Urban issues and challenges — Edexcel GCSE Geography revision

Urbanisation

• Urbanisation is the growing share of people living in towns and cities. It is fastest in low-income and newly emerging economies, driven by rural-urban migration (push and pull factors) and natural increase because migrants are typically young adults.
• Megacities (over 10 million people) are increasingly located in Asia and Africa rather than Europe and North America.
• Rapid growth creates squatter settlements, informal employment, pressure on water, sanitation, health and education, congestion and air pollution.

Opportunities and challenges in NEE cities

• Opportunities: better access to services, higher wages than rural areas, growth of formal industry, improved transport and education, and self-help schemes that upgrade housing.
• Challenges: informal housing without secure tenure, unsafe water and waste disposal, traffic congestion, unemployment or low-paid informal work, and crime.
• Sustainable approaches include site-and-service schemes, low-cost water and sanitation, recycling of waste, improved public transport and community-led upgrading.

Key terms

Urbanisation

An increasing proportion of people living in urban areas.

Megacity

A city with over 10 million inhabitants.

Rural-urban migration

Movement of people from countryside to cities.

Squatter settlement

Unplanned informal housing built on land the residents do not own.

Informal economy

Unregulated work without contracts, tax or protection.

Brownfield site

Previously developed land available for reuse.

Common exam traps

• Saying urban growth is only caused by migration — natural increase among young migrant populations matters too.
• Assuming all informal settlements are hopeless; self-help and site-and-service schemes improve them.
• Confusing urbanisation (a process) with a megacity (a place).

Practice questions with answers

1. 1. Urbanisation means:

   • • Cities getting physically bigger only
   • • A rising proportion of people living in urban areas
   • • Falling city populations
   • • Rural population growth

   Answer: A rising proportion of people living in urban areas

   It is about share of population, not just area.

2. 2. Which is a pull factor for rural-urban migration?

   • • Crop failure
   • • Better paid jobs in the city
   • • Rural drought
   • • Lack of rural healthcare

   Answer: Better paid jobs in the city

   Pull factors attract people to the destination.

3. 3. Explain why natural increase is high in fast-growing cities.

   Answer: Migrants are mostly young adults of childbearing age, so birth rates in the city stay high

   Migrant age structure drives natural increase.

4. 4. A megacity has a population above:

   • • 1 million
   • • 5 million
   • • 10 million
   • • 50 million

   Answer: 10 million

   The standard UN threshold is 10 million.

5. 5. Give two challenges created by rapid urban growth.

   Answer: Informal housing without sanitation and traffic congestion or air pollution

   Choose different categories (social, environmental) for range.

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