Urban history, as a tool, has drastically changed our understanding of cities over the centuries. ‘Urban histories possessed an explanatory power far above the intricate workings of one city; providing larger narratives centered on industrialization or other macro-economic developments’.
Urban growth is described as the increase in the number of people who live in towns and cities and suburbanisation can be defined as the outward growth of urban development.
How successful has the regeneration of urban areas been given the variety of ways it has been undertaken (40 marks)
An emerging issue is that of urban sprawl. While some aspects of urban sprawl has been seen since ancient times, this phenomenon has started gaining the most momentum in the past century, aided by the advancement of technology, especially with the rise of mass produced automobiles, houses and highway systems. Many people unknowingly contribute to this environmental problem, as is the nature of it. Urban sprawl deals with the growth of the suburbs, the area between the urban and rural areas of a city. Most of America’s largest cities and states, in terms of population, are prime examples of urban sprawl. Opponents of urban sprawl usually cite the government as a major cause of sprawl. The government may be a major catalyst of
In this book Lynch defines that performance of the city can be measured by reference to its spatial form. But the quality of a place is depends upon combined effect of place and the society which occupies that place. Here Lynch sets up new dimensions for performance in his own criteria. Author also expresses his approach on size of the city, conservation and growth, planning practices and utopian models. The dimensions which are demonstrated in this book may not be fully perfect but of course they combine all social values as well as physical values. Lynch believed that these described dimensions must cover all features of all forms of the settlements and all these dimensions should be usable where values are different.
Task #1 : Analyse the impacts of at least two urban dynamics operating in a large city of the developed world.
In recent years, the rapid expansion of metropolitan areas has been termed “urban sprawl,” which refers to a complex pattern of land use, transportation, and social and economic development. The broad phenomenon of sprawl is a variety of issues related to land use, transportation, urban and regional
Urbanization is a concept that is deeply rooted in the increase in a population within a region in response to the availability of unique opportunities. The opportunities may include the availability of employment chances in factories, investments opportunities in the urban areas, and the presence of sufficient housing and social infrastructure. It is apparent that urbanization began centuries ago in different regions of the world. However, the development of suburban areas has also been an interesting phenomenon over the centuries. Initially, people strived to live in the luxurious houses in major towns and cities. Nevertheless, there was a gradual shift in the desire to live in the cities when various negative impacts of overpopulation
The physical-environmental geography of Sub-Saharan Africa relates to the distribution of human and economic activities in several ways. First, Sub-Saharan Africa is a peripheral that supplies raw materials, food, and cheap labor to the main industrial countries. The physical geography makes survival had for those not working in agriculture. It is the most productive way for people to make a living and feed their large families. In recent years, there has been major movement from rural-to-urban environments. Migration to major cities has caused extreme overcrowding and poor living conditions.
Pamela Blais’s book called Perverse Cities is based on the drawbacks of urban sprawl within a city. The book focuses on multiple cities within North American (Canada and USA) and discusses the factors that make the notion of sprawl the least sustainable and livable for several reasons. For example, the increased use of transit causes pollution and effects the influence on public health, affordability and its relation to subsidized planning services. “Urban sprawl – low-density subdivisions and business parks, big box stores and mega malls [to maximize space] have increasingly come to define city growth despite decades of planning and policy,” Blais argues that multiple things affect sprawl in cities and could be beneficial through cost from
Aforementioned the main research objective is to demonstrate that urban sprawl policies are more prominent in metropolitan cities with a lesser emphasis on secondary cities, as well as to determine comprehendible definitions of urban and rural areas within policies. Although substantial research is available, again the problems emerge as secondary cities apparently do not receive any focus. In the literature section of this research study, the scoping review methods were used, these types of reviews provide a preliminary assessment of the potential size and scope of available research literature. It aims to identify the nature and extent of research evidence (usually including on-going research).
New Urbanism, a burgeoning genre of architecture and city planning, is a movement that has come about only in the past decade. This movement is a response to the proliferation of conventional suburban development (CSD), the most popular form of suburban expansion that has taken place since World War II. Wrote Robert Steuteville, "Lacking a town center or pedestrian scale, CSD spreads out to consume large areas of countryside even as population grows relatively slowly. Automobile use per capita has soared, because a motor vehicle is required for nearly all human transportation"1. New Urbanism, therefore, represents the converse of this planning ideology. It stresses traditional planning, including multi-purpose zoning,
Burgess’s concentric zone theory was presented in 1924. He presented a descriptive urban land use model that divided cities in a set of concentric circles expanding from downtown to the suburbs. His representation came from Burgess’ observations of various American cities, especially Chicago. Burgess model assumes a relationship between the socio-economic status of households and the distance from the Central Business District. The further from the district, the better the quality of housing, but the longer the commuting time. Making this Accessing better housing is done at the expense of longer commuting times and costs as well. According to Burgess, urban growth is a process of expansion and reconversion of land uses, with a tendency of each inner zone to expand in the outer zone. According to Burgess’ theory, a large city is divided in six concentric zones, Burgess’s model has its cons according to critics. It is said to be a product of its time. That is, it won’t work the same with present cities. The model was developed when American cities were growing very fast and when motorized transportation was still uncommon as most people used public transit. Thus the concept cannot be applied to those from the second half to the twentieth century where highways have enabled urban development to escape the reconversion process and to take place directly in the suburbs. The model in this case was developed for American cities and is limited elsewhere.
Urbanisation is the phenomenon where the population of cities and town increases. It is because the people move from rural areas to towns and cities expecting good job, and better life. There will be a drastic change in socio economic, and climate change due to urbanisation. When the resource is not efficiently used the population tend to settle in centralised, and compact informal areas of city and town leading to creation of slums. It is often said that formation of slums is not expected with rapid urbanisation; however presence of the slums in most of the developing countries that are rapidly urbanising contradicts this statement.
The smallest in area of Nigeria's states (total land area of three thousand, five hundred and seventy seven square meters), Lagos State is the most populous state (with over eighteen million people according to 2006 population census) and unarguably the most economically important state of the country and the nation's most urbanized (Economic Intelligence Unit, MEPB 2012).