what are the 10 challenges megacities face
- housing
- urban sprawl
- transportation
- congestion
- economic restructuring and employment
- socio-spacial inequality and social inclusion and exclusion
- land abandonment and personal safety issues
- changing demographics
- waste management
- environmental degradation
challenges facing megacities - HOUSING, nature/cause, impacts and example
due to a rapid growing population, urbanisation is occurring quicker putting a strain on urban areas/housing.
-The inability of an area to provide enough housing for a growing population results in shantytowns/slums. These are poorly built, low cost and illegal housing units found in LEDCs.
These slums are built on undesirable land resulting In hazard risks such as landslides or floods- often unplanned areas lack adequate infrastructure (roads, sewage, employment centres etc).
-In rio de janeiro, Brazil, 22% of the urban population live in slums or shantytowns known as favelas.
challenges facing megacities - URBAN SPRAWL, nature/cause, impacts and example
Urban sprawl is the rapid outgrowth of an urban area as new residential developments are constructed, often lacking facilities and services needed to support the new communities connection to the cultural belief of the ‘Australian Dream’. (high value of lifestyle associated with living in low density suburbia and private car ownership)
This paired with the love/preservation for Australia’s native bush has led to urban sprawl within australia
-costs a lot from the Australian government to build these new suburbs. These areas also create further demand for energy supply, water and sewage infrastructure, transportation services and damage to natural environment
-Subiaco is an example of a transport orientated development (TOD) in perth as all residential, employment, retail, recreational and public transport facilities are all within close proximity to each other in a high density fashion.
challenges facing megacities - CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS, nature/cause, impacts and example
Changing demographics occur due to decades of immigration resulting in blends of cultures. The main drive to population increases within urban areas is due to immigration
-As an impact of diverse cultures, planning needs to consider cultural centres, places of worship, employment agencies, public transport, housing provisions, health services and multilingual translation services.
As an impact of a ageing population, there needs to be consideration for aged care facilities, health services, public transport, assemble public areas, entertainment and leisure facilities
-In London, the second most prevalent race after white is asian due to immigration- with asian residents making up 18.4% of the population.
challenges facing megacities - LAND ABANDONMENT AND PERSONAL SAFETY ISSUES, nature/cause, impacts and example
Land abandonment is when an urban land use is no longer active/operating- yet the infrastructure remains.When former industrial or residential areas are abandoned, invaded or transformed into newer, higher density residential, commercial and entertainment functions.
The urban rural fringe is a land use zone where former land uses are abandoned as the urban area sprawls.
-Urban blight and urban shadow effects are created due to abandonment.
Land abandonment results in squatters, higher crime rates and unsocial activities in these areas.
-In Detroit there are mass amounts of abandoned car assembly plants due to the collapse of the industry, 300,000 homes were abandoned and 700,000 left the city.
challenges facing megacities - WASTE MANAGEMENT, nature/cause, impacts and example
The collection, transportation and disposal of garbage, sewage and other waste products, Waste management techniques are magnified in urban areas due to an increase in population size and density.
- some councils have designed a 3 bin system to sort rubbish into categories, this is done to eliminate the amount of waste going to landfill.
- The WA government has established a 5 member statutory authority (the waste authority) to oversee the implementation of the 2012 decade long plan; western australia waste strategy ‘creating the right environment.’
what are the 8 challenges facing rural and remote places in australia?
- population loss
- isolation leading to poor provision of services, transport and housing
- FIFO work patterns, economic restructuring and changing employment trends
- social inclusion and exclusion
- concentrations of socially vulnerable populations
- resource degradation and water supplies
- land use conflict
- declining political influence
challenges facing rural areas- POPULATION LOSS, nature/cause, impact and example
Result of combination of inter-related factors driving increased urbanisation. Young people move from urban places to rural for more opportunities, Caused by post-war industrialisation, rural-urban migration, mass international migration
- A loss of employment in remote locations due to increased global competition for agriculture, increased mechanisation of farming practices and the corporation of small farming businesses. Falling loss and demand for goods and services within rural areas = more pop loss.
- In WA, remote mining regions have had pop losses within Newman down 410 and Leonora down 300.
challenges facing rural areas- ISOLATION LEADING TO POOR PROVISION OF SERVICES, TRANSPORT AND HOUSING, nature/cause, impact and example
Refers to the lack of services within a remote area,Small populations mean it is not economically viable to provide a variety of services. Caused by location
- -less services, less fresh goods and services due to lack of transportation. lack of available and affordable housing due to lack of investments meaning housing costs are sky-rocketed.
- During mining boom of 2010s, housing prices soared in WA, workers not related to the mining industry were in short supply due to the high cost go housing.
challenges facing rural areas- FIFO WORK PATTERNS, ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING AND CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT TRENDS, nature/cause, impact and example
Economic restructuring refers to significant and enduring changes to the nature and structure of the economy. The switch to FIFO is more economically beneficial to the mining company as they don’t have to provide as much services.
- these rural towns have seen a loss in funding for these services, not as much sense of community, damaging the mental health of fifo workers and their families, communities become more remote as job losses cause an increase in the drift of social relations
- Birdsville in Queensland has seen a decline, in 1900 had 3 hotels, pop of 300, police station and other services whereas today has pop of 100, one hotel, visitor centre, museum and medical station.
challenges facing rural areas- SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION, nature/cause, impact and example
Social inclusion is when a person has the opportunity to participate in society through employment and access to services, connect with people etc, social exclusion results in a lack of these opportunities
- social exclusion impacts the mental health of people in rural communities due to negative stigmas, isolation of people new to communities due to differing views and ideologies
- men in very remote areas are 6 times more likely to end their lives in suicide rather than their urban counterparts.
challenges facing rural areas- CONCENTRATIONS OF SOCIALLY VULNERABLE POPULATIONS, nature/cause, impact and example
Social isolation and exclusion leads to people being socially vulnerable- referring to people who are unable to withstand repeated adverse impacts from multiple stresses from life events to which they are exposed. caused by an increase in social exclusion
- results in an increase in suicide rates, “out of sight out of mind” behaviour
- Indigenous children accounted for almost half of the suicides in Queensland between 2004-2012.
challenges facing rural areas- RESOURCE DEGRADATION AND WATER SUPPLIES, nature/cause, impact and example
Resource degradation occurs when a land use deteriorates the quality of biophysical environment, caused by live stock grazing resulting in desertification and severe soil erosion, drylands salinity, rising water table due to removal of native flora.
- As water tables rise, dissolved salts brought to surface causing an increase in salinity, this affects native plants and fresh water habitats. buildings and facilities are also damaged due to the rising damp and salt
- -the WA wheatbelt is losing an area equivalent to 1 football field an hour to salinity.
challenges facing rural areas- LAND USE CONFLICT, nature/cause, impact and example
Differing views on relevant land uses may lead to conflict between stakeholders. These conflicts arise when a land use is promoted for an area that may be incompatible/threatening to an existing land use. main conflicts include mining companies, agricultural enterprises, conservation groups who consider an area important to protect and aboriginal land rights.
- Causes court disputes as these areas conflict.
- the proposal to undertake coal mining in Margaret river was deemed unsuccessful as it posed a risk to groundwater- affecting the areas main use for viticulture.
challenges facing rural areas- DECLINING POLITICAL INFLUENCE, nature/cause, impact and example
Electorates depend on the population of an area not the size of it, meaning rural communities aren’t being heard in parliament. not as many people live rural meaning their opinions are deemed less important. 100 years ago- 40% of the pop lived rural now its 2%
- -less of a voice for these rural communities to voice their concerns.
- -for the area of durack- (covers 1.6 million square kms, 87,500 residents)- there is only one member of parliament to voice for this area.
challenges facing megacities - TRANSPORTATION, nature/cause, impacts and example
In Australia, the population relies on the use of privately owned vehicles, with approximately over 70% of all domestic passenger movements occurring through roads. The funding required to maintain and develop the required transportation networks has become a large part of government spending.
- contributed to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in governments to propose policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- In 2015, 195 nations agreed to the Paris Agreement, which aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
challenges facing megacities -CONGESTION , nature/cause, impacts and example
Congestion is when the movement or flow of vehicles travelling along transport networks is slowed or stops and occurs when transport infrastructure in urban areas does not keep up with the demand of it’s population.
- congestion costs approximately $15 billion per year, due to a reduction in productivity and other issues including fuel and vehicle maintenance
challenges facing megacities -ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING AND CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT TRENDS , nature/cause, impacts and example
Economic Restructuring is changing within urban areas, due to the changes in the types of employment and industries found in urban areas. The global competition of products has seen Australian and international producers move their manufacturing offshore, due to cheap labour and cheaper costs of production.
- Automation, digital production and robotics have either made production too expense or have greatly reduced the number of employees
- The downturn in construction associated with mining has seen a drop in employment in exploration and support services. Health care and social services are all employment areas increasing, with many of these jobs requiring higher qualifications.
challenges facing megacities -SOCIO-SPATIAL INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION , nature/cause, impacts and example
Socio-Spatial Inequality is the unequal amount of, or access to, essential resources, services and amenities (including medical assistance, transport, education, infrastructure, power, water and sewage) a person receives depending on their location within urban areas
- This leads to a number of challenges in large urban areas, including mental and physical health issues, substance abuse, alcohol consumption, smoking, loneliness and depression.
- experience urban blight and the creation of slums, with former residences, shops and small businesses becoming rundown as landlords fail to maintain them. This results in the increase in crime, high school truancy rates, income gap and social vulnerability in areas of unemployed residents.
- The New North initiative in Perth overcomes these problems by refurbishing previously state owned houses and flats and upgrading local community facilities.
challenges facing megacities -ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION , nature/cause, impacts and example
Environmental Degradation is the change or disturbance that deteriorates any part of the environment which takes place in many forms, including pollution, destruction of ecosystems, degrading fresh water and land.
- The impacts of environmental degradation occurs on a local scale due to the growth of large urban areas. The degradation of resource-based areas can causes populations to have a reduced standard of living due to decreases in production and incomes, and can cause risks to food security.
- . In Beijing, the concentration of air pollution in 2015 was equivalent of smoking 40 cigarettes each day.
what are the 7 main urban processes
- land use competition, accessibility, profitability and economic rent
- urban sprawl
- invasion and succession
- renewal
- inertia
- agglomeration
- planning
what is land use competition, accessibility, profitability and economic rent?
- competition within cities for land is intense. This is particularly true with respect to those areas which are highly accessible. Take for example the CBD of perth. This area enjoys particularly good transport links and is a node for rail services. As a result land prices (economic rent) within this area are high, hence the reason that multi level buildings can be found there.
- as you move further away from the CBD, land prices become cheaper- hence why you see larger, single level properties.
what is urban sprawl
refers to the low density outward growth of urban areas into the surrounding rural lands and ecosystems.
what is invasion and succession
-invasion occurs when one land use function begins to move into another land use zone.
-succession takes place when the invading function becomes the dominant function within the area.
it leads to issues such as urban blight and the urban shadow effect.
-urban blight refers to urban buildings and suburbs falling into disrepair, occurring due to uncertainty of future.
-urban shadow effect: where structures in rural areas adjacent to an urban area deteriorate due to land use conflict.
