settlement dynamics

• Suggest factors which may have attracted retailing to a location of a out of town retail park.

  • good communications to bring in customers and merchandise

  • large floor space (flexible use)

  • near to demand

  • space for car parking shown in the Fig.
• Explain the issues for urban areas resulting from the development of out-of-town retail parks.

  • loss of retail trade in the CBD and local shops may close down due to competition
  • increased traffic congestion on outskirts - inadequate sevice roads but possibly less congestion in CBDin rinse quate serice roads but possibly less congestion in CBD (could allow pedestrianisation)
  • loss of environment - more concreting of rural areas (could increase flooding)
  • increased cross town journeys
  • increased pollution on outskirts - noise, traffic fumes especially delivery lorries - but less in CBD
• Contrast the features of urban-rural migration with the features of rural-urban migration in HICs.

  Contrasts could include:

  • direction of migration/movement - urban-rural is more diverse than rural-urban
  • type of migrant - urban-rural tend to be older migrants and rural-urban
  • younger often singlevolume - HICs tend to have greater urban-rural compared to rural-urban
  • duration - often rural-urban is shorter term than urban-rural differences in push/pull factors e.g. employment fuels rural-urban and desire for more pleasant environment fuels urban-rural
• counterurbanisation:

  is when large numbers of people move out from urban areas (1)

  into surrounding countryside or rural areas (1).
• re-urbanisation:

  is the movement of people back into urban areas (1).

  It is usually a government's initiative to counter the problem of inner city decline by a process known as gentrification (1).
• Explain two consequences for urban areas of re-urbanisation:

  • gain of population
  • gain of more wealthy, mobile groups
  • often friction between existing inhabitants and incoming groups (different cultures / socio-economic groups)
• explain why population numbers may increase in outer urban areas of cities in LICs/MICs:

  • continued rural-urban migration creating high density housing on urban fringe. (shanty towns)
  • higher rates of natural increase in outer areas as more youthful population
  • government planning/policies such as redevelopment of inner areas
  • pushes from inner areas eg pollution, congestion
  • pulls of cheaper land, less pollutio, more open space
• Astana, Kazakhstan


  • Located in central Kazakhstan on the Ishim River on flat, steppe (temperate grassland)
  • Surrounding area is very sparsely populated which has allowed new developments to be particularly spacious
• Almaty had insufficient room for expansion

  Astana was developed as the new capital
• Almaty was close to the international borders


  Astana is more central
• Almaty has a risk of seismic activity


  Astana was developed as the new capital
• The area around Astana has a large ethnic Russian population


  Moving the capital to this area may have been an attempt to link it more closely with the rest of the country and encourage more Kazakhs to settle in the area
• Issues affecting the new capital Astana


  • Isolated location in the centre of the Kazakh steppe
  • Harsh winter climate
  • Large expenditure of public funds to build the new government offices
  • Cost of airfare and hotel expenses for the many government workers who still live in Almaty
• By 2007, Astana's population had more than doubled, to over 600 000. It is projected to rise to 1 million by 2030
• Workers have been attracted from the rest of Kazakhstan and neighbouring countries such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
• Younger professional people are well represented in the population
• The ethnic Kazakh population of the city has risen
• Morphology of Astana


  • Older areas of the city lie north of the Ishim River while new developments have been centred south of the river
  • CBD lies between the railway line and the Ishim River, with redevelopment on its margins including multi-storey apartments and hotels
  • To the west and east of the CBD are more elevated, residential areas with parks
  • North of the railway line are industrial and poorer residential areas
  • New area of development to the south of the Ishim includes the diplomatic quarter and a variety of government buildings
• The international airport lies 16 kilometres to the south of the city
• Astana Railway Station is an important hub for cities in Kazakhstan. International trains leave for Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Urumqi in China
• An underground railway, the Astana Metro, is planned
• Futuristic structures in Astana

  • Khan Shatyr (shopping mall that doubles as the world's largest tent)
  • Palace of Peace and Reconciliation (60-metre-tall glass pyramid)
  • Central Concert Hall (seats 3500 people, resembles a traditional Kazakh instrument)
  • Circus shaped like a flying saucer
  • Presidential palace (designed to replicate the White House)
  • Baiterek Tower (100 metres tall, evokes the 'Tree of Life' legend)
• There is extreme poverty and high unemployment
• The difficulties of informal settlements and evaluating the attempted solutions are described above
• Khayelitsha is an area 15-20 kilometres from the centre of Cape Town, on the western edge of the city next to the international airport
• Khayelitsha is the home of about a million people - nearly half the population of the city
• Khayelitsha includes Crossroads, Mitchell's Plain, Guguletu, Nyanga and Langa
• These suburbs share the problems of other shanty or informal settlements with communities split along racial lines - economic, health and crime problems
• In the 1980s the South African (Apartheid) government tried to clear these areas and in 1986, 70000 people were driven out and others killed
• Khayelitsha was established in 1985 by the apartheid regime as a new black neighbourhood, and people were relocated there, sometimes with violent force
• When apartheid ended in 1994 there was a great influx of people in search of work and education, most coming from the Eastern Cape
• Many people erected shacks made of iron, wood and cardboard
• The new government has had to try to deal with the AIDS pandemic and drug related crime
• Older areas of mostly formal houses built by the apartheid government are found in Bongweni, Kuyasa, Tembani, Washington Square, Graceland, Guguletu and Zolani Park
• Mandela Park was established in Khayelitsha in the late 1980s by the banks, who leased the land and started building housing
• Newer areas built up around the developed areas include Site B, Site C, Green Point, Litha Park, Makaza, QQ Section, TR Section, RR Section, Enkanini and Harare
• These newer areas contain a high number of informal settlements, 'RDP houses', and people living informally in other people's backyards
• The Reconstruction and Development Programme was a policy framework set up by the government of Nelson Mandela in 1994 to address the immense socio-economic problems of the country
• The 2011 census recorded the population of Khayelitsha as 391748 with a density of 10000 people per km², with a mainly Black African population
• Khayelitsha has a very young population: fewer than 7 per cent of its residents are over 50 years old and over 40 per cent of its residents are under 19 years old