M5 Revision No!

Ci#es

Urban se)lements are towns & Ci2es, they play an important part in today’s society providing
func2ons like commerce, industry & services. They are densely populated and ever changing.
Currently today 60% of the global popula2on lives in ci2es. This leads to mul2ple millionaire ci2es
(a city with over 1 million people living there).

Because of the high popula2on of people living in a such a small area ci2es face mul2ple
problems including: Unemployment, traffic jams, housing, health care, waste disposal, pollu2on
and slums.

Some ci2es have become so large that they merged into a neighbouring city to become one, a
process known as conurba2on. (Tokyo-Yokohama).

Migra2on = The movement of people from one place to another either temporarily or
permanently, this can be interna2onally or na2onally.

People will migrate because of push & pull factors –

Push factors= what drives you away from your current loca2on
Includes; Wars, No jobs, debt, famine, natural disasters, poli2cs, climate, insecurity
Pull factors = what makes you go towards your new loca2on
Includes: Security, hope of wealth, poli2cal freedom, live with rela2ves, religious tolerance, chance
of higher living standards.

People migra2ng from rural areas to urban areas is known as rural-urban migra2on.

Usually push factors will include: Not enough land, jobs, rural poverty or disliking of tradi2onal
way.

Pull factors to go into the city will include: Greater employment, higher educa2on, be)er medical
care and modern way of life.

Problems with rural depopula2on Problems with urban overpopula2on

• Land cul2vated by the old and children • Conges2on

• Lack of community leaders • Unemployment
• Few skilled individuals • Slums
• Dwindling school environment • Health hazards
• Neglected farms • Pollu2on
• Rural poverty • Increased crime
• Traffic jams

Ci2es are growing at a rapid rate and are bringing about a lot of issues. Therefore, the need for
sustainable ci2es is greater than ever if they are to con2nue growth without damaging the quality
of people’s lives.

Sustainability = mee2ng the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.

Some features of a sustainable city will include:

• Public transport is a viable op2on
• Cultural and social ameni2es
• Housing is affordable
• Walking/cycling is safe
• Powered by renewable energy.
• Conges2on charges
• Cycling lanes

E.g. Masdar City in Abu Dhabi it is: Powered completely by renewables, residence have 5hours of
sustainability educa2on a year, full pedestrianizing, low carbon footprint during construc2on and
the university researches ways to improve city sustainability.

The Urban Heat Island effect is how ci2es are usually warmer than the surrounding rural areas
some2mes by 5 degrees. They are warmer because the Albedo in ci2es is low due to all the dark
colours in roads and buildings alongside the heat produced by homes, cars and factories.
More development within a city will create a stronger economy and a greater amount of migra2on
into ci2es.

There are two ways we can measure development in countries.

1. GDP (Gross Domes2c Product)

The output, income or expenditure of a country calculated over a quarterly or yearly period.

2. HDI (Human Development Index)

A scale combining educa2on, family income, ethic’s, life expectancy etc.. Is a be)er overall
method to measure development as it looks at a wide range of factors but is hard to gather all
the data.

• Stage 1 – Both birth and death rates stay high and fluctuate over natural periods of plague
and war. (Industrial revolu2on)

• Stage 2- Modern medicine and improved hygiene decreases deaths par2cularly in children.
Rapid Popula2on growth. (less developed countries today)

• Stage 3- Introduc2on of family planning and contracep2ves, alongside a growing economy.

Birth rate falls.

• Stage 4- low birth and death rates correla2ng with higher educa2on and family planning
(most developed countries)

• Stage 5- young popula2on outweighed by the old popula2on.

Food and Agriculture

Farming is one of the most basic human ac2vi2es and one of the oldest, it has evolved from small
scale fields using wooden ploughs to large scale mechanical opera2ons. As popula2on grows the
requirement for food goes up and thus agriculture becomes more and more important.

Of all the land in the world only 11% is arable with almost half of this land found in Asia and
Europe which is why such powerful historical civiliza2ons were found here. Human, physical and
environmental factors will impact crop growth.

Land use can influence crop growth: relief and soil depth influence the growth and yield of crops,
Padi and wheat require deep soils found in river valleys and lowland areas whereas tea needs hills
that have been terraced.

Physical Human

Climate (Rainfall, Temperature, Forest & Government Policies

winds)

Relief (Al2tude, Slopes, Aspect) Labor

Soil (Structure, Porosity, Mineral Nutrients) Management

Demand & Price

Capital (seeds, insec2cides, tools, rent)

New Technology

Transport
Historically, disasters like drought, pests, disease and floods have damaged crops, leading to a
decrease in farming produc2vity and causing large popula2ons to starve. In the mid 1900’s there
was rapid popula2on growth and a huge requirement for more food produc2on. This led to the
Green Revolu2on.

Green Revolu2on= Large Increase in crop produc2on in developing countries by the use of high
yield crop varie2es, fer2lizers, pes2cides, and GMO’s. Developing countries that once struggled
with producing enough food for their people were now making enough they could make money
expor2ng it.
 Some of the good farming prac2ces introduced were: Crop diversifica2on, restricted grazing and
contour ploughing.

Whilst the bad prac2ces eradicated were overgrazing, soil exhaus2on & slope wise farming.
We also have GMO (Gene2cally modified organism) crops today which we have altered the DNA of
to become resistant to drought, pes2cides and certain fungi making the plants more resilient.

Hydroponics is also a new concept being adopted, it involves growing plants in a warehouse using
nutrient rich water. This means clima2c condi2ons can be controlled and reduces the likelihood of
insects destroying plants. Making this process very profitable.

Drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall. They are usually associated with higher
temperatures and a popula2on of people consuming more water than is entering the area.

Meteorological Drought = Natural fluctua2on in weather causing li)le/no rain to fall in an area
causing the land to dry

Agricultural drought= Moisture within the soil completely dries and so plants and crops die.

Hydrological Drought = Natural water sources like rivers, lakes and ponds begin to dry up, takes a
long 2me to occur and a long 2me to recover.

Impacts

Social

• Death – If there is no food being grown and you cannot afford to buy any then starva2on/
death occurs
• Malnutri5on – People don’t have enough to eat and so their bodies don’t have enough
nutrients to grow and sustain themselves.
• Emo5onal trauma – Seeing the death of youth and elderly alongside watching your family
starve can create long las2ng emo2onal issues like anxiety and depression.

Economic

• Damaged economies- If a country exports a lot of crops then when they all die in a drought
there is nothing for a country to export and so the amount of money it makes decreases.
• Loss of livelihood – People who make a living from farming can no longer make any money.
• Rise in food prices – If a country is a main producer of a certain crop and is suffering from a
drought it creates a shortage and so global prices of a crop can rise.