London

- when Romans arrived, lot of land was marshland but was ideal for a port

- time zone helps trade as its in the middle of big trade areas

- internationally, worlds second biggest airport

- nationally, fastest UK rail services

- regionally, has a series of radial roads around it leading into london

- big, diverse city, knowledge economy good for migrants

CBD

-all radial roads lead here

- leads to higher land values so one of the highest building density

- environmental quality good because of lots of parks, air quality bad because of all the cars

Inner suburbs

- caused by industrial revolution

- includes Kensington and Hackney

Urban-rural fringe

- mostly suburbs/houses, some industry

- almost every house has a garden, density is lower

- environmental quality is good

- internal migration comes from uni students, international migration consists of skilled/unskilled workers seeking jobs

- skilled take up well-paid jobs in the knowledge economy, arent enough skilled people in the UK to do it

- unskilled take up jobs unwanted by UK workers (refuse collection) or with unsociable hours (pizza delivery)

- this impacts the distribution of the suburbs

- whilst some parts are wealthy, others are very deprived, this is measured by index of multiple deprivation

- in 2012, over 2 million people in London lived in poverty

- IOMD includes things like; income, employment (those unable to work), health+disability, education, housing and crime

- When docks closed in 1981, London became very derelict

- indsutries that relied on the port, shut down too, this caused deindustrialisation

- between 1971 and 1981, London lost 500,000 people

- this depopulation led to suburbinisation, outer suburbs gained people whilst inner suburbs lost them

- this was possible because of the underground (opened in 1863) which meant people could commute

- this shift led to decentrilisation, people shopped by car not by train, so economic activity shifted from the CBD

- even though people have left, London has gained in size

- due to;

- counter urbanisation, people have moved out of London into the country, but these populations have increased and the boundary is blurred

- suburbinsation, more people moving to suburbs with gardens, so the same amount of people take up more space

- family size has fallen, but when baby boomers have their own families, they need more space

- increasing divorce and later marriage mean more people living on their own

- to limit this, there is a green belt established around the countryside with no building taking place there

- caused by;

- space, the deindustrialisation led to more space for regeneration, so now more buildings and houses are on brownfield sites (former industrial areas that have been developed before)

- investment by large TNCs that mean more people come and work in the city

- many high-income earners now prefere to live in the city rather than commute, this has caused gentrification where the middle-class has rebranded the bars, theatres

-  studentification caused by more students living in the city brings employment and student spending