Slides on Urban Problems in Junior Cert Geography

1. Urban issues in
MEDCs
Urbanisation can cause a number of problems such as
transport congestion, lack of sufficient housing, over-
rapid growth and environmental degradation. Many cities
display particularly sharp inequalities in housing
provision, health and employment.
Some people try to escape these problems by moving
away from the city - a process called counter-
urbanisation. Long term, however, the solution must be
to make cities more sustainable.

2. 1.Transport congestion
2. Housing demand
3. Inequalities in urban areas
4. Counter-urbanisation
5.Creating sustainable cities in MEDCs

3. Transport congestion
As more people move to the edge of towns and cities,
traffic congestion may get worse. This is because
many people try to drive their cars each day into the city
centre for work.
Traffic congestion is made worse by the fact that the
roads in the centre of urban areas are old and narrow.
People are brought into city on large roads or
motorways. These roads then link up with smaller, older,
narrower roads in the city centre. This causes
bottlenecks and congestion.

4. Some cities have tried to manage the problem of
traffic congestion by introducing traffic
management schemes. These schemes may
include:
•park and ride schemes
•cycle lanes
•congestion charging, as in London
•car pooling, as used in USA to encourage
people to share cars

6. Housing demand
Social and demographic changes are
leading to a greater demand for housing.
People are living longer, and choosing to
marry later, and in recent years there has
been a rise in the number of single-parent
families. The result is an ever larger number
of smaller households, all requiring
accommodation.

7. However, building new, affordable homes in
urban areas is difficult. Land values are very high
and land is in short supply:
•Some developers are building on sites that
have been built on before. These are called
brownfield sites.
•Other developers are building homes on the
edge of the city on green fieldsites. Land here
is cheaper but greenfield development can
cause conflict with local people and create
environmental problems.

8. Governments and planners often step in to help
redevelop run-down inner-city areas.
Redevelopments such as London's Docklands
may improve the physical environment of the
area and improve the quality of housing.
However, it can also create even greater
inequalities because the local residents may not
be able to afford to live there anymore. Often the
old industrial jobs are replaced by skilled jobs
and new people move to the area.

9. Counter-urbanisation
Many people are moving out of cities to rural
areas. This is called counter-urbanisation.
People often choose to move out of the city in
order to enjoy a better quality of life in the open
space of the countryside.
However, counter-urbanisation can have an
impact upon both rural areas and urban areas.
Some of the issues raised by counter-
urbanisation are shown below: