Urban Challenges in Developed Cities (Edexcel IGCSE Geography)

Spec point — 4GE1-S6.069

Urban challenges in developed cities

• Challenges faced by developed world cities fall under 3 categories:

  • Social
  • Economic
  • Environmental

• These challenges are varied and unique to each city

Social challenges

• Social services
• Housing
• Poverty and deprivation
• Ethnic segregation
• Quality of life
• Ageing population
• Tourism and crime

Economic challenges

• Globalisation
• Food supply
• Transport and traffic
• Energy supply
• Deindustrialisation
• Service provision

Environmental challenges

• Pollution and waste
• Sustainability
• Ecological footprint
• Energy, land and water
• Hazard risk
• Green space

General Examples

Food

• Getting food for the over a million inhabitants is difficult

  • Food is often imported from other countries

• Transportation costs add to the price the consumer has to pay

• This also increases the carbon footprint of the city

Energy

• All cities require energy for their residents and businesses

• The production of energy is mostly through the burning of non-renewable fossil fuels

• With the continued growth of cities, energy security is becoming an issue

• A mix of energy types is needed depending on the location

  • Wind power isn't possible for all cities or a continuously reliable source (not windy every day)

• Regardless of how a city generates its energy, large amounts of resources will be used to add to a city's 'footprint'

Transport

• Any large city will face problems with congestion on roads due to the volume of people trying to get about the city
• Cars and lorries will be polluting through exhaust emissions; buses and trains can be electric, reducing their impact
• Despite technology helping more modern cars produce less pollution, the remaining city's transport infrastructure (rail, tube, buses, etc.) will also be under a lot of stress

Water

• The supply of safe, clean water poses a major challenge for developed cities
• A megacity will often have a higher demand for water than it can supply
• This means that water needs to be brought in from other areas or other solutions need to be drawn up, such as a desalination plant

Waste

• Every person and business produces waste, making the combined rubbish of a city, huge

• Much of this waste will end up going to landfill

  • This is both expensive and wasteful

• Space is running out and new laws restrict the dumping of certain wastes in landfill sites, adding to a city's problems in dealing with its waste

Segregation

• There is a tendency for people to live near others of similar backgrounds and status
• This can be through employment, wealth, ethnicity, etc.
• This makes for little interaction between the groups, which isolates and limits social mobility
• Isolation breeds fear and suspicion of 'differences' within the urban area

Example Case Study of a World City - Hong Kong

Spec point — 4GE1-S6.069

Example case study of a world city – Hong Kong

Case Study

Hong Kong – A world city

• Hong Kong as one of the most advanced cities, has had to overcome several development issues

Hong Kong

• Hong Kong has a land area of over 1000 km² with over 7m people
• It is a Special Administrative Region of China
• It is also an island and a city
• It has a world city status in Asia
• It is amongst one of the world’s top financial and business centres

Economic challenges

• De-industrialisation and globalisation

  • Hong Kong has benefitted from globalisation

  • Its economy is based on trade and financial services so manufacturing has never been a major part of the economy

    • This means it has not really been affected by **deindustrialisation **

  • It is the world’s 11th-largest trading country and the world’s largest re-export centre

    • The majority of the products being made in mainland China

• Food supply

  • With very little arable land on which to farm, agriculture contributes only 0.1% of its GDP
  • Most food is imported

• Energy supply

  • The energy supply is mostly from electricity
  • About** 75%** is generated from **fossil fuel power stations **(mostly coal)
  • Approximately** 25% i**s generated from nuclear power, imported from China

• Transport and traffic

  • Traffic congestion is a major issue for most cities, along with smog and traffic pollution
  • Hong Kong has a well-developed transport network, making movement around the city relatively easy
  • Of the 11 million daily journeys, over 90% are made on an integrated network of public transport – rail, bus, and ferry
  • Smog is still an issue, but not at levels seen in other cities

Social challenges

• Social services

  • Hong Kong has good provision of social services, particularly education and healthcare

  • There is inadequate support for the ageing population

    • Some older residents scavenge and sell boxes and scrap to survive

• Housing

  • As one of the world's most densely populated islands, the only way Hong Kong can grow is upwards

    • It has become a vertical city

  • Around half of Hong Kong's residents live in government-rented public housing

    • This is mainly high-rise apartments

  • Private housing is ranked 3rd in the world as the most expensive

• Social mobility and polarisation

  • Social mobility is reduced as private house prices are high

    • This makes it extremely difficult for people to move from the public to the private sector
    • This creates dramatic social polarisation, with extreme wealth, poverty and deprivation found together in the compact urban area

• Poverty and deprivation

  • Despite its overall prosperity, Hong Kong has pockets of poverty and deprivation

    • There were several squatter settlements in Kowloon City, but these were cleared out in the 1990s

  • A new form of squatter settlement has arisen to accommodate the homeless – the 'penthouse slum' or 'rooftop shanty town'

    • These are illegal homes and are thought to be unique to Hong Kong
    • Restrictions by the government on access to social housing, along with the high cost of private renting
    • People have been forced to utilise the spaces on the roofs of apartment blocks

  • Other forms of cheap housing are obtained through renting a locking cage in a dormitory room with several other people

    • These cages allow just enough space to sleep in, whilst having some safety in being able to lock personal items away during the day

• Ethnic segregation

  • About 94% of the population is of Chinese descent; 6% are from the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal and India

  • Most people are employed within the domestic service industry

  • British, Japanese, American, Canadian and Korean employees work within the higher-paying jobs of the commercial and financial sector

    • These people also living in the wealthier areas of Hong Kong

Environmental challenges

• Ecological footprint

  • In Hong Kong, large amounts of fossil fuels are burned

  • There is a need to reclaim large amounts of land from the sea to create new space for urban growth

    • This subsequently damages the marine environment

  • Smog drifts across the territory from industrial developments on the other side of the Pearl River Delta

• Waste disposal

  • Hong Kong's 7 million residents produce an estimated 6.4 million tonnes of waste a year
  • Until recently, this was dumped in landfill and land reclamation sites
  • Increased recycling and waste-to-energy are being attempted

• Water supply

  • Providing a water supply is difficult, as Hong Kong territory has few rivers and lakes

  • Groundwater sources are difficult to access

  • A growing population with seasonal variations in rainfall means Hong Kong has to import 70% of its water supply from mainland China

    • This adds to a deepening ecological footprint

• Sustainability

  • Due to its size and economic success, Hong Kong is a huge and concentrated consumer of resources

    • These resources range from land and water to energy and recreational spaces

  • All this adds to the deepness of Hong Kong's ecological footprint

  • Hong Kong's challenge lies in becoming sustainable, which is some way away

Worked Example Study Figure 3c

Analyse the different challenges that affect urban environments in developed countries

(8 marks)

• You must mention the figures and use examples

• There are four groups of challenges here:

  • Rural-urban conflict – this is a problem of people moving in both directions, adding to traffic congestion and changing house prices
  • Traffic congestion – Traffic congestion is a major issue in many large cities
  • Waste disposal – large cities have problems disposing of their waste in a long-term and sustainable way
  • Segregation – this leads to a division of rich and poor

• What questions should you ask yourself?

  • Why are they happening?
  • Which ones are the hardest to solve?
  • Are these the only four challenges faced by developed cities?
  • Are all developed cities experiencing this growth and these challenges?

• Why are they happening?

  • Urbanisation is the main cause of these challenges, where there is an increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities compared to rural regions
  • Even in developed cities, ensuring there is sufficient transport, sanitation, education, health care, housing and utilities means overcoming major obstacles such as the cost, available space and any planning restrictions

• Which ones are the hardest to solve?

  • Waste because many developed cities have old sewage systems that need updating or are unable to cope with the increased use
  • Landfill space is running out and disposing of household and other waste is difficult; many cities ship this overseas
  • Segregation is also difficult because of historic and cultural factors

• Are these four the only challenges faced by developed cities?

  • No, they will vary across time, place and space
  • Hong Kong does not have issues with traffic congestion due to an efficient public transport system
  • However, Hong Kong does have major issues with social polarisation and poverty

• Are all developed cities experiencing this growth and these challenges?

  • No, some populations are in decline due to an ageing population such as Tokyo, Japan
  • Lifestyle choices – many couples are choosing not to have children or are moving out of the city (counterurbanisation)

• Remember that as this is an eight-mark question, you will be expected to have paragraphs and some examples to support your answer.