Why are cities growing across the world, and what challenges and opportunities does this create in contrasting global cities?
Key Idea 2.3: urban issues in contrasting global cities, the global pattern and causes of urbanisation (rural-to-urban migration and natural increase), the growth of megacities, and the challenges (squatter settlements, services, traffic, pollution) and opportunities of rapid urban growth, especially in a lower-income or newly industrialised country.
A focused answer on Key Idea 2.3 for WJEC GCSE Geography Unit 1: the global pattern and causes of urbanisation, rural-to-urban migration and natural increase, the growth of megacities, and the challenges and opportunities of rapid urban growth in a lower-income or newly industrialised country.
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What this dot point is asking
This dot point covers Key Idea 2.3 of WJEC Unit 1: urban issues in contrasting global cities. You need the global pattern and causes of urbanisation (rural-to-urban migration and natural increase), the growth of megacities, and the challenges (squatter settlements, services, traffic, pollution) and opportunities of rapid urban growth, especially in a lower-income (LIC) or newly industrialised country (NIC).
The global pattern and causes of urbanisation
What drives urban growth
Challenges of rapid urban growth
Opportunities and responses
Try this
Q1. What is a megacity? [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. A city with a population of over ten million people, such as Mumbai, Lagos or Sao Paulo; many of the world's megacities are in lower-income or newly industrialised countries.
Q2. Explain one challenge caused by rapid urban growth in a LIC or NIC city. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Housing cannot keep pace with the influx of migrants, so squatter settlements such as favelas grow on steep or risky land without secure ownership, often lacking clean water, sanitation and electricity.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC Unit 1 (Theme 2)4 marksDescribe the global pattern of urbanisation.Show worked answer →
A short data-response describe question, usually with a world map or graph. Reward described patterns, using the resource.
Overall trend. More than half the world's people now live in towns and cities, and the urban share is still rising.
Where it is fastest. Urbanisation is fastest in lower-income and newly industrialised countries in Asia, Africa and South America, while high-income countries are already highly urbanised and growing slowly.
Top marks. A clear description of the global trend and the contrast between richer and poorer regions, with figures from the resource if given.
WJEC Unit 1 (Theme 2)8 marksExamine the challenges created by rapid urban growth in a city you have studied.Show worked answer →
An extended question (levels marking). Reward developed challenges for a named city in a LIC or NIC (for example Rio de Janeiro or Mumbai).
Housing. Rapid growth outpaces housing, so squatter settlements (favelas, slums) grow on the edge or on steep, risky land, often without secure tenure.
Services and environment. Shortages of clean water, sanitation, electricity, schools and healthcare; heavy traffic congestion and air and water pollution; and problems of unemployment and crime.
Top band. Develop several challenges with specific detail for the named city, and you may note responses such as self-help schemes or site-and-service projects.
Related dot points
- Key Idea 2.1: the urban-rural continuum in Wales and the UK, the links and flows between urban and rural areas, the processes of counter-urbanisation, suburbanisation and the growth of commuter and dormitory settlements, and the impacts on rural communities.
A focused answer on Key Idea 2.1 for WJEC GCSE Geography Unit 1: the urban-rural continuum in Wales and the UK, the links and flows between urban and rural areas, counter-urbanisation and suburbanisation, commuter settlements, and the impacts on rural communities.
- Key Idea 2.2: population and urban change in Wales and the UK, the causes and patterns of population change, the changing provision of retailing and services (decline of high streets, growth of out-of-town and online retail), and the regeneration of urban areas.
A focused answer on Key Idea 2.2 for WJEC GCSE Geography Unit 1: the causes and patterns of population change in Wales and the UK, the changing provision of retailing and services, the decline of high streets and growth of out-of-town and online retail, and urban regeneration.
- Key Idea 6.1: measuring global inequalities, what development means, the economic and social indicators used to measure it (GNI per head, the HDI, birth and death rates, literacy and life expectancy), the limitations of single indicators, and the global pattern of development (the development gap and the LIC, NIC, HIC classification).
A focused answer on Key Idea 6.1 for WJEC GCSE Geography Unit 2: what development means, the economic and social indicators used to measure it, the limitations of single indicators, and the global pattern of development including the development gap and the LIC, NIC and HIC classification.
- Key Idea 6.2: the causes and consequences of uneven development at the global scale and within one low-income country (LIC) and one newly industrialised country (NIC), the physical, economic, historical and political causes, the consequences of uneven development, and the strategies used to reduce the development gap.
A focused answer on Key Idea 6.2 for WJEC GCSE Geography Unit 2: the physical, economic, historical and political causes of uneven development, its consequences within a LIC and a NIC, and the strategies used to reduce the development gap.
- Key Idea 7.1 (Theme 7): measuring social development, the difference between economic and social development, the indicators of social development (health, education, gender equality and access to services), and the reasons social development varies within and between countries.
A focused answer on Key Idea 7.1 for WJEC GCSE Geography Unit 2 (Theme 7): the difference between economic and social development, the indicators of social development (health, education, gender equality, access to services), and why social development varies within and between countries.
Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCSE Geography (Wales) specification (3110) — WJEC (2019)