Urbanisation

Urbanisation - is an increase in the population of people choosing to live in towns and cities over rural areas.

Push factors - the negative things about an area that can detract from the positive factors and things you don't like e.g. high housing costs.

Pull factors - the positive things about an area that attract you towards a certain place e.g. good quality education.

Urbanisation increased rapidly because of the industrial revolution when people were looking for work; terraced housing was built and towns expanded to become cities and shops and offices replaced factories to form the CBD in the 20th century.

Central business district - mainly shops and offices; accessible location; high land values; usually corwded and busy.

Old inner city - old terraced housing; larger Victorian homes; inner city redevelopment; convenient for city centre.

Inner suburbs - mainly 1930s housing; council and private housing; semi and detached homes with gardens.

Outer suburbs - modern private houses and council estates; far from city centre; close to countryside.

Industrial estates - modern factories and shopping centres; located on main roads; good accessibility and parking.

Urbanisation increased because of poor harvests; lack of money; inadequate services in rural areas; possibility of paid employment; better education and better healthcare.

Population growth continues to increase because people are still having large families and as healthcare improves, the death rate is decreasing.

Central Business District - shops, offices, restaurants and entertainment, similar to a richer country's CBD.

High-quality housing - large colonial houses and expensive modern apartments on the highest quality land close to the CBD and along main roads.

Upgraded squatter settlements - self-built housing that's become permanent and has been improved by occupants, sometimes over several decades.

Squatter settlements - the newest housing on the city outskirts or wasteland. Homes self-built from scrap wood, metal and plastic.

Rural-urban fringe - a transition zone between an urban area and the countryside including modern housing, industrial estates and out-of-town shopping centres.

Competition for the rural-urban fringe: large suburban housing; coutry parks/nature reserves; farmland; golf courses; dump/quarry/landfill/sewage works; educational facilities; places of worship; council estates; recreational activities; supermarkets/hypermarkets; motorways/roads/railways and trading estates/business parks.

Housing - shortage of housing resulting in very high housing prices and people who earn average wages often struggle to afford to rent or buy their own property.

- building new houses on brownfield sites can increase the amount of land available to developers.

- developers are obliged to build a mix of private, low-cost and social housing in new developments.

- 1960s flats have been upgraded to provide homes for essential workers like teachers and nurses.

Traffic - congestion is especially bad during morning and evening rush hours.

- air pollution from vehicles contributes to health problems like bronchitis and asthma.

- efficient public transport

- congestion charge for vehicles entering the city on weekdays e.g. London.

- increasing the price of city centre car parks whilst providing low-cost park-and-ride 

schemes.

Improving the CBD - CBD's can decline due to age and competition from out-of-town shopping centres. Shops have closed and buildings have been left empty.

- improving the physical environment, shopping and entertainment centres.

- pedestrianisation of high streets and provision of more green spaces for relaxation.

Cultural mix - migrants cause ethnic diversity, however people from different cultures tend to cluster together for a familiar culture, safety in numbers, places of worship, community support from others and employment opportunities.

- recruit police who represent the ethinic diversity of the communities they serve.

- encouraging people to share values and traditions and therefore intefrate more easily.

Air pollution - toxic gases released by vehicles and factories.

- carbon monoxide and ozone damage people's health.

- sulphur dioxide creates acid rain which damages buildings.

- ban vehicles without catalytic converters.

- fine factories that break pollution limits.

Water pollution - rivers and groundwater polluted by domestic and industrial waste.

- human waste discharged into rivers.

- extend sewage networks.

- set up agency to monitor river quality.

Waste disposal - rubbish rots on streets without a waste collection service.

- looks unsightly, smells bad and attracts rates which spread disease.

- provide plastic sacks.

- introduce wheelie-bins and daily waste disposal.

Shortage of affordable housing leads to people building their own houses and these form squatter settlements.

They are typically built on steep land, next to rivers and on the very outskirts of cities.

Shelters are built from scrap materials, including wood, plastic and corrugated metal.

They are illegal and some governments regularly bulldoze them to the ground.

Some problems are:

- poor water supply.

- no sewage system.

- no waste collection.

- risk of disease and no healthcare.

- unemployment and violent crime.

Redevelopment: Consolidation - settlements are transformed into permanent settlements. Houses are upgraded and scrap materials are replaced bricks and concrete to create solid buildings with several floors.

Self-help - squatter settlements provide a partial solution to housing problems.

- squatters are given legal ownership of the land and they are given cheap materials to help them improve their homes.

Site and service - the government provide a plot of land with roads and basic services in place (water, sanitation and electricity).

The plot can be purchased or rented and people construct their own homes under guidance from their local authority.

Local authority - can improve the infrastructure; provide healthcare and education; organise waste removal; improve policing and encourage informal businesses.