Managing Urban Environments

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Managing Urban Environments
Topic Case study
Impacts of rapid urban growth (urbanisation) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Managing inner city decline in an MEDC Newcastle Upon Tyne TWDC and WECC
Managing conflict at the edge of cities Newcastle Great Park (NGP)
Managing urban environmental pollution Cairo, Egypt

• Key ideas in the unit
• Urban areas in MEDCs are subject to constant
  change in their land use.
• Urban areas in LEDCs are subject to very rapid
  growth.
• Urban problems require sustainable solutions.

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Urbanisation causes of growth of cities.

• In most rich countries (MEDCs) city growth has
  slowed down and stopped. In LEDCs city growth
  continues. The increasing number of people
  living towns and cities is known as ubanisation,
  the main causes of urbanisation are natural
  increase and rural to urban migration (where
  people migrate from rural or countryside areas to
  urban areas). The table below summarises the
  causes of Urbanisation.

Push factors forcing people away from rural areas. Pull factors attracting people to urban areas
Crop failures due to unpredictable climate. Low wages in agriculture. Poor service provision in the countryside, e.g. few hospitals, no schools. Natural hazards drought, forest fires etc. Poor range of employment opportunities. A wider range of jobs are available. Higher wages in manufacturing industries (although migrants have to fight for these jobs and often dont get them). Bright lights, big city syndrome people are attracted by the recreational and retail facilities in the city. Reliable food supplies. Better service provision.
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Impacts of rapid urban growth (urbanisation)
Rio de Janeiro
Location Rio De Janiero is on the south-east
coast of Brazil. It has a large port running
through it and lies on the tropic of Capricorn.
Rio De Janeiro
Causes of problems. Rio De Janeiro is affected by
urbanisation caused by Rural to Urban migration.
This has resulted in the growth of many large
favelas. Rochina is a favela which is home to
over 100,000 people on one single hillside.
Although the buildings have been improved, many
are built by the people who live in them and lack
some basic amenities such as toilets. There are
no refuse collection facilities, schools are over
crowded and drug crime is rife. Rio also suffers
from urban pollution and traffic congestion. Rio
cannot grow because of physical factors, to the
North and West are mountain ranges, to the South
and East lies water. This makes the traffic
congestion problems and overcrowding in outlying
shanty towns worse.
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Impacts of rapid urban growth (urbanisation)
Rio de Janeiro

• Solutions to the problems in Rio
• A new town has been built (see map) at Barra da
  Tihuca. This has shopping malls, busses, good
  schools, transport links and holds over 100,000
  people. It is mainly for middle class residents
  of Rio who can afford to move. It is separated
  from Rio by a mountain range which had to be
  tunnelled to allow access to Rio.
• Within the Favelas the government has assisted
  people in improving their homes. Breeze blocks
  and other materials (pipes for plumbing etc) were
  given as long as people updated their homes.
• The government also moved a lot of people out of
  shanty towns and into low cost, basic housing
  estates with plumbing, electricity and transport
  links. The waiting list for these properties was
  huge.
• Community policing has been encouraged with
  greater links between the police and the local
  communities and businesses, but drug gangs still
  pose a huge problem.

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Managing inner city decline in an MEDCNewcastle
Upon Tyne TWDC and WECC
The problem. The riverside areas of Newcastle
upon Tyne were responsible for the cities
incredible growth and wealth during the
industrial revolution. Heavy industries such as
the Armstrong armaments works and ship building
(e.g. Swan Hunters) employed tens of thousands of
people from riverside communities in Newcastle
such as Elswick and Scotswood. Overseas
competition in these industries in the 1960s, 70s
and 80s led to the decline and closure of these
industries and the communities suffered as a
result. The graph shows this decline in these
riverside areas in comparison to the rest of
Newcastle. The graph shows that the West End is
a poorer area than Newcastle overall. There are a
lot more people who live in a council property in
the West End than Newcastle. This could be
because of low monthly wages given to the people
at the West end, this might be because of the
people being under qualified in the area from
lack of education. This also could be proven by
the 30 of students still at school at the age of
seventeen compared to the Newcastle area of 41.
This means that the area overall is under
qualified and a lot poorer than Newcastle.
Unemployment was an incredible 42. Areas such as
Scotswood and Benwell suffered economic, social
and environmental (in the form of derelict
buildings etc.) decline.

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Managing inner city decline in an MEDCNewcastle
Upon Tyne TWDC and WECC

• What did the government do and where?
• They set up 2 groups do the work.
• Each group was given an area to work in.
• The Tyne and wear development corporation (TWDC)
  and west end city challenge (WECC).
• The TWDC were given the area between quay side to
  the port.
• The WECC were given the west end of Newcastle to
  work.

Key words Regeneration The complete demolition
and rebuilding of an area. Renewal The
improvement of an urban area, using the building
that are there and improving them.
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Managing inner city decline in an MEDCNewcastle
Upon Tyne TWDC and WECC
Tyne and Wear Development Corporation (TWDC) large scale regeneration West End City Challenge
Aims Create new business districts or modern offices and industrial estates Increasing employment through grants and training Reviving riversides as a place to live Improving environment and landscaping Create new jobs Improve educational achievements Support training and employment opportunities
Funding 430 million of government money attracting 1,114 million of private sector money 37.5 million of government money over 5 years, which attracted 80 million of private cash.
Management style Top down Bottom up
Projects Mainly Flagship projects including Newcastle Business park - 140 million development of 25ha of offices on previous derelict land British Airways have offices there Newcastle Arena Newcastle quayside cost 170 million Local community based projects including Extension to Newcastle Breweries creating 280 jobs Renovation and gentrification of old Scotswood housing Employing extra teachers and free alarm clocks for students John Marley community centre for training CCTV to combat crime
Evaluation TWDC has transformed the Newcastle Quayside but has been less successful at regenerating housing estates. Many local communities had to be relocated to make way for the big developments. WECC has tried to benefit local people in improving their local environment. Despite strides being made in local housing many properties remain derelict and children still fail to achieve in school
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Managing conflict at the edge of cities -
Newcastle Great Park (NGP)
NGP is all about whether or not we should build
in the greenbelt or regenerate inner city
Brownfield sites. NGP is a major housing and
commercial development that has been built on a
GREENFEILD SITE within the GREENBELT. Its located
north of Newcastle next to Gosforth. The
government gave special permission for the
development to go ahead. Newcastle Great Park
lies three miles North-west of Newcastle City
Centre and is one of the biggest mixed-use
developments in the UK. Around 600-acres has been
earmarked for business, residential and
commercial development and a further 600-acres
will be richly landscaped, open parkland. Where
is NGP? The park is located close to the A1
London to Edinburgh trunk road and the A19, which
gives good access to the North Sea Ferries,
Sunderland and Teesside. The park also has good
links with rail networks, Newcastle International
Airport and the city centre.
Key words Greenfield Site a green area of land
that is used for a housing, industry or
recreational development. This land has not been
built on before. Brownfield site land that has
been developed/built upon before but is now
disused. This land is within the city, needs
clearing and cleaning before being
re-used. Greenbelt - an area of land that is
protected by law from development, they surround
cities and are designed to stop cities spreading
into the countryside.
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Managing conflict at the edge of cities -
Newcastle Great Park (NGP)
Arguments for NGP Arguments against NGP
2,500 new homes in a parkland setting of 442 hectares will be complete. Useful for richer residents and generating income for the developers. There will be 80 hectares of commercial development which could generate jobs. Already, the 50m headquarters for Newcastle computer group Sage have been completed. It is expected the software firm's 575,000 sq ft building headquarters will provide jobs for 1,500 workers within two years. There is an integrated transport plan which will see every home not more than 400 meters from a bus stop, 27km of cycle routes in and around NGP, a discount cycle purchase scheme for residents and a car share database on the Internet. A full time ranger will be employed to manage the country park to ensure local wildlife conservation The development lies adjacent to the A1, which will be widened and improved, and is within easy reach of the airport, providing excellent opportunities for national and international travel. It is hoped that the scheme will slow down the net loss of 1,500 people per year who migrate from Newcastle, pleasing city council members. The three-storey properties priced from 188,000 are well beyond the average wage of people in Newcastle. Environmentalists are concerned about the impact upon Red Squirrel (an endangered species) and deer populations which inhabit this area North of Newcastle. The NGP housing plans contradict the principles of no/little development in the Green Belt. The greenbelt was designed to prevent urban sprawl into countryside areas which have recreation and agricultural uses, to the detriment of farmers. There is space for around 20,000 high quality homes on Brownfield sites near to the city centre in the East and West end of the city. These areas (e.g. Scotswood, Benwell and Byker) are in decline since the loss of the shipping industry and are in need of a boost. Urban planners would generally prefer these sites to be used. There is no guarantee of job creation. Traffic volumes in Gosforth and Newcastle city centre will increase. Improving inner-city areas could slow down out migration.
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CAIRO, EGYPT (MANAGING URBAN POLLUTION)

• Cairo is located to the east of the river Nile.
  This built up area has an airport to the north
  and to the east of the built up area is Eastern
  desert. This poses as a problem because the area
  now cannot expand to the west, due to the Nile
  and cannot expand to the east due to the desert
  region. The only way is north or south.
• Cairos main problem is overcrowding, and due to
  this overcrowding it means there is a great
  problem with pollution. Cairo is overcrowded for
  two reasons
• people have moved from rural areas to the urban
  city in search of jobs and a better lifestyle
• the life expectancy has risen due to advances in
  medical care from 41yrs to 64 yrs
• Cairo's rapid population influx now means that
  there is over 30,000 people per square kilometre.
• This increase in population has lead to an
  increase in pollution

PROBLEM PROBLEMS CAUSED WHAT CAIRO GOV. IS DOING POSSIBLE SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
AIR POLLUTION Fumes from Cairos 2 million vehicles combined with suspended particulate matter plus sand blown into urban areas, the concentration of air particulates is 5-10 times higher in Cairo than the recommended average. This is worst in the industrial areas and Cairo Old Town- this causes high blood pressure kidney problems, infertility and an IQ drop it kills 10-25000 people Gas emissions are 5-10 times higher than WHO recommends Change unleaded petrol Cairo Air Improvement Project has monitoring stations and car checks. it has 36 monitoring stations funded by US aid which gives 60 million. Have produced a programme that reduces the emissions from air filters- new equipment and smelters and relocation of factories they also have vehicle emission testing randomly. Change fuel to natural gas Relocate factories or install new equipment to stop harmful emissions Metro system reduce no. of cars on road
LAND POLLUTION 10,000 tonnes of waste Waste incinerators broken No health waste disposal Hazardous waste is helped to spread by rats and other vermin Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Agency only collect 60 of waste Service incinerators with filters No fee for rubbish disposal recycle
NOISE POLLUTION Cars in rush hour traffic mean roads are gridlocked throughout the day and night Night clubs open late Boats on river Metro-system to reduce cars Encourage people to walk or take public transport Reduce opening hours of clubs MOTs on boats cars