UK in 21st century

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISITCS OF UK

The relief of UK (shape of land) : 

• mountains found in north and west - Scotland and Wales
• lowland found in east and south

Relief has important effect on weather and climate - prevailing (most common) wind blows in from south-west, from across Atlantic where it has picked moisture. - this air forced to rise..creating low pressure...clouds and rain - relief rainfall

Rain doesn't fall evenly across UK - rainfall pattern reflects relief and prevailing wind. Highest rainfall over high ground in N and W - less rain on low ground in S and E (south east = most crowded -->has greatest demand & lowest supply) --->leading to water stress - one long term solution = pipe water from areas with high rainfall & low demand to areas of low rainfall & high demand e.g. Wales to Birmingham

Human Geographical characteristics of UK

• population = 65 million
• 1 of highest population densities in Europe - most of us concentrates in few large cities
• Land use: only 12% of UK urban...rest of land farmland, woodland, grassland & mountains -> few people live
• half land in our cities is green open space e.g. parks, gardens
• in all of UK only 6% is built on

UK has housing shortage: to house growing pop. need to build 240,000 homes a yr - only build half no. -->so much demand=prices up..meaning houses too expensive for many to buy/rent esp. South East. Why do we have shortage?

• new houses need planning permission - people often oppose homes bing built near them
• land around cities is protected from being built on - 'greenbelt land'
• as price of land is rising, land owner holding onto their land hoping price of land will continue to rise

Population trends: 1992 UK population was 57.5m - rose steadily til 2000 when it was 58.7m. In 21st Century about 5m added to UK pop - pop expected to rise to 70m by 2030

Why has UK population grown?

• until 1990s most of pop growth due to natural increase (no. babies born - no. deaths)
• most growth in 21st century due to net migration (no. immigrants coming - no. emigrants leaving)

Future population change - hard to predict how UK's pop will change - no one knows how net migration will change esp. since left EU - pop pyramid shows how natural increase'll affect pop

Stage 1: BR= high fluctuating, DR= high fluctuating-natural change=0

Stage 2: BR=high/steady, DR=falling rapidly-natural change=rapid increase

Stage 3: BR=falling rapidly, DR=falling slowly-natural change=vry rapid increase

Stage 4: BR=low&fluctuating, DR=low&fluctuating-natural change=0

Stage 5: BR=falling slowly, DR=rising slightly-natural change=gradual increase

UK's pop is at stage 4 - problem with model=doesn't take into account net migration

Ageing population: causes

• people living longer->have better education=know how to be healthy-UK=AC->has good healthcare system diseases=disease can be managed/treated
• life expectancy increased-baby boy born today expect to live 79yrs on average whilst girl 83yrs
• 3m people in UK over 80, 0.5m over 90 & 14,000 over 100 (centenarians)+more super-centenarians (living to 110)
• most able to enjoy long life when retire - average women lives 21yrs post retirement and man 19yrs
• 'healthy life expectancy' (age which people remain fit, active&healthy) hasn't increased rapidly

There's no longer old age but stages of old age..

Active retirement - people at this stage often do house chores, gardening and/or volunteering for charities/look after grandchildren so children can work. Holiday a lot and spend money - grey pounds

Semi-independence - people may be in early stages of degenerative diseases (arthritis) or have failing senses. They'll still do household chores themselves - may have family/carers coming to do others that are more strenuous

Dependence - These people will live in sheltered accomodation of nursing homes and no longer able to look after themselves - need help washing and cleaning - reliant on others

Increase in proportion of elderly=pressure on people of working age - ones paying taxes that pay for health care of elderly

• by 2050 is predicted that there'll be more people over 65 than under 16 
•  2 groups make up the DEPENDENT POP
• Dependency ratio is proportion of pop under 16 and over 65 who depend on working pop - since UKs dependency ratio hasn't changed because no. of over 65s increased but no. of under 16s has decreased - balancing it out

Special distribution of ageing pop: large concentration of elderly along coast (esp. S coast) - elderly often retire to rural areas of coast where pace of life is slower&more fresh air - younger people tend to move to city for work=cities have higher natural increase&more children being born

• more govt money from taxes paid has to be spent on pensions-65% state benefits go to elderly
• NHS needs more money&spending on retired households is double that of working age households
• more money to be spent on care for elderly - nursing homes and adapted housing - can't be piled high if for older residents
• many people quit/reduce hrs to care for elderly relatives-reducing tax payments-may also mean have fewer children increasing problem in future
• more money spent on care for elderly=less or other services/facilities (e.g pension age in london receive free freedom pass for use on public transport regardless of wealth-could be spent on other things)
• mobility=issue for elderly-may not be able to walk/drive=require good transport

Ageing population - opportunities

• some elderly earn reasonable income from pensions/savings=spend on leisure,holidays, home improvement, creating jobs and income for others...
• Elderly require different levels of care, from unpaid family to proffesional care-can create jobs

Government response to ageing population

• increasing age which people have to work beffore they receive state pension - by 2046 the age will rise from 65 to 68
• encouraging elderly to remain active & do regular exercise to reduce need for NHS
• encouraging more elderly to keep working, even beyond retirement age - reducing need for pension and meaning they pay taxes for longer
• allowing more immigrants in to bring skilled labour - replacing those who've retired - however government being pressured to reduce immigration and government also pre immigration

Bexhill - retirement have or boring on sea?

• Bexhill-on-sea has been called Gods waiting room - many of residents there are retired and is full of mobility scooters and nursing homes
• 2011 census shows Bexhill has highest popluation over 100 in England and Wales - 66 of 90, 558 population are centenarians
• Bexhill's reputation for long life doesn't impress everyone  - some think town needs to be livelier with more young people to do so e.g "Its so boring here that I have to go to Hastings all the time" Leo Edwards, 32. But some like it, Emma Royston, 24, says "there's no crime here and you never get any bother".

London's booming pop:In 2015 its pop reached 8.6m- highest  just before wwii when war damage&evacuation reduced pop and it continued to decline in 1991. London's population expected to keep rising and reach 10m by 2030-becoming a mega city (city with pop of more than 10m). Most growth due to high birth rate amongst young pop. Although london=large no. immigrants-many leave=low net migration=london's pop growth due to natural increase

High proportion young adults aged 25-29

High proportion young children aged 0-4

• Between 2001-2011 - London changed from city with majority white British to a city with majority other ethnic groups - many off 'ethnic majority' born in UK with immigrant parents/grandparents
• In 2011 38% London's pop born abroad
• London is city in UK most ethnic diversity and 2nd most diverse in world after New York

UK's changing economy - changes in job market  - over past 50yrs been dramatic change to UK's employment sectors-50yrs ago each region in UK associated with particular industry (e.g steel in N East)-many secondary industries have declined&replaced with tertiary and quartenary- industries like coal mining&shipbuilding almost disappeared. In 60s changed from being industrial economy to post-industrial economy

Employment and Unemployment: no. of employed in UK is higher than ever. Our pop has grown and more women work now than in the past - mainly because job types have changed from manufacturing to services. Unemployment is highest in those regions of UK that relied most on manufacturing industry in past e.g North-East

Changing employment in UK

• more female workers
• falling unemployment & increased self-employment
• more working in service industries and fewer in factories

Changing working hrs: yrs ago most trained to do one job they'd for the rest of their lives & in 21st century things have changes - more flexibility in following ways...

Part time: person only works some hrs - study and family can be combined with work

Flexi time: workers can choose start and finish times within set limits

Job sharing: 2 share same job - 1 full time job shared

Sub contract: outside company/self-employed worker can be bought in to get job done

Zero hrs contract: arrangement to work when available - no fixed hrs and no pay if no work

Working from home: working away from office-family fitted around work e.g school run&work late

1930s Docklands was thriving port...Port of London largest in world. Secondary industry dominated area - 70s continerisation mean ships became too large to travel down Thames. Deindustrialisation occured&docks closed=dereliction&unemployment. Govt invested millions to transform area from secondary to tertiary services. Canary Wharf named because of imports coming from Canaries in 19/20th century-is now sea of high quality-high rise buildings-top business district. Gentrification alludes to orgin of buildings e.g West India dock(=imports from there) contains £550 a night Marriott hotel alongside restuarant 'Rum and Sugar' - employment in area changed drastically-from 2ndary industry to tertiary jobs 

Politial priorities

• 2008 UK (and rest of world) experienced financial crisis-banks collapsed&billions wiped off prices of shares
  
• govt stepped in and 'bail out' (finance) banks - govt also borrowed money for schools, hospitals..
• slowly economy is recovering - recovery happening at different rates
• london and south east region recovered more quickly&their economy is growing again but former industrial areas like North-East have found economic growth harder to achieve

Economists have identified that there are core Economic Hubs in England - where economic growth is strongest

Pattern of core UK economic hubs: High Growth Cities = fastest growth since 2008 - cities outside of London incl. Manchester and Milton Keynes & Dynamic Growth Cities = greatest potential for future growth. Cities outside of London incl. Cambridge and Reading. Criteria incl.:

• knowledge intensive business (quartenary industries) with most potential for growth
• high-skilled workforce - educated to degree level or above
• new business formation - potential to grow into larger businesses 
• good transport connections - rail, road and air

A growth pole is a place where growth starts from in region and can then spread to form growth corridor - economic hubs in uk have change from 60s - growth corridors strongly influenced by transport routes e.g M4 from london to bristol - The location of economic hubs is important for future planning UK.

• cities with growth corridors can work with nearby cities for growth&avoid unnecessary competition
• cities outside growth corridors can find way to make economic link with growth corridors
• uk govt can plan to promote economic growth outside growth corridors e.g transport link to HS2(high speed rail link between london&N.England)

• 21st century economic divide between london and rest of uk widened
• 13% of population&generates 22% of country's wealth
• economic growth faster in london than other uk regions since 97' - gap has widened since economic crisis in 08'
• economic growth slowed in other parts of uk - increased in london

London ranks above other cities most aspect of economic performance - some think gap between london&rest is bad for country. london attracts business that may otherwise go to other parts - on other hand london workers/business pay taxes=go towards uk economy - only 24% think london has positive impact on own city's economy

Silicon roundabout: old street roundabout in shoreditch - has become focal point for hundreds of new start-up companies-as well as start-up companies many well-known e.g amazon, facebook, google invested there. Called 'Sillicon Roundabout' because of all hi-tech companies there. Young people with good qualifications attracted to london to work for these companies - taking talent away from other cities

• accounts for fifth britain's wealth
• attracts educated workforce-38% of working=graduates(in britain)-in london=58%graduates
• london=more 'top jobs' & people prepared to commute several hrs day to work in london
• is transport hub-enables to travel to city quickly&easily-800 000 commuters in london everyday
• with 15% workforce london produces more than scotland,wales,n.ireland&west midlands together
• new industries opening in london-crick institute laboratory for scientist-chosen londom as links to financial&legal industries as well as high no. entrepreneurs
• london=world leading art school-drawing students around world-google investing £650m to build british hq close to art school - people they want to work for them in future

How has london as economic hub change over yrs?

19th century london produced fifth britain's income (same as today) - however the way money made=different- from industry...deindustrialisation...to services today. Gap between london&rest has grown.

Today london=global hub...sucking in foreigners money e.g Malaysia bought Battersea Power Station to regenerate 

UK's political role

• was time when controlled empire that ruled third of world-used empire to our advantage-obtaining resources&gaining links-still exists today
• not everyone benefitted -people blame empire&colonisation for state of many colonies today
• some land taken by force&some countries left in turmoil when britain left&divided up nations into new nations esp.across Africa
• during mid 20th century empire disentegrated as countries began to gain independence
• today many former empire members of Commonwealth(assosciation of 53 nations incl. UK&all equal in status-group shares values incl. democracy, human rights & trade deals)

We maintain degree of control by belonging to International Organisations e.g

UN :

• established post wwii (1945)
• aim to maintain peace&security, promote human rights&economic development protect environment&provide aid
• almost 193 nations members
• Russia, China, France&UK=important role-5 permanent members of security council
• have VETOs to stop action we don't want to happen

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) : Military alliance of N.America&Europe-treaty=members defend/help each other if any attacked by non-member nation (UK is part of NATO)

EU : 28 european countries working together - Brexit=UK leaving

UK involved resolving Ukraine conflict: 2013 govt strengthened ties with Russia rather than EU=unpopular with many Ukranians=violent protest. 2014 Putin took control of Crimea....fighting between Ukranian army&pro-russian ukranians since.

Involvement: NATO: created rapid response force of 5000 troops-rotation of countries..UK's turn 2017-sent RAF jets. 

UN: UK gave £15m aid&training for Ukraine army

G7: used to be G8 but rest of us kicked out Russia (now: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom & United States) after Crimea - we're restricting Russian bank borrowing & limited trae with Russia in hope threat of Russian economy will make Russia agree to ceasefire and removal of troops from Ukraine's border

UK has one of most critically acclaimed media industries in world

• one of best known british film characters-James Bond-dates back more than 50yrs
• films (e.g James Bond and Harry Potter) incredibly successful at british box office
• film&TV bring a lot of money to UK economy-UK TV exprt reached £1.28bn in 2014
• creative industries incl.film&TV now worth over £70bn a yr to UK economy-have created 1.7m jobs
• some TV shows sold as ready-made TV shows&dubbed in local language if neccessary-others=sold&adapte to fit local culture in other countries(e.g Downton Abbey, Come Dine with Me, Peppa Pig...)
• one advantage UK have=english spoken widely around world incl.USA-one of main markets for UK media
• Beauty&Beast highest grossing film of 2017
• Netflix invested £100m in The Crown-telling story of british monarchy
• but terrestial TV viewing figures fallen due to increase in on demand options

Food: The great British takeaway

Takeaway habits in UK changed over recent yrs-today average UK household spends £110 a month on takeaways 

• globalisation&migration brought new cuisines into mainstream british food life
• people tend to work longer hrs and 2 adults work-leaving less time to cook
• takeaways relatively cheaper today
• people have greater knowledge of other cuisines as travel more frequent these days
• are more arounfd

most popular type of takeaway=chinese. Chinese food arrived in UK in 19th Century-when chinese sailors settled down&opened 1st restaurants-during 60s more people came from hong kong-opening takeaway restaurants all around country-Every town in UK has at least 1 chinese takeaway- In cities like London&Manchester-chinese restaurants grouped together in area=Chinatown. British food->only one britis meal incl. in top-ten UK takeaway meals-Fish&Chips-Other meals incl. Full English breakfast, Bangers&Mash, Sunday roast.....

Recently chicken tikka masala took over fish&chips as UKs most popular takeaway food-isn't dish traditionally found in India-allegedly originates in Scotland-->customer at Indiam restaurant complained curry too dry-chef added tomato soup to moisten it and so chicken tikka was born

Is UK losing its global significance?

Was time when UK controlled empire that ruled third of world-empire disentigrated as countries began to gain independence - Up until 20th Century many Middle Eastern countries were part of British Empire. After independence UK's power has reduced significantly.