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Summary AQA A Level Geography Contemporary Urban Environments
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The key topics in the contemporary urban environments chapter from AQA A Level Geography. The document I used to get an A* in Geography A Level.
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Contemporary Urban EnvironmentsUrbanisation and its importance in human affairs
Specification link: urbanisation and its importance in human affairs.
Cities have been linked to important social and economic transformations which have brought about
greater geographic mobility, lower fertility and higher life expectancy.
Cities also play a major role in poverty reduction. Cities hold much of the national economic activity,
government institutions, business and transportation and have higher levels of health, education
and easier access to social services and greater opportunities.
For example, Nairobi in Kenya holds 8.4% of Kenya’s population but contributes to 20% of the
country’s GDP.
Patterns of Urbanisation Since 1945
Specification: Global patterns of urbanisation since 1945.
Urbanisation – the process by which an increasing proportion of a country’s population live in towns
and cities.
The urban population has grown rapidly from 746 million in 1950 to 3.9 billion in 2014.
The most urbanised continents are: North America (82%) and Latin America (80%).
The least urbanised continents are Africa (40%) and Asia (48%) but these continents are also
urbanising most rapidly.
India, China and Nigeria alone are expected to account for 37% of the world’s expected urban
growth between 2014 and 2050.
Much of the expected growth will occur in LICs, particularly in medium-sized cities and cities with
less than 1 million people. Many areas projected to be urban by 2040 have not been built yet.
Other cities have experienced population decline. Often due to economic contraction like Detroit or
after a natural disaster such as the population decline experience by New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina.
There has also been the rapid development of megacities in the last 30 years. In 1990, there were
10, in 2014 there were 28 and by 2025 the UN predicts there will be 37 megacitie s containing over
13% of the global population. The megacities today are largely concentrated in Asia.
Tokyo is the world’s most populated city with a population of almost 38 million. It is closely followed
by Delhi, Mumbai and Shanghai which are all metacities.
The Chinese government has plans to merge 9 cities in the Pearl River Delta creating an urban area
26 times bigger than Greater London.
Causes of Urban Growth – Natural Population Growth
Natural increase is where the birth rate is higher than the death rate so the population grows.
Urban areas tend to have a relatively young age profile due to the high numbers of you ng adults
migrating to the cities due to better economic prospects.
, In many large cities in England and Wales, residents aged 22-29 make up half of their populations.
These residents are in their fertile years, so the rates of natural increase are higher in cities than in
rural areas.
In the past, parents with young children would have moved out to the suburbs but the rising costs
and long commute times have encouraged young families to stay in the city.
London’s age profile – large proportion of people aged 20 – 39:
Causes of Urban Growth – Rural-urban migration.
Rural-urban migration is a process where people move to the city from the countryside.
This is due to push and pull factors.
Push factors cause people to move away from the countryside. They are often the reason why
people in low-income countries migrate to the cities.
Push factors:
• Poverty
• Agricultural problems
• Disease
• Natural disasters
• Conflict
Pull factors attract people to the city.
Pull factors:
• Better employment prospects
• Better access to and higher quality social provisions like healthcare and education.
• A perceived better quality of life.
Consequences of Urbanisation – Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is the spread of an urban area into the surrounding countryside.
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