Classnotes: 27th April: Counter-urbanisation and sustainable cities

Counter-urbanisation
People in MEDCs are leaving cities for the typical push and pull factors - noisy, crime, better job elsewhere etc. But it is easier for them to do this due to two main things
- better transport, so they can get around the rural areas more easily (i.e. car ownership has increased)
- internet and telephone makes it easy to conduct business pretty much anywhere you like
This has negative effects on the place people leave - think spiral of decline. Also, the destination village often loses the very 'village characteristics' that make people want to go there in the first place.
We looked at the Bitesize video about Los Angeles, and used an article written by Dr Peryer about the problems relating to Six Mile Bottom (a village near Cambridge).

Sustainable cities
For people and place, sustainable means somewhere that people are going to want to live in for some time to come. Therefore, places that are nicer will have people wanting to live there. Mixing up the housing stock makes it more likely that people of various ages will work together to build up a community.
There is also an international effort for this. In 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit world governments got together to promote sustainable cities. IN particular they wanted to eradicate urban poverty - both in LEDCs and MEDCs.

Need more info? Visit this excellent site http://www.bennett.karoo.net/topics/urban.html#count

That's it for class notes. It's all revision from here on in. If you've worked hard, you'll have no worries - and if not, STAY CALM - there is LOADS of time left if you manage your time carefully!

Good luck year 11

Mr Burdett