Rural & Urban - Push & Pull factors *IGCSE*

Rural and Urban push & pull factors

Rural Push Factors: lack on employment, starvation, overpopulation, pressure on land, extreme physical conditions. Kenya is the least urbanized place with only 21% of people living in cities.

Urban Pull factors: Better payed jobs, reliable sources of wood/ water, better/ more services, Entertainment/ social reasons, expecting a higher quality of life.  In 1950 29% of people lived in cities, this rose to 48% in 2008.  

Traditional land use in central areas *IGCSE*

 Traditional land use in central areas

CBD:

-       Accessible as most transport routes meet there

-       Accessible for workers to commute to

-       Competition for land

-       High land prices

-       Limited space

-       Offices are located in high rise buildings to offset rates and rent

-       Large threshold population

Old inner city areas:

-       Developed in the 19^th century

-       As industry increased the demand for workers increased, as did urbanisation.

-       Overcrowding arose along with the need for cheap housing

-       These houses had no electricity, indoor plumbing or gardens.

-       Damp, unsanitary conditions decreased life expectancy

Industry:

-       In inner city areas

-       Enough space for worker’s houses to be built

Suburbia:

-       Flourished between 1920- 1940

-       Grew rapidly due to the growing affordability of the car + the introduction of public transport

-       Semi detached medium-cost housing

-       Most are commuters

-        

Brownsfield sites: Disused derelict land in existing urban areas

Rural – Urban fringe:

-       Uses: Sewerage ponds, water supplies for city, science parks, business parks, motorways

-       Old buildings restored

-       Large detached buildings with gardens

-       Small shopping centres

-       Farmers concerned as they wish to preserve land as farmland

-       Large regional parks

-       More open space

-       Cheaper land

-       Less traffic

UDC:

-       Urban Development Corporations

-       Set up to regenerate derelict land in old inner city areas

-       They reclaimed and redeveloped land and turned it into profitable land

Functions of a settlement *IGCSE*

Functions of a Settlement

•   This relates to the economic/ social development of a town
• Most settlements have a predominant function

Type	Description	Example
Mining town	Developed to exploit local minerals	Greymouth, NZ
Tourists/ Resorts	Includes natural/ cultural attractions	Rotorua, NZ
Ports	Located of coasts, rivers and lakes	Taurunga, NZ
Administrative	Developed to control areas (Capital city)	Wellington, NZ
Commercial	Providing the needs of businesses	Auckland, NZ

Factors influencing the location of a settlement *IGCSE*

Factors influencing the location of a settlement
Nodal Points	Where two valleys/ rivers join
Shelter	Shelter from the wind, north facing to attract sun
Dry point site	A dry point in a relatively dry area e.g. an island in a lake
Wet point site	A wet point in a relatively dry area e.g. a spring
Fuel supply	For heating or cooking
Defence	A river or a steep hill
Building Supplies	Clay, stone, wood
Food supplies	Animals, richness of the soil
Bridging points	Narrow enough for a bridge

Factors influencing... *IGCSE*

Factors influencing Mortality rates

-       Unsanitary conditions

-       War

-       GNP

-       Access to clean water

-       Stable food supplies

-       Access to medical care

-       Drought

-       Access to transport

-       Laws

Problems with an aging population *AS & IGCSE*

You can use this as a case study for IGCSE or AS (population/ resource relationship):

The problem with an ageing population

There are just over 61 countries in the world that don’t have enough births to replace their populations. Twenty-four of these countries are in Europe alone.

Impacts:

        -        Demand shifts from childcare centres to retirement homes. This further decreases the incentive for people to have more children.

          -        Many elderly people are requiring pensions. This is draining public spending allowances of the government.

-        More people are retiring later causing young workers to miss out on opportunities.

-        Family members will have to take care of elderly relatives

-        This means many young people miss out on jobs that are currently held by more experienced workers over the age of 65. This results in a rise in youth unemployment and unemployment in general.

-        70% of pensioners depend on state benefits for 50% of their income in the UK

-        5.4 million women in the UK are over 65

-        8% of people over the retirement age in the UK were employed

-        There was 10.7 million people over 50 in the UK

-        In 2009 in the UK over £62 billion was spent on state pensions

-        Japan’s birth rate sits currently at about 7.31 per 1000 per year (after falling from 10 per 1000 per year in 2001) and is far below the world average of 19 births per 1000 per year.

-        The TFR in Japan is 1.3, one of the lowest in the world and has decreased from a TFR of 5 in 1928. This means the working age group providing income to help the dependents will decrease to predicted values of only 51% of the population 2040 – 16% lower than in 2008.

-        As the population ages the more incidences of crimes against elderly are reported such as burglaries and scams. As the population ages the more incidences of crimes against elderly are reported such as burglaries and scams.

Management:

-        Discouraging early retirement

-        Raising the pension age to 67

-        Lowering the high turnover in labour caused by early retirement

-        Requiring workers to set up private pension accounts

-        Changing the mindset of employers to recognise the value of experience in the work force

Benefits:

-        More people involved in volunteer work

-        Crime rates will drop

-        More markets will open up due to the ageing population

-        Leisure services may increase and improved

Hierarchies

Hierarchies: The arrangement of settlements within a given area, in an ‘order of importance’.

This depends on:

Population Size: To determine a settlement hierarchy through size. Though nobody was able to produce a reasonable boundary between types of settlements.

Range of services: Villages provide little services, usually everyday items.

Sphere of influence: The area served by a particular service, better known as a market area. The sphere of influence depends on transport, the size of the town, competitors and the number of consumers served.