Urban issues

• Define the term urbanisation (2 marks)

  The increasing percentage of people living in urban area; towns and cities
• The Global Pattern of Urban Change


  • The proportion of people living in urban areas differs between continents and HICs and LICs
• Rate of urbanisation in HICs

  Lower rates of urbanisation

  • Urbanisation happened historically and most of the population already live in urban areas.
  • Some cities in HICs have become overcrowded. So, people are choosing to move away from urban areas to quieter + cleaner rural areas for a better quality of life.
  • Easier to commute to cities (better transport) or work remotely from home in rural areas(better communication) : internet, email technology
• Rate of urbanisations in LICS e.g in Asia and Africa


  Higher rates of urbanisation

  • Majority of the population live in rural areas
  • High rates of rural to urban migration, people move to urban areas in search of potential higher paid jobs + services e.g education + healthcare
• Rates of Urbanisation in NEE's : India, Brazil

  • Experiencing rapid urban growth
  • Economic development is increasing rapidly
• Two factors affecting the rate of urbanisation

  • Migration (push-pull theory)
  • Natural increase
• Rural-urban migration


  • The movement of people from countryside to town and cities.
  • The rate is affected by push-pull theory.
• 4 push factors that encourage people to leave urban areas

  1. Less well paid jobs / employment opportunities
  2. Lack of clean water + sanitation
  3. Lack of services : limited healthcare, education
  4. Poor quality housing
• 4 pull factors that encourage people to migrate to urban areas

  1. Access to better healthcare + education
  2. Better paid jobs + employment opportunities
  3. Better services : entertainment
  4. High quality housing
• Define the term natural increase

  • Birth rate is higher than the death rate
  • More people being born than dying, so population increases

  Calculate = Birth rate - death rate (/10)
• 3 Causes of natural increase

  1. Limited access to contraception, so higher birth rates
  2. Youthful population in cities = higher birth rates
  3. Cities tend to have better healthcare in cities, resulting in lower death rates + higher life expectancy
• Emergence of megacities 


  • A city with a total population of over 10 million people (e.g Tokyo)
  • The greatest concentration of megacities (2 in 3) is found in LICs + NEEs
  • Found on every continent, excluding Antarctica
• Location of Mumbai 


  • located in the Maharashtra state on the western coast of India, facing the Arabian sea
• Regional importance of Mumbai

  • contributes to 40% of Maharashtra's state income
  • provides employment opportunities - over 3 million people commute to Mumbai for work
• National importance of Mumbai

  • financial capital of India - home to : India's leading stock + share market
  • transport hub with transport links to all major industrial cities, India
  • growing + strong (IT) sector
• International importance of Mumbai

  • home to the enormous Bollywood film industry - largest film market globally
  • Air transport links to many world cities
  • large number of international companies - Walt Disney, Volkswagen
• Natural increasing influence Mumbai growth, 12th century

  • The birth rate (20.1 per 1000) in Mumbai > death rate (6.0 per 1000). Thus, a large natural increase of 14.1 per 1,000.
  • Decreasing now due to improved family planning + access to contraception
• Rural-to-urban migration in Mumbai has driven the growth of mumbai


  • 70% of migrants come from maharashtra state
  • avg. age = 20-21 years old, 64% male
  • most are economic migrants
  • rural to urban migration due to better job opportunities in service industries + manufacturing industries which pay higher wages, magnetising people to migrate to mumbai.
• Social opportunities Mumbai : access to services - health + education


  • Better education opportunities - more than 1,000 primary + secondary schools. Literacy rates are high - 89.7% approx.
  • Access to healthcare is easier than in surrounding rural areas of Maharashtra state
• Social opportunities Mumbai : access to resources - water supply, energy, community 


  • Most people in Mumbai have at least some access to electricity + water supply
  • High sense of community spirit in densely populated poorer areas - Dharavi slums, with local community group set up to provide support to each other
• Economic opportunities in Mumbai - Manufacturing industry 


  • flourishing manufacturing industry producing electronic items, jewellery and textiles. Incomes in cities are higher + more reliable than in rural areas. Provides lots of jobs.
• Economic opportunity - Mumbai and Bollywood

  • Centre of Hindi Movie Industry, Bollywood
  • Many media concerns - television + satellite networks + publishing houses
  • employs huge numbers of people
• Economic opportunities : Urban poor

  • Urban poor provide a massive labour force who carry out essential jobs both in formal and informal sectors.
  • Dharavi produces billions of dollars a year for the local economy.
• Why do people live in illegal squatter settlements in Mumbai?

  • Due to Mumbai's dramatic increase in population, there is a housing shortage.
  • Poorest inhabitants cannot afford to rent housing.
• What are illegal squatter settlements?

  • areas of poor-quality housing
  • lacks amenities of water supply, electricity, sanitation
  • developed illegally + spontaneously, with easily found materials
• How many people, on average, in Mumbai live in squatter settlements?

  • 40%
  • Nearly 1 million people live in the Dharavi slum, second largest slum in Asia
  • Initially a temporary shelter, now a permanent feature
• Challenges of providing clean water

  • Water pipes run in close proximity to sewer lines
  • Leakages lead to contamination of water and spread water-borne diseases
  • In Dharavi, children play amongst sewerage waste. Doctors deal with 4,000 cases of typhoid daily.
  • Severe water shortages, where water is rationed
• Challenges of sanitation systems in Mumbai

  • The rapid growth of slum areas has put enormous pressure on sanitation systems
  • Hundreds of people share a single toilet.
• Challenges of providing health services

  • Poor environmental conditions in slums lead to high risk of disease, putting increasing pressure on health services.
  • The Sion hospital is under-resourced + struggles to deal with a large number of patients - mumbai's busiest medical centre
• Challenges of providing education in mumbai

  • Youthful population means constantly rising demand for school places
  • School drop-rates are high : youngsters unable to pursue education due to needing to find a job to support their families.
  • Inadequate sources + declining standards in public institutions.
• Reducing Crime in Mumbai

  • Limited opportunities for unskilled workers encourages them to turn to a life of crime and illegal activity, to survive, as growing demand for jobs of skilled labour doesn't cater to the unskilled.
  • Crime rates are high, 1/3 being victims of crime e.g pickpocketing
• Reducing unemployment in Mumbai

  • urbanisation is the main cause - economic growth has not been fast enough to create sufficient jobs, for all available workforce
  • underemployment is common (paid less, poor working conditions)
  • informal sector is common (no taxes, cash in hand)
• Managing environmental issues : Waste disposal, air + water pollution


  • Rapid urbanisation has caused increasing volumes of both human and industrial waste. Dealing with waste is difficult + expensive.
  • Sewage often pollutes rivers e.g mithi river used by factories.
  • Air pollution has caused dangerously high levels of PM10, which can cause asthma. Much higher WHO's recommendations (20mg/m^3).
• Traffic congestion in mumbai

  • Many people in Mumbai live far from their place of work and are dependent on public transport.
  • Roads are overcrowded with vehicles. 
  • The movement of traffic is very slow, slows to a crawl.
  •  buses and trains are usually crammed.
  • Peak traffic times can last several hours.
• 2 Examples of how urban planning is improving the quality of life for the urban poor - Dharavi Slum.


  • Access to education
  • Access to healthcare
• Urban planning Dharavi - Access to education 


  • 9,500 resettled children have benefitted from 39 new schools + education centres
  • Access to education gives them a greater range of skills, applicable to life and improve their employability.
• Urban planning Dharavi - Access to healthcare


  • New health centres in resettlement areas
  • Access to healthcare improves quality of life as it improves people's health + wellbeing by preventing + treating injuries and diseases.
  • Allows people to lead healthy + productive life
• Downsides to access to education in Mumbai 


  • Initial delay in providing enough schools and health centre
• Mumbai Urban Transport Project, 2002 


  • 100,000 people living in slums along roads + railway tracks were resettled in multi-storey apartment blocks
• Housing provisions in new apartment blocks

  • Free apartments of 225 square foot each were given to all those who resettled.
  • Running water + toilets reduced risk of water contamination + disease is reduced, improving people's quality of life.