Geography GCSE Case Studies

Case Studies for the WJEC course.

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Comparing the quality of life in 2 areas within Co

An outer suburb location, Wainbody and an inncer city location, Saint Michaels.

1. Define quality of life.
Quality Of Life: Your personal satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with the cultural or intellectual conditions under which you live.

2. Talk about where to two areas are located within the city and how you know.
Wainbody is located in the outer suburbs of Coventry and you can tell this because........ Whereas Saint Michaels has an inner city location and this is obvious because...........

3. GIve some statstics about the 2 areas comparing one with the other.
Life Expectancy in Wainbody is over the city average whereas St. Michales is under.

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A Study of an urban planning scheme.

The Building of high rise blocks in Hillfields, an inncer city area of Coventry.
Hillfields: Is located 1km east of the CBD (central business district)
The land uses are for housing, 19th century terraces and high rise blocks of flats. They use derelict land and buildings are plots for the housing, 
The inner city was an expensive place to build houses because of its location therefore the council would try and put as much accommodation as they could on a small part of land. Also there was a house shortage after WW2 and people cam from all over this country and other countries to work in the factories in Coventry so house demand rose. 
The planners thought people would like h.r.b because they have a very modern structure, they looked attractive and they looked like the flats in Hollywood movies.
H.r.b were cheap and quickly built, they also took up a small amount of space considering the amount of people they could house.
14 h.r.b were built in total however some have been knocked down.
It started to go wrong though when the outside began to wear out which happened quite quickly which made them look unattractive, the lifts kept braking, easy to break into and didn't have enough room for families as they had no gardens. 

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Urban to rural migration - Counterurbanisation.

The migration of people from Coventry to smaller towns and villages in Warwickshire. 
This movement of people is called counterurbanisation.

There are both pusha dn oull factors for leaving a city to relocate to a more rural location.
Pull: Peaceful, open space, less crime, friendly community, better schools, parks, better quality of shops, conveinient shops.

Push: Crowded, chaos, jobs, shortage of housing, perception, litter, noisy, pollution, reputation, vandalism, ganglife, crime, bringing up a family.

Who is leaving Coventry? Couples between 30-45 or families of 1 or 2 children, also adults with professional jobs or retirees who were professional.
What problems? School closures in the city as more people move out, more traffic in Coventry as people commute to Coventry for work. Less money will be being spent in shops in Coventry resulting in a poorer quality of shops.  

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Millionaire and Mega-cities

Millionaire city = a city with a population of over 1 million.
Mega-city = a city with a population of at least 10 million or more.

An urbanising country is a country that is having an increase in proportion of people living in urban areas compared to those living in cities.

Most mega-cities are south of the Brandt line. Every Mega-city in the world apart from New York and Los Angeles are LEDC's. A lot of mega-cities are in Asia but the others are located in South America, Africa and North America.
The biggest mega-city is Mexico City with an estimated population of 25million.
There are no megacities in Europe, Australasia and Antarctica.

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Urbanisation in LEDC's

The movement of people from rural areas to urban areas in Kenya. 

Weather, No food or water in droughts, rainy season, floods villages forcing people to move.
Water, they have to walk miles and carry it, not clean, waterholes, river, used for the toilet, washing and drinking.
Roads and Transport, roads made of sand and soil, rainy season will cause floods and soggy roads.
Money, remote place, no jobs, no income. No shops and no amenities.
Food, very basic, wheat oats and millet. During the drought all the crops die, there's then nothing to eat or feed the cattle with.
School, not good education, not common. Girls stay at home, clean and cook.
Housing, wood frames, mud walls, iron roofs, The cooking, eating, sleeping, cleaning all done in the same room.

During your exam if you wish to draw a sketch map within you answer you can,but you won't lose marks if you chose not to.

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Shanty Towns in Kenya - Kibera

In different places in the world shanty towns are known by a different name, for example in India they are known as bustees.

Within your answer you should include the definition of a shanty town.
Areas of low quality housing often found on the outskirts of cities in poorer countries of the world. Most residents come from the countryside looking for a better way of life. 
The living conditions in shanty towns are awful, there is rubbish dumped on the streets and there is no sewage or draining system, this causes major problems for the little water in the shanty towns. There is also no electricity or gas. Common diseases within the shanty towns are things like HIV and AIDS.
Some people who live in the more remove parts of Kenya are attracted to shanty towns because it is very low cost housing. Also living closer to the CBD jobs are more available and aren't affected by the weather. Roads are also good for travelling and again aren't affected by the weather.
Materials for houses are easily accessible.
People who live in these shanty towns will have come from the countryside and may have been pushed out by drought, flooding or money reasons.
 

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What is it like in Kibera Shanty Town?

An estimated 1 million people live in this slum alone.
4/5 of the population are unemployed.
Half of Kibera's inhabitants are HIV positive and there are thousands of abandoned children whose parents have died of AIDS.
A typical family with 6 or 7 members share a shack about 3m square.
Kibera suffers from high crime rates. 
60% of Nairobi's residents live in slums which occupy just 5% of the total land area.
95% of the population lives in poverty.
Each Kenyan woman will have about 5 children in her lifetime.
The narrow uneven and unpaved roads are inaccessible to vehicles.
Insanitary and overcrowded conditions promotes the spread of water-borne disease.
There is no water supply, sanitation, roads and electricity.
Most of Kibera's residents currently pay no more than 10 US$ a month in rent.

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Sites and Services Scheme of Nairobi

The Sites and Services Scheme of Nairobi, aims to reduce the number of unsightly shanty towns in and around the city.

Land has been cleared in an area on Nairobi called Dandora in the North-East. Shanty town residents can got to the town hall to sign up for the S&**.
If accepted they go to college in the evenings to learn building skills.
They have to do a practical exam at the end of the course, if they pass they get a certificate and are given a plot of land to rent (very low rent), plans and materials. They then move themselves and their family and over time improve their house.

Problems with the scheme:
Too many people try to do the scheme and then there will be a very high number of builders and nothing else.
Encourage more people to move to Nairobi, increase the population.

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What Causes Different Types of Pressure Systems in

What is a climate?
- Climate is the weather measured over a long period of time. (A year at least)

What is air pressure? 
- Air pressure is the weight of the air around us.
- Air pressure is either high or low.
- High pressure is where air is sinking/descending.
- Low pressure is where air is rising. 

In area of the world where we have high pressure deserts are found.
Most of the deserts in the world are found on the west coast of a country and do not get a lot of wind or rain.
Most of the world's deserts are either 30o North or 30o South of the equator.

In hot deserts: air descends, the air heats up, the skies remain clear and at a hot temperature.

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Why Does It Rain?

Relief Rain:
1.Warm air approaches Britain from the south-west. It is brought in by the prevailing winds which blow throughout the year.
2.As it reaches land, the air has to rise over the mountains.
3.Rising air cools to dewpoint. The air is saturated.
4.Condensation occurs and forms clouds.
5.Further cooling and condensation give heavy rain.
6.Air passes over mountains it sinks, temperature rises and clouds disperse.
7.Descending air warms. Evaporation takes place.
8.Further warming and evaporation give a rain shadow effect. 
 

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Why Does It Rain?

Frontal Rain:
1.Warm less dense air from the tropics is forced to rise and cool.
2.Air cools to dew point. Condensation gives clouds and rain. 

The cold air mass is colder denser air from the polar regions.

(http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTFmkC6HQEGywDTfE6P1zrE3DcK8k8tJo1Pk-MC1gBvubEpc0K3Bg) 

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Why Does It Rain?

Convectional Rain:

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pqXKkS6ZcuA/SZfdmyHX6zI/AAAAAAAAAhg/82cZzyi0P0k/s400/untitled.bmp)

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Rain

3 ways which moist air is forced to rise are:
Relief rain - prevailing winds bring in warm moist air from the Atlantic Ocean. 
Frontal rain - warm, less dense air from the tropics is forced to rise and cool.
Convectional rain - the ground is warmed in the summer by the sun, the air next to the ground is warmed and rises. 

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The European Heatwave of 2003

An area of high pressure sat over most of Western Europe. Air moving around the high in a clockwise direction, bought a hot, dry air mass to the UK. This high pressure lasted most of June, July and August, this was an anticyclone.

Social effects: The number of deaths in Paris went up 37% which meant Paris morgues were full up, air conditioned tents had to be put up to hold bodies.
Decomposing bodies of people were found in Rome, Milan and Turin.
18 People died in forest fires in Portugal
Economic effects: In the UK businesses recorded a higher than average sick days in August. 
At the height of the heatwave in France medical teams had to work 8 days non-stop. 
Environmental effects: The Iberian Lynx has been pushed closer to extinction because of forest fires in Portugal.
Rivers throughout Europe dried up.
Higher levels of smog in the UK cause coughing fits, chest pains and sore throats. 

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The Water Cycle

The water cycle is the process where water is recycled around the Earth between land, the sea and oceans. It is a closed system because no water is lost or gained. 

The Water Cycle:
1.Ocean: a store of salt water.
2.Evaporation: water transferring from the ground into water vapour in the air.
3.Air: a store of water vapour.
4.Condensation:water vapour in the air turning back into a liquid
5.Clouds: fresh droplets held in the air
6.Precipitation: water falling to the ground as rain,hail or sleet.
or Percolation: water moving in the ground. 
7.Transpiration:water transferred by trees and plants into the air as water vapour.
or Ground water: water stored underground.
8.Run-off:water running over the ground back into sea. 

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Water Stores and Systems

Open system: things can be lost and some gained.
Closed system: none ever lost.
Stores of freshwater: Glaciers, polar ice caps, groundwater, lakes and rivers, atmosphere and biosphere.
The drainage basin, hydrological cycle is the movement of water between the land, the atmosphere and the oceans and is an open system because water can be lost and gained.

(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQKd5U-MyijN5wcuVWEGtqFSfQieKF_9vy0FsffJg35PCJimFj59A) 

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Water Supply in the UK

Water deficit: there isn't enough water to meet the needs of the people/environment.
Water surplus: there is enough water to meet the demands of the people and environment. 

Higher temperatures in summer means higher evapotranspiration.
Less rain.
More and larger cities.
Greater demand from agriculture.

Lower temperature means less evapotranspiration.
Heavy rainfall throughout the year.
Natural lakes.
Relatively few large cities or industries. 

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The Formation of the Gullfoss Waterfall in Iceland

The Formation of the Gullfoss waterfall in Central Southern Iceland and located 100km East of the capital city Reykjavik. It is on the river Hvita about 5kn from the Great Geysir.

1. Water flows off the hard rock onto the soft rock.
2. Erosion of the soft rock begins to happen causing slight undercut.
3. As erosion continues to take place, abrasion is taking place. A plunge pool begins and there is a large undercut.
4. The upper-cut becomes too big and rock ledge falls off. The plunge pool becomes bigger again.
5. The fallen rock is wearing the soft rock away and the plunge pool becomes even bigger. Eventually attrition will occur and the rocks will wear away in the plunge pool.

The Gullfoss waterfall had 2 drops in it so this process happens twice and in total has a 31m drop. The waterfall is also creating a headward erosion. The river Hvita flows through the Gullfoss waterfall and forms an ice sheet.

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The Gullfoss Waterfall in Iceland.

300,000 annual visitors.
1 Hour from Reykjavik (capital city)
£45 for a day trip.
Impact of Tourism:
Every tourist adds 5 krona to the economy
Employment
Visit large gift shop & cafe
Local hotels
Litter & rubbish
Rocks can be worn away.
Vehicles, pollution and erosion
Always people there. 

Management: 1970's designated nature reserves.
Litter picking
Information centre
 

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Coastal Processes and Landforms

What affects the size of waves?
- strength of wind
- length of time which the wind blows
- distance of sea which the wind has to cross.
What are the ways waves erode the coastline?
- Hydraulic pressure, sheer force of the waves, trap and compress air in crack and holes in a cliff.
- Corrasion, results from large waves hurling beach material against the cliff.
- Attrition, when waves cause rocks and pebbles on the beach to bump into each other and breakdown into size. 
- Corrosion , when  certain types of cliff are slowly dissolved by acids in the sea-water.

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Formation of Spits

Formations of spits:
Longshore drift moves material along the coastline.
A spit forms when the material is deposited.
Over time, the spit grows and develops a hook if wind direction changes further out.
Waves cannot get past a spit, which creates a sheltered are where silt is deposited and mud flats or salt marshes form. 

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Hurst Castle Sand Spit caused By Longshore Drift

Wading birds and other sea birds feed off the worms in the salt marshes..
Castle was built by King Henry VIII. Its purpose was to defend the solent from invasions by catholic powers of Europe. 
People visit Hurst Castle for Bird-watching and on the outside of the spit windsurfing and canoeing, also fishing from the spit. 
The spit protects local towns and villages from flooding and other damage. 

Hurst Castle is located in the South of the UK, very near to the South coast.

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Small Scale Aid project in an LEDC

Organised by a charity called Farm-Africa.
It is meant to help poor Kenyan families struggling to survive on a small plot of land, usually less than 1 acre. 
The charity selects families who each receive 2 dairy goats from the Farm-Africa Dairy Goat Project.
There are 2 main types of breed of goat used: the Toggenburg and Anglo Nubian.
If the goats get ill then the charity have trained local people in basic veterinary skills to treat the ill goats.
The charity get money for the goats by fundraising activities.

The project is sustainable as there will always be a income for the charity to buy goats.
This type of aid is called appropriate aid because it is more likely to be successful over a long period of time.
The only problem could be if the goats overgrazed on a patch of land and ran out of food to eat. 

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The Building of the Aswan Damn

The building of the Aswan damn has increased the bilharzia disease. It is picked up by exposure to these organisms in freshwater
Inflammation of obstruction of organs.
The tiny parasites do nothing for 4-6 weeks where the eggs migrate to the liver where they mature.
They are passed out through the body in faeces or urine.

This type of aid was bilateral and the Russian's gave Egypt the money for the build, but it left Egypt in high amounts of debt with Russia, however there were more jobs from it.

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Water Supply in the UK

Water deficit: there isn't enough water to meet the needs of the people/environment.
Water surplus: there is enough water to meet the demands of the people and environment. 

Higher temperatures in summer means higher evapotranspiration.
Less rain.
More and larger cities.
Greater demand from agriculture.

Lower temperature means less evapotranspiration.
Heavy rainfall throughout the year.
Natural lakes.
Relatively few large cities or industries. 

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Types of Aid

Bilateral Aid:
Given directly form the government of 1 country to another, includes donations of money, food, technology or training services.

Non-governmental Aid:
Provided by charities and independent organisations. It's not directed by governments and often relies of fundraisers and volunteers. Non-governmental orgnisations tend to support small-scale local development projects

Multilateral Aid:
Donated by several different countries usually through an international agency or organisation 

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Ways of Measuring Development

The best way of working out development of countries is the Human Development Index.
They should be measured using not only standard of living but Quality of life too.

All the countries shown to be very low on the HDI are all located in the continent of Africa.
Mozambique is located in the South East coast of Africa whereas the 7 countries are located just under the Sahara desert and they are in a band from Guinea-Bissau ans Sierra Leone in the west to Chad and Central African Republic in the centre of Africa.

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Sectors of Work

Primary Sector: producers of raw materials such as food crops, timber or mineral. Occupation in farming, forestry or mining. (Croft Quarry)

Secondary Sector: involved in processing and manufacturing. (Dyson vacuum cleaners)

Tertiary Sector: provides services to other industries or to individual consumers. Schools, shops, hospitals are all examples.

Private Sector: people who are either self-employed or work for a larger company or organisation that is not government controlled. 

Public Sector: people employed by the national, regional and local government.

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A Primary Industry

Croft Quarry, Leicestershire
located next to the village of Croft, 10kn South-West of Leicester.
It is one of the most southern granite quarries in the UK. 
On the M69 and M1 gives access to Birmingham, London, South-East, Nottingham.
It is also located next to the mainline railway.
They blast 3 times a week at 12 o'clock.
It produces 300,000 tonnes of granite per year, one mile of motorway needs 100,000 tonnes of granite.
On a busy day a truck leaves Croft Quarry every 30 seconds.
300 people work at Croft Quarry
Stages in Quarrying: 
1. Blasting
2. Digging
3. Crushing
4. Sorting
5. Stockpiling
6.Transporting 

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Damage of Croft Quarry on the Environment

Traffic Pollution from lorries
Dust - clogs up lungs, on cars, washing of people in Croft.
Visual Pollution
Noise Pollution - lorries, crushers, explosions
House prices nearby decrease.

Reduction of damage:
Noise, blasting at the same time, every villager gets a free noise-meter, surrounded by embankments that stop some noise escaping.
Dust, covers placed on every lorry, leaving the quarry the lorries go through a wheel washer, roads to quarry are swept by a machine.
Visual, screen bunds make it difficult to see quarry machinery and they are planted with trees.

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Hurst Castle Sand Spit caused By Longshore Drift

Wading birds and other sea birds feed off the worms in the salt marshes..
Castle was built by King Henry VIII. Its purpose was to defend the solent from invasions by catholic powers of Europe. 
People visit Hurst Castle for Bird-watching and on the outside of the spit windsurfing and canoeing, also fishing from the spit. 
The spit protects local towns and villages from flooding and other damage. 

Hurst Castle is located in the South of the UK, very near to the South coast.

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Ways of Measuring Development

The best way of working out development of countries is the Human Development Index.
They should be measured using not only standard of living but Quality of life too.

All the countries shown to be very low on the HDI are all located in the continent of Africa.
Mozambique is located in the South East coast of Africa whereas the 7 countries are located just under the Sahara desert and they are in a band from Guinea-Bissau ans Sierra Leone in the west to Chad and Central African Republic in the centre of Africa.

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Sectors of Work

Primary Sector: producers of raw materials such as food crops, timber or mineral. Occupation in farming, forestry or mining. (Croft Quarry)

Secondary Sector: involved in processing and manufacturing. (Dyson vacuum cleaners)

Tertiary Sector: provides services to other industries or to individual consumers. Schools, shops, hospitals are all examples.

Private Sector: people who are either self-employed or work for a larger company or organisation that is not government controlled. 

Public Sector: people employed by the national, regional and local government.

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A Primary Industry

Croft Quarry, Leicestershire
located next to the village of Croft, 10kn South-West of Leicester.
It is one of the most southern granite quarries in the UK. 
On the M69 and M1 gives access to Birmingham, London, South-East, Nottingham.
It is also located next to the mainline railway.
They blast 3 times a week at 12 o'clock.
It produces 300,000 tonnes of granite per year, one mile of motorway needs 100,000 tonnes of granite.
On a busy day a truck leaves Croft Quarry every 30 seconds.
300 people work at Croft Quarry
Stages in Quarrying: 
1. Blasting
2. Digging
3. Crushing
4. Sorting
5. Stockpiling
6.Transporting 

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Damage of Croft Quarry on the Environment

Traffic Pollution from lorries
Dust - clogs up lungs, on cars, washing of people in Croft.
Visual Pollution
Noise Pollution - lorries, crushers, explosions
House prices nearby decrease.

Reduction of damage:
Noise, blasting at the same time, every villager gets a free noise-meter, surrounded by embankments that stop some noise escaping.
Dust, covers placed on every lorry, leaving the quarry the lorries go through a wheel washer, roads to quarry are swept by a machine.
Visual, screen bunds make it difficult to see quarry machinery and they are planted with trees.

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Comments

Beth Woodward

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Not sure why there not in the right order :/

Lollypop

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Good Notes! Really detailed! :)

elephunk

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Are these for WJEC B?

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