  • Sense of community
  • Recycling
• Negatives of slums


  • No hygiene
  • Very dangerous
  • Do not earn a lot of money
• Self Help Scheme


  When the local authority provides local residents with the materials needed to construct permanent accommodation
• Advantages of Self Help Scheme


  • Developing new skills for employability
  • Greater sense of community and people work with their neighbours
  • Residents will save costs on employing tradesmen
• Disadvantages of Self Help Scheme


  • Progress can be slow as new skills are developed
  • The initial housing may be poorly constructed as residents are newly developing their skills
  • The last stages of housing will take the longest to construct
  • Neighbours will be expected to work on houses outside their normal jobs
  • Specialist tradesmen such as electricians would still be needed for certain jobs and costs may rise
  • New construction will require residents to take out a loan to pay back. They might even be expected to pay rent and taxes on the completed house
  • Some houses may be completely cleared to make way for wider roads, pipes, wire and infrastructure
• The self help scheme is not the best option or the most efficient as it has more negatives than positives and would still cost a lot (for the electricians and the possible reconstruction). Also it could cause problems and fights between people and the community because of the clearing for wider roads as some people would lose their houses completely. Also the residents might have to take a loan which they would have to pay back later which causes them to get in debt which they might never repay. They might even be expected to pay rent and taxes which would just add more cost on them and basically not save anything. The more suitable solution is to build simple houses that can rely on renewable energy to reduce the cost they would have to pay for things like electricity and running water
• The problems of Bhendi Bazaar include no AC, no ventilation in the houses as they were built in the 1920s and were never renewed, toilet sharing which is very unsanitary, poor electricity and no lifts, the houses are an old shell of a building which makes it not stable and very dangerous, people still share housing with all the houses right on the street which adds a risk as there is a high crime rate as there are houses that are gang controlled, and there is also almost constant noise pollution and chaos as it is a bazaar. With all that, people that still can't afford a home sleep on the pavement
• Solutions for Bhendi Bazaar (SEEP)


  The government will demolish the old chawl buildings and completely replace them with a very modern skyscraper that would create more space in the area. The building's electricity would also be powered sustainably using solar energy
• Social impacts of the Bhendi Bazaar solution


  • These new modern buildings will be great for the people that used to live in the chawls, the difference for them will be amazing as its a safe structure in which they will have access to water and electricity making the area safer as it would be breaking up the controlling gangs
  • However, people would also be unhappy to leave their original home. It would also change the community and people's relationship with each other
• Economic impacts of the Bhendi Bazaar solution


  • This project would be pricey as with all these improvements and advancements to replace the chawls without receiving money/tax front the people that live in the area the government or the developer would have to pay for all of it
  • After they develop the area, the people that will get to move to the new buildings should start paying tax so that the water and electricity is still provided to them to make the buildings sustainable
  • It would also have to be expensive in the beginning like the cost of the solar panels and setting them up
• The developers are trying to make the new buildings in Bhendi Bazaar sustainable and environmentally friendly, which is important architecturally and also environmentally
• Why rapid urbanisation is a long term challenge for India


  • The CBD is mostly located in Mumbai and the transport routes from Mumbai to the rest of India isn't efficient. As Mumbai to the rest of India keeps getting developed, for example, with proposals for 78 skyscrapers, more people migrate to lie there and the city overcrowds. The government needs to solve the problem from its roots first instead of trying to manage the over population in the city Mumbai, where the CBD is
  • Instead of expanding Mumbai, and renewing the buildings, which will just attract even more migrants, they should be fixing the rural areas that the migrants are coming from and reduce the push factors which cause the migration from rural to urban areas. By doing this, the government would be able to control urbanisation, as the ratios of people living in the rural and urban areas will become more manageable, sustainable and not overcrowded in one place
  • The transport routes should be improved to connect to more areas so that people don't necessarily need to migrate from the rural areas to the urban areas that are close to the CBD, to be able to easily commute to work and have the better life opportunities that they are hoping for