Living Spaces Topic Outline What is a living space why people become attached and attracted to certain areas and what constitutes a good place to live. Variations in quality of living spaces how can living spaces be improved or decline in a spiral of deprivation. Urban Vs Rural living spaces the differences between people s perceptions in developed countries and developing countries. Making choices about where to live Stresses and strains that effect peoples choices. Pressures on rural areas in developed countries Pressures on rural areas due to expansion of housing and transport. Demand for urban spaces problems and solutions in urban areas. Sustainable living spaces Eco-footprint and environmental sustainability. What is a living space? Functional Attachment living space is practical, it gives you the things you need eg food, work etc. Emotional Attachment living space involves feelings and emotions that people have about certain places. Low level of crime Health services. Job prospects. What makes somewhere a good place to live? Affordable decent housing Education provision. Public Transport. Shopping facilities.
Bournville near Birmingham was a village created by George Cadbury for homes for his workers. It is considered a nice place to live because of the facilities, community spirit and pleasant surroundings. Variation in the quality of living spaces Global factors that affect the quality of the living space. On a local scale GENTRIFICATION may improve the qaulity of a living space. This is when wealiter people move into the area and carry out home improvements. Once living spaces become poor-quality they can be stuck in a spiral of mulitple deprevation. The richer people can afford to move and live in high quality areas which leads to social segregation is poor quality areas. Spiral of multiple deprivation. One problem leads to another and the area goes downhill.
Poor quality housing in cities in developed countries. Poor quality housing in cities in developing countries. Urban Vs Rural Living Spaces Developed Countries Urban High densities of people. Good public transport. High speed broadband access. Rural Fewer shops and services. Higher levels of car ownership. Quieter. Developing Countries Very high densities of people. Significant proportion of urban poor. Employment in formal and informal sectors. Very poor public transport systems. Many people employed in agriculture. Disease and poor education facilities. Limited or no services e.g. electricity, telephone.
The rural idyll Developed countries. Rural idyll is an image that people have of rural life in developed countries. But, housing is expensive and services are limited. Close communities, less crime and village shops. Rural life in developing countries. At weekends populations of rural villages increases by second home owners. Young people leave in search of employment and families leave for schooling for their children. Health care facilities and infrastructure are very poor in rural areas. Cities have better health care and education people leave rural areas called rural-urban migration. Urbanisation is highest in LEDCs when migrants arrive in the cities living conditions are often poor and people live in slums, without water or sanitation.
Making choices about where to live. When people are deciding whether to love or not, there are a number of things to consider: Stresses Few employment prospects High cost of living Distant from services. Too polluted. Climate unpleasant. Strains Better employment prospects. Cheaper housing/cost of living. Better road and rail link. Better weather. Better leisure facilities. Urbanisation Increasing number of people living in towns and cities. Counter-urbanisation People leave the cities to live in the countryside. Suburbanisation People leave the city/countryside to live in the suburbs. Re-urbanisation Moving back to the city. Why do people love back to the city? 25-35 Young and upwardly mobile 60+ Recently Retired Good nightlife Close to work Lots of high-quality, newly refurbished flats. Close to high-quality shopping Close to friends and family who live in the city. Flats likely to have no garden low maintenance. Accommodation is semi-communal Good public transport infrastructure.
Pressures on rural areas in developed countries The rural idyll is being crowded out by demands for more living space and transport infrastructure. Such pressures are reducing the quality and peacefulness of the countryside. Green Belt Is an area of open land around a city, which is protected from development. They have 3 main functions: 1. To check the sprawl of cities like London and Birmingham. 2. To protect the surrounding countryside from further development. 3. To prevent neighbouring cities (like Leeds and Bradford) from merging into one another. Have greenbelts been a success? Yes They have stopped the urban sprawl of Manchester, Birmingham and London. No over 1100 hectares of green belt have been lost since 1997. And nearly 50 000 homes (equivalent to a city the size of Bath) have been built on green belts since 1997. Airport Expansion Rural areas are also put under pressure from the expansion of airports. Regional airports such as Bristol are expanding due to the increased air traffic. Negative impacts: Increased air pollution Loss of archaeological sites. Possible damage to plants and animals. Visual pollution from the new terminal building. More traffic in the area during and after construction.
Demand for urban spaces Million Cities cites with a million inhabitants. Mega Cities cities with more than 10 million inhabitants. Tokyo, Japan In 2007 Tokyo s population was 12.8 million, or 10% of Japan s total population. During the daytime the population swells by over 2.5 million as workers and students commute in from adjacent areas. Japanese homes are small and house prices are very high. Land prices in Tokyo are 1000 per square meter. A flat in Tokyo is typically only 40 square meters. Solutions to an overcrowded Tokyo Alice City Some companies are considering building underground cities. The spaces will be connected by an underground train and roads. Much of the surface space would then be freed up for trees and parks. The Urban Geo-Grid Vast network of subterranean city spaces linked by tunnels. The 40 billion project would accommodate 0.5 million people and be a complex of housing, shops, offices and hotels.
Sustainable Living Spaces Mega-cities are unsustainable because: 1. They suck in enormous quantities of resources e.g. energy, water, food, raw materials and therefore have large eco-footprints. 2. They produce large amounts of waste usually disposed of in the surround land, sea, rivers and air. Sustainable strategies include: Economic sustainability: Allowing people to have access to a reliable income. Social sustainability: Allowing people to have a reasonable quality of life with opportunities to achieve their potential. Environmental sustainability: Meeting the present needs of the people while not putting future generations at risk.
How can sustainable living spaces be achieved? Greening rural living spaces become less demand on supermarkets and grow food on allotments and rear animals on farms. The produce is sold to local villages in a small market. Compact Communities Making the best use of the living space available. Transport infrastructure is integrated with housing and other developments so there is less need for travel. Eco-villages Brazil Ecoovila is a small eco-village in Brazil establish in 2001 by 8 farmers. Affordable houses were created for 28 families. Solar panels provide hot water and a central fireplace acts as a thermal heat store. Local materials were used in the build and waste water irrigates the surrounding land. Britain s Eco-towns Thirteen areas are being considered for new eco-towns, providing up to 15000 homes each. Features of the eco-towns include: Consider energy use, carbon emissions, water, materials and transport access. Economic issues jobs within or accessible from the community. Social issues designed with a mixture of people in mind. Not everyone is in favour of the plans. Critics say the schemes risk being cardependent estates. They also suggest eco-towns are planned for Greenfield sites and some in greenbelt areas.
Past Exam questions Figure 3 shows a street in Soweto, a town in South Africa. Soweto s population is growing rapidly. Describe the urban settlement shown in Figure 3. (2) Suggest two pull factors which attract people to move to urban areas like Soweto (2). Explain two reasons why people who move to urban areas like Soweto sometimes find that it is not as good as they had hoped (4).
Describe one possible disadvantage of living in rural environments such as this (2). Explain one pressure facing rural living spaces (2). Using examples, explain why some urban spaces are now in demand (4).
Glossary Functional attachment gives you the things you need food, jobs etc. Emotional attachment involves feelings and moods towards a living space. Gentrification Wealthier people move into the area and carry out house improvement to improve the quality of the local area. Spiral of multiple deprivation one problems leads to another and the areas goes downhill. Social segregation where rich people live in certain areas and less well off families in others. Rural idyll image that people have of rural areas in developed counties. Close communities with less traffic, crime and village shops. Urbanisation Increasing number of people living in towns and cities. Counter-urbanisation People leave the cities to live in the countryside. Suburbanisation People leave the city/countryside to live in the suburbs. Re-urbanisation Moving back to the city. Greenbelt and area of open land around a city, which is protected against development designed to stop urban sprawl. Million cities populations over 1 million. Mega Cities Populations over 10 million. Greenfield sites areas currently used for agriculture irk left to nature. Economic sustainability: Allowing people to have access to a reliable income. Social sustainability: Allowing people to have a reasonable quality of life with opportunities to achieve their potential. Environmental sustainability: Meeting the present needs of the people while not putting future generations at risk.