Human Geography

In NEEs and LICs urban growth creates opportunities, but also challenges.

Social Opportunities:  Better access to services eg health care and education. Also better access to services such as water and elctricity, compared to rural areas.

Economic Oportunities: More jobs are available as idustry grows, so people move to urban areas. Manufactured goods earn higher profit than agriculture.

Challenges: Many people who do end up moving, end up living in slums, which are built illegally around the city, as people cant afford to buy a property. These are badly built and over crowded, and people dont actually have the access to services that drew them in. Unclean condtions encourage disease. Work is dangerous, long hours and little pay in the slum.

Environmental: Rubbish and sewage lie in the streets which damages environment, especially if toxic. Air pollution increases from all the fuel burnt, and sewage leaks into rivers, killing wildlife.

Favela-Bairro project in Rio, which has more than 600 settlement involved 250 000 people has led to improvments. There are day care centres set up, educaton centres and people are trained for better jobs.

Has a populatin over 18 mil. The biggest slum in India is Dharavi. It has opportunities and challenges. 

Opportunities: Economic- Many job opportunities. There are many headquartes of businesses located there. Informal economy, and makes up 6% of Indias GPD.

Social-Education, and services are available, including water, Health care and energy/electricty.

Environmental- A port offers trade routes.

Challenges: Economic- Not legal business, they dont pay tax to governmnet for anything.

Social- Water is limited, only on for 2 hours a day. 500 people share one toilet. So people do it in the streets, attracts rats and disease.

Environmental- 7300 tonnes of waste is produced a day, which is just dumped on roads. Water is polluted from sewage and toxic waste leading to water borne diseases. Traffic congestion causes lots of pollution, over 22 million vehicles registered.

Strategy 1: Top Down approach- Governmnet led.

Plan to build 14 story tower blocks to house slummers. They are away from hazardous material, away from industrial areas, secure and have good sanitation as well as access to their own toilets and power. But there is very limited space 21m squared, and lack of comunal space, and the people in slums  are tied together by community, which this stratregy rips apart.

Strategy 2: Bottom Up- Locals

Want extra floor so all family can live in 1 apartment. 14 foot ceilings and tall windows. Want to share 2 toilets per floor, the families on the floor will look after them. Two areas for bathing. 

This is backed by SPARC an NGO, non government organisation.

Population Distribution is uneven. The upland area is sparsley populated due to diffucult terrain. London in the south is the biggest and most populated. Over 8 mil people, with 10% of Englands population. Urban areas mostly lie on old coalfields as they would have been developed in the industrial revolution.

Zones within in a city. 

Central Business District (CBD)- Most of the main publc buildings and tourist areas. 

Innercity- Tower blocks and terraced houses, crammed into small streets. Some business there.

Suburbs- Resedntial areas with semi/detacthed houses, lots of cul de sacs.

Rural Urban Fringe- Edge of city. Fields and new housing developments, business parks and open spaces.

The Industrial Revolution was a major cause of rapid urabanisation. However now it has dropped, and people are moving into suburbs, leaving CBDs. Regeneration helps these places become attractive again.

Opportunities: Immigrants can afford to buy these properties which brings culture into the area. New investment opportunities for hotels and tourists attractions. Creates employment in the area.

Challenges: Industrial deccline has meant a loss in wealth. People moved away leaving areas derelict. Population spreads back out, which adds pressure on greenbelt land, instead of using the brownfield sites.

Example: New Islington in Manchester was previously home to workers, but was run down and 50% of the houses were empty. The government built over 1500 new homes, and parks were placed to make it more atrractive. This bought people back and new services were opened, increasing wealth back into the area.

London is the biggest city in England, and has many benefits of living there.

Population: London area has over 9 million people, in 2013 88 000 babies were born. London makes up for 12.5% of UKs population.

Jobs: Over 5 mil jobs were available in 2012, which attracts over 800 000 people outside of London to commute there.

Finance: People who work there earn 23% more thean the rest of the Uk, but they also spend 24% more. They are the 6 largest economy.

Education: 50% of Londoners have a degree, and thy have 1/3  higher education.

Green Space: 65% is gardens or water. 8 Royal parks.

Travel Hub: Heathrow connects citys all over the world. In 2011, they carried 70 mil passengers.

Cultural: Over 1/3 of Londoners are born abroad.

Inequalities in health, housing education and  jobs. The poorest 80% only have acess to 20% of assets, whilst richest 10% have 60% of assets. The houses are higher priced and richer people live longer.

Urban Decline: Deterioration of inner city, leads to deprevation. Poor peope find it hard to earna living as businesses cose in that area.

Urban Sprawl: Buildings built on greenfield areas, displacing animals and increasing traffic in other areas.

The 2012 Oympics regenerated Lower Lea valley. Before the olympics the land was contaminated with chemicals, only 500 homes were there, and the area was derelict and deprived. Now the land is safe, brownfield lands are gone and 16 000 jobs were created. The athletes viallage has been converted into homes, 2800 homes have been built, shops and cafes have been introduced. By 2030 5 new communities are planned along with a school. In summer it attracts lots of tourists which brings more money into the area.

Cities use lots of resources, so they need to be more sustainable in order to last for the future.

Water: As much water should be taken as can be replaced. Their are schemes to use less water: collecting rainwater for plants, installing toilets that use less, installing water meters and encouraging people to turn off taps when brushing teeth.

Energy: Burning fossil fuels is th most effficient way, but they are not sustainable and harm the environment. Promoting renewable schemes such as solar will reduce natural resources used. Making hoes energy efficient saves energy,and encouraging pople to turn off the lights when not needed or being used.

Green Space: Cities are full of noise, and dirty places but green space improves quality of life. They reduce surface run off and therefore risk of flooding, and reduce pollution by taking in Carbon dioxide.

Waste Recycling: If you recycle it masn new products dont need to be made from scratch so it means the energy that woud have been used can be saved

Traffic is problem for urban areas.This increases pollution, increased accidents, and can have ecnomic impacts like late deliveries which loses a company money.

Public Transport reduces traffic. The london underground takes 3 million people of the roads every day. Self service bikes are also commonly used, 500 000 bike journeys made each day. Oyster cards allow people to use one ticket for many transport systems, buses, trains etc.

Traffic flow can be managed by building ring roads, adding bus lanes or adding a charge if you go into an area at peak times.