Living Spaces

• Rural-urban migration is the movement of people from the countryside to the city. 
•  People are attracted to urban areas because they think that, they will have greater opportunities there. For many, life, is better but some end up in poverty.

PUSH Factors

• Famine, drought, natural disasters
• Poor living confitions-housing, education and health care
• Agricultural change
• Unemployment
• War and conflict

• Employmenet
• Higher incomes
• Better healthcare and education
• Urban facilites and way of life
• Protection from conflict

1.Poor electricity and power supplies
2.Pollution
3.Lack of clean water
4.Few employment opportunities
5.Traffic problems
6.Poverty
7.Drugs, gangs and violence
8.Poor education and health provision
9.Poor sewerage systems
10.Poor rubbish collection
11.Lack of shelter

• Illegal
•  High IM rates
• Overcrowding-50% of population live here
• Shanty towns are built on poor quality or unsafe land so are prone to flooding/landslides/fires
• Break up of families
• Increases in crime
• Sewage on streets leads to water borne diseases such as cholera/diarrhoea
• Wages low and workers exploited
• Poverty
• Traffic congestion as everything shares the same roads
  

•Shanty town in India
•Population over 1 million
•Covers area of 1.7 km2
•Rents as low as $4 a month
•Estimated 5000 factories and 15000 one-room businesses
•Economic turnover between $500 million and $650 million a year
•One toilet per 1440 residents
•Located next to two railway lines, a river and a creek
•Liable to flood
•Features in the film Slumdog Millionaire

Low-cost Improvements

Existing housing is improved by re-building with cheap, quick and easy to use breezeblocks. A tank of water on the roof collects rainwater. Electricity and sewerage may by added. Most people who live in these will have some sort of employment so that they can pay low rents.

Self-help schemes

People encouraged to help build their new homes. Each group will do basic work such as digging the ditches to take the water/sewerage pipes. Local authority will then provide breezeblocks and roofing tiles, and locals will provide the labour. The advantages of this is that it can be done in stages and creates community spirit.

In Tokyo land prices have soared and to overcome this some companies are planning underground cities called ALICE CITIES

The idea is to build airy underground spaces connected by underground trains and subterranean roads.

Each would be divided into three sectors:
Town space with underground avenues and open-air plazas with no cars.  Here are shopping centres, entertainment and fitness centres.
Office space for businesses, hotels and parking spaces.  Lifts would run between levels. 
Infrastructure space will contain facilities for power generation, heating and air conditioning, waste recycling, and sewage treatment.

One of the 'hottest' places to retire to for people in the UK is the coastal ***** in eastern and southern place.

WHY PEOPLE MOVE THERE

:) It has a much warmer climate than the UK, which has health benefits for those with arthritis.
Modern and efficient health facilities.
It has excellent transport links within the country, which are government subsidised.
House prices are lower than in the UK.
In Spain there are lower heating costs and household bills compared to the UK.
It's easy enough and cheap enough to fly home to see friends and family.
As part of a growing 'expat' community, people don't feel culturally isolated.

:( However it is far from family/friends
There could be language barriers
Unfamiliar systems 

The 1980's were marked by widespread recession, urban poverty and increasing deforestation rates.

NOW

Green areas protected from future development established and parks, dedicated to different ethnic and immigrant groups, set up.
The transport system expanded and a colour coded system for the various bus lines was created.  This means that certain buses only travel in certain areas of the city which reduces congestion and encourages people to use public transport
A city wide recycling programme  where people separate organic waste and trash, plastics, glass and metal.  The city sells the recyclable material to cover the cost of the operation.
The residents are encouraged to recycle and keep the streets clean because the local government offers food to the residents that carry out these tasks.

Part of Masdar is going to be covered with a solar roof which will generate energy and provide shade. Also Solar plants that use mirrors to concentrate the sun and heat water to generate electricity.
The city will use traditional Arabic architecture, using wind towers to funnel air through the city as 'natural air conditioning'.
The new city will be surrounded by a wall to protect it from the hot desert air, and splashing fountains in courtyards will dampen the dry heat. 
The buildings will be no more than five storeys high with rooftops covered with solar generators and street-level 'solar canopies' providing shade.
Full pedestrianisation within the city, without vehicles in the space. The transport network would be below ground.
Being completely powered by renewable energy.

Eco-towns are described as small new towns of at least 5-20,000 homes designed to achieve zero carbon development and more sustainable living (energy efficiency; streets with charging points for electric cars; employment within or close; local food production; conservation/recycling of water and waste; urban design will allow children to walk/cycle to school) using the best new design and architecture.

·         More affordable, sustainable housing where the demand is greatest.

·         Eco-towns will be a model example for future sustainable living developments.

·         Sustainable living is the future the world has changed and we cannot live in the past.

·         They are often built on greenfield sites.

·         Loss of biodiversity in the area.

·         Loss of productive farmland.

·         Increased use of cars for commuting by new residents.

The RURAL IDYLL

This is the image that people have of rural life in developed countries.  They believe that rural living is more peaceful, safer and healthier than living in cities.

The rural idyll is being crowded out by demands for more living space and transport infrastructure.  Such pressures are reducing the quality and peacefulness of the countryside.

Green belts were set up over 50 years ago, and now cover 13% of England.

 Three main functions

• To keep the sprawl of cities like London and Birmingham in check.
• To protect the surrounding countryside from further development.
• To prevent neighbouring cities (like Leeds and Bradford) from merging into one another.

• Rural depopulation and commuter villages leading to closure of village shops and services
• Urban sprawl taking habitat and creating tensions with land owners
• House prices increasing
• Expansion of airports
• Light and noise pollution
• More roads