IGCSE+-+Urban+Environments

media type="custom" key="5442937"Hi Geographers

Above is the official syllabus for this topic and the size of the word represents how often it appears. So study the image to see what the __key__ words are.
 * This is the WIS wiki for the Urban Environments topic. Here you will find useful resources to aid your understanding of our complex urban world.**

Here is the link for the first article I gave you for the special day,May 23rd 2007 ;[|World more urban than rural]

Problems caused by rapid urbanisation - [|Hong Kong Air Pollution] [| Traffic congestion in mumbai] media type="youtube" key="LFgb1BdPBZo" height="340" width="560" High unemployment and lack of housing in Lagos

Shanty Town/ Squatter settlement/slum case study **Dharavi - Mumbai**

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**Finding a better future for Dharavi** DIANE SQUIRES - Monash Univeristy - Monash Magazine Giant water pipes carry water to Mumbai and serve as a shortcut for Dharavi residents. //Photo by Robert Appleby// Midway between the airport and main business district of Mumbai, in India, is an area few visitors dare venture into. Known as the Dharavi slums, it is strewn with rubbish, excrement and pools of filthy water. One and two-storey houses so densely populate the area that there is no public access for service vehicles or open space for children to play. With a population of just over one million, it is one of Asia's largest slums, and there are repeated calls for its buildings to be knocked down to make way for new housing. But Monash Asia Institute director Professor Marika Vicziany believes that although the area is chaotic and in need of an overhaul, the solution is not as simple as destroying buildings. Working with Professor S. Vichare from Tadomall College in Mumbai, Professor Vicziany has started speaking to the residents to generate a list of priorities for the area. The project, which started last year, includes investigating the area's sanitation, sewerage, solid waste disposal, water management and food distribution needs. "What we are looking at is if you have one dollar to spend on the area, what would you do with it? Would you put it towards providing a crèche, new buildings or amenities for waste management?" she says. "We need to be able to provide a list of priorities to the government as well as organisations in the area, which will identify what needs to be done first, based on what residents need most." Professor Vicziany says her initial reaction to Dharavi was that the buildings should be knocked down to make way for new housing. But despite the appearance of the slums, she says, the area is full of hard-working people who are extremely house-proud. "The living conditions look terrible - they are terrible, but when you go inside the homes, they are spotless," she says. "These people are not hopeless - they are the most energetic people in the city. The women make and sell textiles and food such as papadums. They are not people picking through rubbish - they are a population crammed into a small area, surrounded by filth because there are no private amenities and no roads providing vehicle access to the area." A survey of toilet facilities in Dharavi in 1997 revealed that there was one toilet for every 1488 people. However, 80 per cent of these mainly public toilets were unusable because of blockages, filth and disrepair. While some homes have their own facilities, these are few and far between. "Public sanitation is certainly an area in which outside intervention could play a critical role. Better sanitation means better health and less expenditure on medicines and visits to clinics," says Professor Vicziany. Slums such as Dharavi also have implications for engineering studies within India, she says. Courses should include the study of how poor people survive and how their knowledge of slums can be incorporated into planning processes to provide solutions for future developments. The Dharavi project is just one of a series in Asia that Professor Vicziany is involved with through the Research Unit on Cultures and Technologies in Asia (RUCTA). RUCTA was established in 2001 by the MAI and the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education and brings together expertise on Asia from Monash's faculties of Arts, Business and Economics, Engineering, Law, and Information Technology. Members have already started research projects on urbanisation, corporate governance, environmental degradation and global responses to the eradication of mass poverty. "The Dharavi project will have implications for other slums," Professor Vicziany says. "By 2020, most people across Asia will be living in cities - how will the cities cope?". Source


 * Urban Land Use Patterns & models**

Remember the 'Urban Earth' idea? The guy who took photos every few steps across major world cities? Well here are the videos to remind you of how land use changes across a transect.

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 * Fieldwork - Urban Landuse Transect from Peak to Central**


 * URBAN TRANSECT DATA COLLECTION Thurs 4th March 2010 **


 * AIM:**

1. To observe, enquire, analyse and evaluate your urban environment. 2. To learn key fieldwork skills and Urban Land use theory for examination.


 * ROUTE OF ENQUIRY:**


 * 1) Decide on topic
 * 2) Set Key questions and Hypothesis to be tested.
 * 3) Decide on Location, Sampling techniques and Data collection Methods
 * 4) Conduct risk assessment
 * 5) Collect data
 * 6) Presentation of data
 * 7) Interpretation and Analysis of data
 * 8) Conclusion
 * 9) Evaluation of study

Or “Hong Kong Island Matches The Burgess Concentric Ring Model”
 * HYPOTHESIS**: “The Land Use and Environmental Quality Changes from The Peak to Central.”


 * KEY QUESTIONS**:

How does land use change from The Peak to Central? Why does land use change from The Peak to Central? - Link to Burgess Model. How does Environmental Quality change from The Peak to Central? Does Population density decrease with distance from the centre?

Choose the sub Hypotheses below that will enable you to answer your overall hypothesis

1. There will be more offices close to the CBD

2. Shopping quality will increase as you move towards the CBD

3. Air and Noise Pollution will increase as you move towards the CBD

4. Building density will increase as you move towards the CBD

5. The quality of Building material will increase as you move towards the CBD

6. Building height will increase as you move towards the CBD

7. The number of pedestrians will increase as you move towards the CBD

8. The amount of Traffic will increase as you move towards the CBD


 * Land Use in Hong Kong- Satellite Image** - Can you spot patterns? where is the CBD? Where is the RUF?

**The Changing fortunes of the Inner City in HIC’s.** In cities in the more developed world the words ‘inner-city’ bring to mind images of poverty, derelict land, run down buildings and crime. Nobody would choose to live there if they could afford somewhere else. Examples of Inner City areas: Hackney in London The Bronx in New York However since the 1980’s there has been recognition that Inner City areas have great potential. The land is valuable due to its proximity to the CBD and its inhabitants, although poorer are often young, culturally diverse and energetic. Governments have come to the conclusion that it is time to regenerate the inner cities and transform them from low income ‘ghettoes’ to vibrant, easily accessible, mixed communities. This regeneration can be achieved through a lot of money being spent on improving the physical environment, encouraging businesses to locate there and providing good quality housing and facilities for the population. Probably the most famous example of an inner city regeneration scheme is the ... **London Docklands Development Corporation.**

__Ethnic Segregation in Hong Kong__ Hong Kong has a reputation as an ‘international’ city and judging by the diversity in our school that would seem to be true. However our school only represents a small part of Hong Kong, what about the city as a whole? Well according to the 2008 census Hong Kong is not very ethnically diverse at all. In fact 94.9% of the total population is of Chinese ethnicity. That leaves only 5.1% to represent all other ethnic groups in Hong Kong.

 See your Ethnic segregation worksheets with graphs to show the distribution of minorities across Hong Kong. Remember you need to be able to explain why people of the same ethnicity live in the same areas and what the consequences can be!