Using examples, evaluate the relationship between economic development and urbanisation (10)

Using examples, evaluate the relationship between economic development and urbanisation (10)

The relationship is not straightforward. At a global scale, rapid urbanisation has occurred over the last 50 years. 50% of the world population lives in towns and cities; over 20% of the population live in cities over one million. The most urbanised continents are Europe, North America, South America and Oceania (mostly developed); the least urbanised are Asia and Africa (mostly developing). However, in terms of urban growth, the number of urban dwellers is by far the largest in Asia, with 1.6 billion people living in towns and cities, which is over 40% of the population. 

Urbanisation is increasing most rapidly in Africa and Asia- economically developing areas. This trend is expected to continue, so that by 2025, almost half the population of these continents will live in urban areas and 80% of urban dwellers will be in these areas of the world, most of which are currently developing. However, a consequence of the most rapid economic development that is taking place in most parts of China, India and south east Asia is that the level of urbanisation is increasing very rapidly. Rates of economic development and rates of urbanisation are rising simultaneously in these countries. 

Large cities, mostly in developing nations, have been faced with problems, which include inadequate infrastructure (housing, sewage and water supply) and lack of employment are rooted in their explosive population growth over the last 4 decades; a growth so rapid that it outstrips the resources or urban authorities to provide even the most basic needs to millions of their citizens. The result is poverty on an unimaginable scale. 

Although world cities also suffers problems of pollution, unemployment and housing shortages, their scale and severity is much smaller than in mega cities in the developing world. Ironically, world cities face challenges due to their success in the international economy. Most obvious one being, the growing income inequality between the minority of workers engaged in the global service economy and the majority who are excluded. The outcome has been the emergence of 'cities within cities'.

COMMENT FROM ME: Again, I don't see how it answers the question entirely, but this is taken directly from the mark scheme, it makes more sense than my previous post though, I will give it that. Happy revising! :-) 

Discuss the planning and management issues that have arisen in areas that have undergone urbanisation in recent years (10)

Discuss the planning and management issues that have arisen in areas that have undergone urbanisation in the recent years (10)

Urbanisation is an increase in the proportion of a country's population that lives in towns and cities. Recently, there have been countries which have undergone rapid urbanisation in the recent years, and there are relevant planning and management issues which arise as a result of it. 

An example of an area which has had massive urban growth in the recent years is Kibera, on the outskirts of Nairobi. It faces huge social, economic and environmental planning and management issues. 

The average population density in Kibera exceeds 3000 people per hectare. It comprises of housing which are usually makeshift shacks built from corrugated iron, mud, timber and any other materials that are to cheap to hand, as the majority of the population of Kibera are not at a high state of economic development which means that people cannot afford better quality building materials for housing. 

Kibera is unplanned and lacks even the most basic infrastructure. There are open sewers along the street and roughly one million people use the 600 pit latrines. Most households have no piped water and rely on standpipes, tanks or water vendors, who would sell water door-to-door, by carrying it on their head or in a cart. Women and children would sometimes have to queue for hours to buy water. There is no organised rubbish collection, and garbage is thrown in the streets, into watercourses and along railway tracks. Only 20% of households are connected legally to the electricity grid. 

The narrow, uneven and unpaved roads are inaccessible to vehicles, which is a problem, if ever there needs to be emergency aid that needs to be provided, there are no access points for them to enter. Half of Kibera's inhabitants are HIV positive, and there are thousands of abandoned children whose parents have died from AIDS. It is through the unsanitary and overcrowded conditions that promote the spread of waterborne disease, diarrhoea and TB.

Nearly four fifths of the population is unemployed, and most people rely on self employment. Jobs in the formal sector (construction) are concentrated in Nairobi's city centre, and along the commercial/ industrial spine of Mombasa Road. Several people cannot afford transport and walk long distances to work.

Like many slum areas in the cities, Kibera suffers from high crime rates as people feel they need to resort to crime in order to obtain money to feed their families. This is due to the scarce job opportunities available to them as most of them are unskilled. 

COMMENT FROM ME: oOkaay, so I got this answer directly from the Mark Scheme of the Jan 2012 paper, I don't really see how it answered the question, if I am completely honest... but I guess that if the mark scheme says this, it must be okay? The question is about planning and management issues, I would maybe talk more about government involvement in this? A good website I found is here, which may improve this answer slightly. 

Outline the processes of counter-urbanisation and descirbe its effects (8)

Outline the processes of counter-urbanisation and describe its effects (8) 

Counter urbanisation is the process of migration of people from major urban areas to smaller urban settlements and rural areas. The process of counter urbanisation began as there was an increase in the number of people who wanted a better quality of life, away from inner cities, which suffered from a lot of air and noise pollution, as well as busy traffic, dirt and the crime of urban environments. Additionally, as GNP was rising, most people wanted larger homes, with a lot of land, which is found in rural fringes. 

The process continued developing as land on the rural fringes was a lot cheaper than in inner cities, which meant that employers were also starting to move to rural areas, and thus attracted people to move too. Between 1981 and 1996, rural areas gained more than 1 million jobs. Improvements in telecommunications, and faster Internet has also allowed people to work from home, which allowed them to move away from the louder towns and cities. Additionally, there has also been a rise in demand for homes to be bought by elderly retirees, who have higher levels of affluent. This also links with the need for rural areas to attract more incomes, for example agricultural businesses are struggling and one way for them to make money is by selling unwanted land or buildings as residential properties. 

There have been effects, of counter urbanisation, for example, the change in the layout of rural settlements. Modern housing estates are built on the edges of small settlements, and small industrial units on the main roads leading into the settlement. Former open areas are built on, old properties and some agricultural buildings are being converted and modernised. As with the gentrified areas in inner cities, there is thus tension between the newcomers and the locals. Additionally as more people want to move to urban areas there is a higher demand for housing, and so house prices increase, while this is a positive impact for landlords who live in the rural area, young people from the same area may not be able to afford that housing, and thus, the population would then be dominated by older people. 

Explain the process of suburbanisation and describe its effects (8)

Explain the process of suburbanisation and describe its effects (8) 

Suburbanisation describes the growth of the suburbs through the decentralisation of population, industry and other business activities such as retailing. In the UK, large-scale suburbanisation was essentially a twentieth-century phenomenon, though it started in the late nineteenth century. Suburban development mainly comprised low-density housing and industry on greenfield sites.

The process of suburbanisation has resulted in the outward growth of urban development that has engulfed surrounding villages and rural areas. During the mid- to late-twentieth century, this was facilitated by the growth of public transport systems and the increased use of the private car. The presence of railway lines and arterial roads has enabled relatively wealthy commuters to live some distance away from their places of work but in the same urban area. The edge of town, where there is more land available for car parking and expansion, became the favoured location for new offices, factories and shopping outlets. Suburbanisation has led to the creation of residential estates – often with associated services: schools, GP practises, pubs, parks and playgrounds, etc. In a number of cases, the ‘strict control’ of the green belts was ignored (or at best modified) in the light of changing circumstances. More recently, there has been the development of new housing areas on ‘previously developed land’, leading to the infilling of large areas of private gardens and other open spaces in urban areas, such as school playing fields.

Consequently, suburbanisation had led to the urban sprawl, and loss of countryside amenity, like farmland and wildlife, in the rural-urban fringe. In England, between 1997 and 2010, around 150 km2 of greenbelt were lost to urban development and nearly 45000 houses were built in the suburbs. As more people began to commute back to inner cities, there were longer journeys to work, which in the past five decades have led to increasing problems of traffic congestion and pollution at peak times.

There has also been a demographic and economic decline of central urban areas- as population moves to the suburbs, and many services, such as retailing and office businesses have moved there too. Commercial activities in suburbs, however, offer greater accessibility as there is more space, and lower rents compared with more central urban locations which is a positive impact for the people there, as it also creates an increase in employment.