Changing Urban Environments

Urbanisation- the growth in the proportion of a country's population living in urban areas.

• Most of the population in richer countries live in urban areas- 80% in UK.
• Not many of the population in poor countries live in urban areas- 25% in Bangladesh.
• Urbanisation is happening in poorer countries.

Rural-urban migration- the movement of people from the countryside to the cities.

Causes in Poorer Countries:

• Shortage of Services.
• More jobs in Urban Areas.
• Better Standard of Living.

Causes in Richer Countries:

• Occured during the Industrial Revolution- people moved from farms to towns for work.
• Redevelopment of inner city areas.

CBD- central business district.

• Found right in the centre of the city.
• Commercial Centre with shops and offices.
• Where transport routes meet.
• High land values because of increased competition for space.
• Tall buildings and very few people live in CBD.

Inner City:

• The part of the city round the CBD.
• Mix of poorer quality housing and older industrial buildings.
• Can be run-down and deprived.
• Redevelopment of derelict land into newer housing and industry.

Suburbs:

• Housing areas towards the edge of the city.
• Cheaper housing.
• Still have good transport links into the CBD.
• Middle-class families tend to live in the suburbs.
• Nicer environment, less crime and less pollution.

Rural-urban fringe:

• Right at the edge of the city.
• Both urban uses (factories).
• Rural uses (farms).
• Find fewer, larger houses.

Problems in urban areas in richer countries:

• A shortage of good quality housing.
• Run down CBDs.
• Traffic congestion and pollution from cars.
• Ethnic segregation

Urban renewal Schemes:

• Encourages investment in new housing, services and employment in inner city areas.
• Dockland Development Liverpool- brownfield site converted into high quality housing.

New Towns:

• Brand new towns built to house large populations. Milton Keynes started building in 1970.

Relocation Incentives:

• Encourage people living in big council houses to move out of urban areas for working families

Revitalising CBDs:

• Pedestrianising areas making them safer and nicer for shoppers.
• Improving access with better transport links and better car parking.
• Converting derelict warehouses into smart new shops, restaurants and museums.
• Improving public areas to make them more attractive.

Reducing Car Use:

• Improving public transport.
• Increasing car-parking charges.
• Bus priority lanes.
• Pedestranisation of central areas.

Ethnic Segregation:

• People prefer to live close to others with the same background and speak the same language.
• Live near services that are important to their culture- places of worship.
• Ethnic backgrounds often restricted due to lack of money.

Improvement strategies:

• Making sure everyone has access to services by printing leaflets in different languages.
• Improving communication between all parts of community- consulting faith leaders.
• Providing interpreters at public places like hospitals and police stations.
• Making sure there are suitable services for different cultures.

Squatter Settlements- settlements built illegally by people who can't afford proper housing.

• Squatter Settlements are a problem in poorer countries- Sao Paulo and Mumbai.
• Most of the squatters are rural-urban migrants.
• Settlements are badly built and overcrowded.
• Lack of basic services like electricity, clean water and sewage system.

Self Help Schemes:

• Involve government and local people working together to improve life in the settlement.
• Government supplying building materials, providing better housing with basic services.

Site and Services Schemes:

• People pay a small amount for rent and they borrow money to buy building materials.

Local Authority Scheme:

• Funded by local government to improve squatter settlements.

Favela-Bairro Project:

• Rio De Janeiro has 600 squatter settlements housing 1 million people.
• Started in 1995, involves 253,000 in 73 favelas.
• $300million was funded into the programme, 40% from local authority.

Social Improvements:

• Daycare centres and after school schemes to look after children.
• Adult education classes to improve adult literacy.
• Services to help with drug addiction, alcohol addiction and domestic violence.

Economic Improvements:

• Residents now apply to legally own their properties.
• Training schemes to help people find better jobs and earn more.

Environmental Improvements:

• Replacement of wooden buildings with brick buildings and supply of basic services.

Effects:

• Waste disposal problems- cities create a lot of waste.
• More air pollution- burning fuel, vehicle exhaust fumes and factories.
• More water pollution- sewage and toxic chemicals from industry can get into rivers.

Waste Disposal:

• Poorer countries can't afford to dispose of waste safely.
• Poorer countries don't have infrastructure needed to collect rubbish.
• The problem is on a large scale- a city generates thousands of tonnes of waste everyday.

Air Pollution:

• Can lead to acid rain, damaging buildings and vegetation.
• Cause health problems.
• Pollutants destroy the ozone layer.

Waste Disposal Schemes:

• More recycling means fewer resources are used.
• Less waste is produced which reduces landfill waste.
• Safely disposing toxic waste helps prevent air and water pollution.

Conserving Natural & Historic Buildings:

• Ensuring that these resources are available to use in the future.
• Restoring historic buildings and Protecting natural environments.

Brownfield sites:

• Using derelict land means green space won't be used up.

Carbon-neutral homes:

• Carbon-neutral homes generate as much energy as they use- solar panels.

Creating an efficient public transport system reduces pollution and congestion.

Curritiba is a city in Brazil with a population of 1.8 million people. Has a $600million a year.

Reducing Car Use:

• A Bus system used by 1.4million passengers a day.
• An 'express' bus system with pre-pay boarding stations that reduce boarding times.
• The same cheaper fare is used for all journeys.
• Over 200km of bike paths in the city.
• Car use is 25% lower than national average and one of the lowest levels of air pollution.

Open Space and Conserved Environments:

• Green space increase to 52m squared per person.
• Residents have planted 1.5 million trees along streets, and over 1000 parks and natural areas
• Builders are given tax breaks if the building project includes green space.

Recycling Schemes:

• 70% of rubbish is recycled and paper recycling saves 1200 trees per day.