Welcome to Theme B: Changing Urban Areas
Have you ever wondered why big department stores are squashed into crowded city centres, while huge retail parks and quiet housing estates are found right on the edge of town? Cities are not built at random! They follow distinct patterns based on cost, transport, and space.
In this chapter of Unit 2: Living in Our World, we will explore urban land use zones, understand why different activities set up in different places, and learn key exam skills to ace the CCEA GCSE Geography exam.
1. What is a Settlement?
Before looking inside a city, let us define what a settlement actually is:
• Settlement: A place where people live and work. A settlement can range in size from a single, isolated house in the countryside all the way to a massive megacity with millions of residents.
2. The Urban Land Use Zones
Cities are divided into different land use zones. A land use zone is an area of a town or city where the land shares a common purpose or function (such as shopping, manufacturing, or housing). When moving from the centre of a city outwards to the countryside, you encounter four main zones in order:
Memory Trick: Remember the order from the inside out using the phrase: Central Inner Suburbs Reach (CBD \(\rightarrow\) Inner City \(\rightarrow\) Suburbs \(\rightarrow\) Rural-Urban Fringe).
A. The Central Business District (CBD)
The CBD is the commercial and business heart of the city.
• Key Features: Packed with shops, offices, banks, and entertainment facilities.
• Land Value: Extremely high. Because land is so expensive and in high demand, buildings grow vertically (tall skyscrapers and multi-storey department stores).
• Accessibility: This is the most accessible point in the whole city, where major roads, bus routes, and railway lines converge.
• Traffic & Space: High pedestrian and vehicle traffic, with very little open green space.
B. The Inner City
The Inner City forms a ring directly surrounding the CBD.
• Key Features: Traditionally built during the Industrial Revolution to house factory workers.
• Housing Style: High-density, older, low-cost terraced housing built close together with no front gardens and small back yards.
• Industry: Contains older factories, warehouses, and industrial estates (many of which may now be disused or undergoing redevelopment).
• Environment: Little green space and narrow streets originally not designed for modern cars.
C. The Suburbs
The Suburbs are residential areas located further out, beyond the inner city.
• Key Features: Designed purely for residential living with a quieter environment.
• Housing Style: Lower-density housing, mainly modern semi-detached and detached homes.
• Space & Amenities: Houses feature private driveways, front and back gardens, and garages. There are more parks, green spaces, and tree-lined avenues.
• Facilities: Local primary schools, small parades of convenience shops, and quiet cul-de-sacs.
D. The Rural-Urban Fringe
The Rural-Urban Fringe is the transition zone where the edge of the city meets the open countryside.
• Key Features: A mixture of both rural and urban land uses.
• Land Uses: Business parks, science parks, large out-of-town shopping centres, park-and-ride facilities, ring roads, golf courses, and greenfield sites (previously undeveloped open land).
• Why Locate Here? Land is cheaper than in the city centre, there is plenty of room for car parking and future expansion, and there is excellent access to motorways and bypasses.
Key Takeaway: As you travel from the CBD out to the rural-urban fringe, housing density decreases, open green space increases, and buildings generally become newer and more spacious.
3. Factors Affecting Urban Land Use
Why does a bank choose the CBD while a logistics warehouse chooses the rural-urban fringe? Four main factors determine how urban land is used:
1. Land Cost (Bid-Rent Theory):
Land values are highest in the CBD because competition for central space is fierce. Land values decrease steadily as you move outwards towards the rural-urban fringe. Only high-profit commercial businesses (like major department stores and bank headquarters) can afford CBD prices.
2. Accessibility:
Accessibility means how easy it is to reach a location.
• Shops and major offices cluster in the CBD because it has the best public transport links for shoppers and workers across the whole urban area.
• Large logistics hubs and out-of-town retail parks locate at the rural-urban fringe to take advantage of ring roads and motorway junctions.
3. Land Availability:
In the CBD, space is extremely limited, forcing developers to build upwards. At the rural-urban fringe, large open spaces allow for sprawling, single-storey warehouses and extensive customer car parks.
4. Planning Regulations:
Local government councils create development plans and zoning rules. They restrict or encourage specific developments in certain zones (for instance, protecting greenfield areas or requiring developers to build affordable housing).
4. Urban Regeneration & Shanty Towns
Urban Regeneration
• Definition: Urban regeneration is the upgrading and modernising of an urban area (often run-down parts of the inner city or CBD) to improve both its economic performance and social spaces.
• It often involves renovating old industrial warehouses into modern apartments, building new shopping complexes, or improving public transport and pedestrian areas.
Shanty Towns (Squatter Settlements)
In rapidly growing cities across the world, rapid population growth can lead to informal settlements.
• Definition: Shanty towns (or squatter settlements) are spontaneous, unplanned settlements built on land that the inhabitants do not legally own or rent.
• Living Conditions: Shelters are constructed out of scavenged materials (such as corrugated iron, plastic sheets, and timber). They frequently lack basic amenities such as clean piped water, proper sewage systems, and legal electricity supplies.
• Location: While many shanty towns grow on the edge of cities, they are also frequently found on marginal land closer to the city centre. Marginal land includes steep, unstable hillsides, riverbanks prone to flooding, or marshlands where formal construction cannot safely take place.
5. Exam Skills & Common Pitfalls
To score top marks in your Unit 2 examination, pay close attention to these vital exam conventions and traps:
A. "Urbanisation" vs. "Urban Sprawl"
Do not confuse these two terms! Examiners look for this distinction:
• Urbanisation: An increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas (cities and towns) compared to rural areas.
• Urban Sprawl: The physical spread of a city's built-up area outwards into the surrounding countryside.
B. Making Direct Comparisons
In the CCEA exam, you are often asked to compare two residential areas (such as the Inner City versus the Suburbs).
• Weak Answer: "The inner city has terraced houses. The suburbs have detached houses." (This simply lists facts without comparing).
• Top-Mark Answer: "The inner city has high-density terraced housing with no front gardens, whereas the suburbs have lower-density detached and semi-detached homes with large private gardens and driveways."
Always use comparative words like whereas, in contrast to, higher than, or older than.
C. Ordnance Survey (OS) Map Skills
Unit 2 exam papers regularly include an OS map extract. You must be prepared to:
• Identify land use zones using map evidence (e.g., street patterns, railway networks, and symbols).
• Use accurate 4-figure grid references to locate general areas (e.g., an industrial zone in grid square \(2436\)).
• Use accurate 6-figure grid references to pinpoint exact buildings or features (e.g., a place of worship at \(243367\)).
• Always quote direct evidence from the map or figure when the question says "Using Figure X..."!
Quick Revision Checklist
Before moving on, check that you can:
• Define settlement, land use zone, urban regeneration, and shanty town.
• Name and label the 4 main land use zones (CBD, Inner City, Suburbs, Rural-Urban Fringe) on a diagram.
• Explain how cost, accessibility, availability, and planning regulations shape city zones.
• Compare the housing style, density, and open space between the inner city and the suburbs.
• Give 4-figure and 6-figure grid references from an OS map to identify urban features.