Changing Cities

There are two main reasons cities are growing so rapidly...

1. Natural increase - birth rates are higher than death rates. Migrants tend to be young and earth rates are low, so cities are dominated by young children.

2.Migration from the countryside - this is a result of push factors (such as lock of farm jobs, crop failures and harsh conditions of rural life), and pull factors (such as better jobs and higher wages in the city, better services/healthcare/education)

The very rapid growth of cities in the developing world has led to the growth of shanty towns - illegal makeshift settlements.

Push factors from rural...
Population growth - not enough land to support the people. This leads to over farming and low yields.
Agricultural problems - due to desertification, subdivision of land into smaller plots and debt on loans taken out to help pay for agricultural change.
Health - local disease and inadequate medical provision.
Cash crops - land traditionally used to grow food for the locals, now used to produce crops for money.
Natural disasters - people are less supported in rural areas, and more vulnerable.
Wars - cause people to flee.

Pull factors to urban...
A perceived better quality of life.
Better education, healthcare and entertainment etc.
Employment is better payed in the city.

High speed 2 is a deeply controversial plan by the government to construct a new high speed rail network linking London, the West Midlands, Leeds and Manchester.

Campaigning groups have been formed to try and stop HS2 being built as they think the new rail lines will cut through some of the most beautiful countryside and villages. Others think the project is a waste of money and the wrong priority and that there are better alternatives to improving our railways.

Despite this, the government remains convinced the HS2 is the most effective way to provide much needed additional railway across the country, whilst at the same time supporting economic growth, creating jobs and helping to reduce carbon emissions.

The process of people changing their place of residence either within (national) or between countries (international).

Reasons for national migration...
Search for better jobs.
Migration to retire - people choose to retire to different places for different reasons.
Education - Birmingham is the UK’s second biggest study city, with five universities and 78000 student. 10% of student are from overseas.

Reasons for international migration...
Flee from conflict.
Response to a shortage of workers - in the 1950s the UK government encourage immigration form other countries to do jobs Brits no longer wanted.
People seek better jobs and living standards.

Main causes...

Globalisation - cities became part of the global market. Birmingham lost its car/motorbike manufacturers as vehicles were imported from Europe or Japan.
De-centralisation - in the 1970s inner city areas were redeveloped and factories were demolished or moved out of the city.
Technological advances - some firms went bust as they did not adopt new technologies.
Transport development - in the 1970s old factories were demolished to build the inner ring road.

Impacts of de-industrialisation in Birmingham...

Factories closed.
Workers were made redundant.
Some factories relocated to the suburbs or to new towns.
There was large scale unemployment and the need to retrain many workers.
It left many brownfield sites with empty factories and warehouses.
There was some large scale pollution of the land where former industries such as metal smelting had taken place.