Summary Contemporary Urban Environments- Full Notes for Topic, including case studies
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Course
Unit 1 GEOG1 - Physical and Human Geography
Institution
AQA
Full, comprehensive and detailed notes for AS and A Level topic of contemporary urban environments. Includes case studies for each aspect of the case study, e.g. Mumbai (Dharavi Slums).
CONTEMPORARY URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
Urbanisation and its importance in human affairs.
This topic is called “contemporary urban environments”; urban environments are those
built up areas where people live in density. However, there is HUGE variety in the types and
styles of urban areas and how “built up” they are. Some urban areas are highly urbanised,
such as Dubai (2%), Istanbul (2.2%), Mumbai (2.5%), Shanghai (2.8%), Taipei (3.6%), but
others have large areas of greenery such as Moscow (54%), Singapore (47%), Sydney (46%),
Vienna (45.5%), Shenzhen (45%). 1
Urbanisation represents the demographic transition or change from rural areas to urban
areas. Urbanisation is defined as “the increasing PROPORTION of people that live in towns
and cities” and can be viewed at regional, national, continental and International scales.
• Urban growth is the increase in the TOTAL POPULATION of a town or city
• Urban expansion is the increase in SIZE or geographical footprint of a city
In 2010 a key date was passed, the World’s urban population passed 50% for the first time
in history. The World Health Organisation of the UN estimate that “By 2030, 6 out of every
10 people will live in a city, and by 2050, this proportion will increase to 7 out of 10 people.”
This poses fundamental questions and issues for the global population and its leaders.
So why is urbanisation important in human affairs?
1. The GDPs of some cities is bigger than countries! This means that their ECONOMIC
pull and influence is massive.
2. If more people live in towns and cities than rural areas, then they are DEPENDENT
upon rural areas for their services – the provision of food and important resources
for energy and construction
3. Urban areas are also dependent on rural areas to absorb the waste they produce,
rural areas absorb urban air pollution, accept and deal with municipal waste and are
affected by local changes to climate and hydrological systems.
4. Urban areas serve as global “nodes” – centre points in the world economic system.
There are huge manufacturing cities that produce goods for worldwide consumption
such as Shenzhen and others that provide services such as London. Either way they
help promote the global movement of goods and services and hence promote
globalisation.
5. Many people in urban areas live in substandard accommodation, particularly in LICs
(Low Income Countries). These areas are known as Squatter settlements, Bustees (in
India), Favelas (In Brazil) and shanty houses. Whatever the name, these areas serve
to get people into city areas for economic opportunity but also mean people live
mired in poverty in appalling conditions.
6. Immigration occurs at a large scale in many cities, this makes cities large melting pots
of culture and values.
, 7. There are many issues facing cities across the globe that people must put up with –
air pollution, congestion, lack of job opportunities, environmental pollution etc. all
impact people in various ways.
8. Urban sprawl has occurred, where cities have spread over huge distances making
them less efficient at delivering their aim, the production of goods and services to
improve the quality of life of the people who live in them.
9. The exchange of ideas and creative industries often occurs in urban areas, at
universities and in research parks
10. Urban areas have POLITICAL influence, and often have seats of national or local
government in them.
Global patterns of urbanisation since 1945.
- In 2010 a key date was passed, the World’s urban population passed 50% for the first
time in history. The World Health Organisation of the UN estimate that “By 2030, 6
out of every 10 people will live in a city, and by 2050, this proportion will increase to
7 out of 10 people.” This poses fundamental questions and issues for the global
population and its leaders, and this unit is designed to explore some of those issues.
- In 2018, the UN estimates that the percentage of people living in Towns and cities is
55.3% with 4.219 Billion of the World’s 7.632 Billion people living in urban areas.
- Although it can seem like our expanding cities take up a lot of land, only around 1%
of global land is defined as built-up.
Urbanisation represents the demographic transition or change from rural areas to urban
areas.
Urbanisation is defined as “the increasing proportion of people that live in towns and
cities” and can be viewed at regional, national, continental and International scales.
The word proportion in this definition is very important, because it indicates that we must
judge urbanisation by looking at both the numbers of people living in both rural AND urban
areas.
It is also important to remember that world population has grown massively since 1945 (the
global population was estimated at 2.556 billion in 1950 and is over 7.5 billion in 2019 4), so
not only have the % of people living in urban areas gone up but so has the absolute number
of people in them.
Variation in urbanisation around the world
Urbanisation varies from place and from time to time. There are clear patterns in WHEN
urbanisation has occurred and WHERE in different parts of the world. This is shown clearly
below;
,As can be observed on the graph urbanisation has occurred at different times for different
continents and at different rates (speeds).
1. The most urbanised places on planet Earth are the most economically developed, with
North America, Europe and Oceania all displaying high percentages of urbanisation and all
starting with high levels after 1950 (all over 50%). These have all continued to urbanise, but
rates have slowed down as these areas approach their peak for urbanisation. The UK line on
the graph is a good country example of this pattern.
2. Asia contains many Newly Industrialising Countries (NICs) such as India, and China, and
Asian Tigers such as Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea. These areas have had a
phenomenal rise in urbanisation from 18% to 45% in 2011 and are predicted to continue to
do so. These changes go hand in hand with rapid industrialisation (as seen in China’s special
enterprise zones) and changes in agriculture in those countries. This is evidenced clearly on
the China line on the graph.
3. Africa is a more complex case, and some countries are urbanizing whilst industrializing,
whilst others are urbanising based on the exportation of primary resources.
RATES of urban growth
, Rates of urban growth are slowing down however, in all continents and globally. This means
that urban areas, whilst still growing, are doing so at a slower pace. This is shown by the
graph above and is predicted by the United Nations to continue to do so. Even China is
expected to experience a decline in growth, and eventually a shrinking in urbanisation.
Growth in Africa remains strong, but declining, whilst European Urban growth rates are
declining towards zero.
Urbanisation has a geographic distribution. This is shown above, on the choropleth map.
The highest rates of urbanisation are in North America, Western Europe, South America and
Australasia. Lower rates of urbanisation are found in Africa and across Asia, but as
mentioned previously urban growth rates are high in these areas and their overall
percentage urbanisation is catching up with other areas.
CAUSES of urban growth
Urbanisation is caused by rural to urban migration and natural changes in population.
MIGRATION
Migration is the movement of population from one area to another. Some migrations are
forced, voluntary, permanent and temporary, international and regional. The type of
migration that we are principally interested in in this unit is Rural to urban migration, which
is the movement of people from countryside to city areas. However, international migration
is also important for many cities as the first port of arrival for many international migrants
are major cities.
HICs
Rural to Urban migration happened in HICs from the 18th Century onwards on a large scale
and has gradually slowed down. In fact, in many HICs the movement of people has reversed,
and people are moving from urban areas back into the countryside as they search for the
quiet life (this is known as counter-urbanisation).
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