urban trends

• economic consequences of urbanisation:

  • women and children work in dangerous conditions
  • unskilled workers have lower wages
  • not enough jobs
  • informal economy
  • poverty
  • can't raise taxes
  • worse services e.g. education, healthcare, sewage systems
• political consequences of urbanisation:

  • less control over the population
  • more uprisings
• environmental consequences of urbanisation:

  • pollution
  • littering
  • sewage goes into rivers
  • factories release smoke and chemicals
  • air pollution
• social consequences of urbanisation:

  • gangs of abandoned children
  • squatters and shanty towns
  • homelessness
  • people live with friends which causes overcrowding
• factors affecting the location of large cities:

  • nodal points
  • natural points meet so roads cross, the best pace to provide services e.g. Lyon, France where the Rhone and Saone rivers meet
  • industrial centres
  • provide mass employment, draw in investment causing a spiral of development e.g. Manchester, UK in the Industrial Revolution
  • ports
  • areas by the coast that are sheltered so goods can be imported and exported without tax e.g. Cape Town, South Africa
  • capitals
  • cities with the government so company headquarters want to be close to the political power e.g Madrid, Spain
• urbanisation - increase in proportion of people living in towns and cities
• suburbanisation - urban areas spread outwards as railways allow people to live further from work
• counterurbanisation - people leave urban areas to move to smaller settlements outside the city, due to increased car ownership
• reurbanisation - people return to urban areas due to redevelopment, reduction in crime, and new housing
• economic problems of suburbanisation:

  • inadequate facilities in surburbs
  • providing facilities is expensive
  • public transport is expensive
  • houses near city are too expensive
  • businesses move for cheaper land
  • people don't need to commute to city
• social problems of suburbanisation:

  • increased population
  • lost character of rural areas
  • commuting reduces productivity
  • high levels of racial segregation
  • middle class move for better houses, away from high crime rates in the city
• environmental problems of suburbanisation:

  • high dependence on cars
  • air pollution
  • destruction of habitats for construction
• solutions to suburbanisation:

  • planning regulations to stop urban sprawl e.g. green belts
  • renovating and reusing empty houses to stop building new ones
  • encourage counterurbanisation
  • building high density housing on brownfield sites
  • tax incentives to encourage people to take lodgers
• global cities - leading city in a country or region, and is disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy, based off of influence rather than population
• characteristics of influence in global cities:

  • business activity
  • human capital
  • information exchange
  • cultural experience
  • political engagement
• solutions to informal housing:

  • site and service schemes - councils provide land with good services near work so that people can rent and build their own houses
  • self-help schemes - people who have built on land are given ownership so that they can make improvements without fear of being evicted, and some councils provide building materials
  • oil-rich countries build high rise apartments to rehouse people
• urban regeneration:

  • property-led regeneration - initiative is taken by national government, so local people have very little input
  • partnership schemes - national government is the main mover but local councils are involved so that there is more local accountability
  • private initiatives - private developers renovate houses to turn slum housing into fashionable residential areas, which is gentrification
• renewal - redevelopment of run-down urban areas which brings about improvements
• reurbanisation:

  • mix of housing
  • more employment opportunities
  • housing for urban poor
  • capital and government intervention