Urban issues in contrasting global cities: rapid urbanisation and megacity growth in an LIC or NIC, the causes of rural-urban migration, the growth of informal settlements (slums), the social, economic and environmental challenges, and strategies to manage them.

What this dot point is asking

This is part of Eduqas GCSE Geography A (C111) Theme 2, Rural-urban Links, assessed in Component 1. Eduqas expects you to study a contrasting global city in a lower-income country (LIC) or newly industrialised country (NIC): the causes of rapid urbanisation and megacity growth, the growth of informal settlements (slums), the social, economic and environmental challenges, and the strategies used to manage them.

Rapid urbanisation and megacities

In LICs and NICs, cities are growing explosively.

• A megacity is a city with over 10 million people; most of the newest megacities (Lagos, Mumbai, Dhaka, Jakarta) are in poorer countries.
• Their growth is driven by rural-urban migration and natural increase together, so they can add millions of people in a few decades, far faster than UK cities ever grew.

The causes of rural-urban migration

People move from the countryside to the city for two sets of reasons.

• Push factors drive people out of rural areas: poverty, lack of jobs, low farm incomes, drought and crop failure, mechanisation of farming, and few services (schools, hospitals).
• Pull factors draw people to the city: the perception of better-paid jobs, healthcare, education, electricity and a better quality of life.

On top of migration, cities have a young population with high birth rates, so natural increase adds further to rapid growth.

Informal settlements

Rapid growth outpaces the supply of housing and services, so informal settlements spread.

The challenges of rapid urban growth

Eduqas wants the challenges sorted into three groups.

• Social: poor, overcrowded housing; no clean water or sanitation, so disease spreads (cholera, diarrhoea); inadequate schools and healthcare; crime.
• Economic: high unemployment and underemployment, with many working in the low-paid informal sector (street selling, recycling, casual labour) without security.
• Environmental: pollution of air (traffic, industry) and water (untreated sewage, waste), traffic congestion, and building on hazardous land.

Managing the challenges

Cities use several strategies, especially for informal settlements.

• Self-help schemes: the government provides materials, training or small loans so residents improve their own homes cheaply.
• Site-and-service schemes: residents are given a plot with basic services already laid on (water, sewerage, electricity) and build on it.
• Slum upgrading: existing settlements are improved in place with paved roads, water, sanitation, schools and clinics (Rio's favela upgrading, the Dharavi redevelopment plans), keeping communities together rather than clearing them.

Eduqas rewards judging how successful and for whom these strategies are.

Opportunities of urban growth

Rapid urbanisation is not only a problem. Cities offer jobs, services and opportunity, drive economic growth and industrialisation, and can lift people out of rural poverty. A balanced answer recognises both the challenges and the opportunities of fast-growing global cities.

Try this

Q1. Define a megacity. [2 marks]

• Cue. A city with a population of over 10 million people.

Q2. Explain one social challenge of rapid urbanisation in an LIC or NIC city. [4 marks]

• Cue. Overcrowded informal housing without clean water or sanitation spreads disease such as cholera and diarrhoea, and schools and clinics cannot cope.