UNIT 1 (Sustainable Management of Urban Environments

• 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, 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, higher populations were mostly in developed countries like France and England

  4. Nowadays high population in urban cities in Asia and poorer countries as they catch up to technological advances
• Land use models (Burgess and Hoyt)


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


  • Both agree the heart of the city is the CBD
  • Burgess thought city is layered in circles around CBD, Hoyt thought it was in wedges depending on transportation
  • Burgess believed houses got bigger, better, newer and more modern further from CBD
  • Hoyt showed high class housing furthest from industry
• Multiple Nuclei Model


  Theory of urban development that suggests cities grow around multiple CBDs with different purposes
• Multiple Nuclei Model


  • Strengths: Has multiple CBDs, explains suburb/satellite town development, more realistic assumptions
  • Weaknesses: Fails to explain slums and informal settlements
• The difference between Dubai's landscape and environment between 2000-2005 and today is that it has transformed from a desert into an urban city with more buildings and settlements
• Dubai's land use


  Follows aspects of both Burgess and Hoyt models, but best fits the Multiple Nuclei Model with multiple CBDs
• Port Talbot is on the West coast of Wales, surrounded by mountains on one side and water on the other, an industrial and coastal area with a mix of housing types
• Port Talbot's land use

  • Follows some aspects of Burgess and Hoyt models, but not the Multiple Nuclei Model as it has only one CBD
  • Port Talbot is a linear town shaped by its coastal location with mountains
• Comparing Dubai and Port Talbot

  • Similarity: Both cannot grow in a circle due to coastal location
  • Difference: Dubai has multiple CBDs, Port Talbot has one
  • Dubai is more modern than Port Talbot
• Rapid urbanisation


  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
• Reasons for Mumbai's growth

  Fertility rate has decreased, so migration is the main cause
• Positives of Mumbai's growth


  • Increase in skilled workforce attracting businesses
  • Increase in wealth used to improve sanitation
• Negatives of Mumbai's growth


  • Increase in crime rates
  • Visual pollution from informal settlements
  • Overcrowded transport and lack of basic services
  • Health issues from pollution and lack of healthcare
  • Lack of education and employment opportunities
• Push factors for rural-urban migration to Mumbai

  • Poor education
  • Unsafe housing
  • Low wages
  • No clean water
  • Subsistence farming
  • Lack of healthcare
• Pull factors for rural-urban migration to Mumbai


  • Better education
  • Higher wages
  • Safer buildings
  • Consistent resources
  • Better healthcare
  • Better transport
• Most migrants to Mumbai come from within Maharashtra, especially from rural areas, often for marriage or better jobs
• Rapid urbanisation in Mumbai has led to overcrowding, with one CBD in old Mumbai that people still want to live near, causing urban stress and issues like increased slums, crime, and lack of services
• Slums


  Start as small, informal shelters made of random materials, then develop into multi-level concrete houses without legal utilities
• Positives of slums


  • Little to no rent
  • Sense of community
  • Recycling
• Negatives of slums


  • No hygiene
  • Very dangerous
  • Low incomes
• Self-help scheme


  Local authority provides residents with materials to construct permanent accommodation
• Slums


  • Start as one level small shelter made of random materials like cardboard
  • 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)
• 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
• Problems of Bhendi Bazaar


  • No AC, no ventilation in the houses as they were built in the 1920s and were never renewed → become very hot in the summer
  • There is toilet sharing which is very unsanitary and becomes even worse with no ventilation
  • Poor electricity and no lifts
  • The houses are an old shell of a building, which makes it not stable and very dangerous
  • With that, they still share housing, all the houses are right on the street → adds a risk as there is a high crime rate as there are houses that are gang controlled
  • 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
• Solution for Bhendi Bazaar


  The government to 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 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 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 solution is important architecturally and also environmentally as the developers are trying to make the new buildings sustainable and environmentally friendly