Contemporary Urban Environments

What Contemporary Urban Environments covers

Urbanisation and the forms it produces, the social and economic divides within cities, and the distinct urban climate, drainage and waste problems that follow — ending with what sustainable urban living means. One of three Section C options in Component 2.

The 28 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Urbanisation and Its Related ProcessesRecall questions on urbanisation, suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation and urban resurgence.Open →
• The Drivers of UrbanisationRecall questions on migration for employment, industrial growth and capital investment, access to education, healthcare and amenities, transport and communications, agricultural mechanisation, infrastructure investment and industrial policy, political centralisation, and natural increase and net in-migration as drivers of urbanisation.Open →
• Deindustrialisation, Decentralisation and Regeneration PolicyRecall questions on deindustrialisation, decentralisation and the service economy, land costs, car ownership and out-of-town parks, on Urban Development Corporations, Enterprise Zones, the London Docklands, City Challenge, the Single Regeneration Budget and New Deal for Communities, and on changing approaches, gentrification and criticisms of trickle-down.Open →
• Megacities and World CitiesRecall questions on the rapid growth, informal settlements, economic output, environmental challenges and complex governance of megacities, on the financial connectivity, international populations, infrastructure, cultural influence and TNC headquarters of world cities, and on developed and developing world contrasts.Open →
• What Shapes Urban FormRecall questions on how relief, drainage, geology, water bodies and flood plains, historical development, planning policies, economic forces, transport networks and land ownership shape urban form, and on residential, commercial, industrial and recreational zones.Open →
• Cultural Diversity and Urban SegregationRecall questions on cultural diversity and social segregation in cities and their causes in housing markets, property prices, discrimination, estate agent steering, chain migration, voluntary clustering and planning, on the benefits and challenges diversity brings, and on gated communities.Open →
• New Urban Landscapes and the Post-Modern CityRecall questions on town centre mixed developments, cultural and heritage quarters, fortress developments, gentrified areas and edge cities, and on the post-modern western city's fragmented land use, privatised public spaces, consumption, architectural diversity and loss of manufacturing, contrasted with modernist planning.Open →
• Economic Inequality within CitiesRecall questions on how economic inequality is expressed spatially through income, employment, housing quality and service access, and on how it differs between developed world cities, with their unequal schools and healthcare, and developing world cities and their housing divide.Open →
• Managing Urban Inequality and DiversityRecall questions on progressive taxation, minimum wages, welfare and area-based investment, urban regeneration schemes, affordable housing, inclusionary zoning and mixed-tenure developments, and community cohesion, shared public spaces and multicultural education as ways of managing inequality and diversity.Open →
• Employment Programmes and Top-Down StrategiesRecall questions on training and access to labour markets and on what characterises top-down management of urban social issues.Open →
• The Urban Heat Island and Urban PrecipitationRecall questions on the urban heat island and its causes in dark surfaces, reduced vegetation, anthropogenic heat and urban canyons, when it is strongest, and on urban precipitation, condensation nuclei, thunderstorms, reduced radiation fog and historic smog.Open →
• Urban Winds and Air QualityRecall questions on how tall buildings and the Venturi effect alter urban winds, on particulate pollution, PM10 and PM2.5, photochemical smog and temperature inversions, and on emission standards, low emission zones, congestion charging, transport and industrial controls, urban greening and air quality monitoring.Open →
• Impermeable Surfaces and Urban CatchmentsRecall questions on intense urban rainfall, impermeable surfaces, high drainage density, compacted soils and reduced vegetation in urban catchments, and on how urbanisation reduces soil moisture, groundwater recharge, interception and depression storage compared with natural catchments.Open →
• Urban HydrographsRecall questions on shorter lag times, higher peak discharge, steeper rising limbs and the flashy response of an urban catchment.Open →
• Sustainable Urban Drainage SystemsRecall questions on what SUDS are and on permeable paving, green roofs and swales.Open →
• River Restoration and the Benefits of SUDSRecall questions on the amenity and biodiversity gains from SUDS and on what river restoration and conservation involve.Open →
• Who Delivers River RestorationRecall questions on the parts played by environment agencies, water companies, conservation organisations and local communities.Open →
• Cheonggyecheon river restoration in SeoulThe restoration of the Cheonggyecheon stream in central Seoul as an urban river restoration project, covering why the river was buried, how and when it was restored, and the environmental, social and economic results and criticisms.Open →
• Sources and Composition of Urban WasteRecall questions on industrial, commercial and household waste and on how composition differs with income.Open →
• Recycling, Recovery and Waste DisposalRecall questions on the benefits and infrastructure of recycling, waste recovery and its limits, incineration's volume reduction, energy, pollutants and residue, landfill emissions, leachate, land take and aftercare, waste submergence, and the ethics of the international waste trade.Open →
• Landfill and Incineration ComparedRecall questions on comparing landfill and incineration by capital cost, land requirement, long-term liabilities and local factors for a specified city, and on Copenhagen's low landfill use and its Amager Bakke (CopenHill) incinerator, the energy it provides, its advantages and its criticisms.Open →
• Urban Air and Water PollutantsRecall questions on particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and ground-level ozone, their sources in vehicles, industry and domestic heating, and on urban water pollution from industrial effluent, surface runoff, storm sewage overflow and landfill leaching.Open →
• Dereliction and Pollution in Contrasting CitiesRecall questions on urban dereliction and on how air and water pollution differ between industrialising and post-industrial cities.Open →
• Managing Urban Pollution and DerelictionRecall questions on managing air pollution through public transport, cycling infrastructure and emission standards and regulations, water pollution through sewage treatment, monitoring and land remediation, dereliction through brownfield redevelopment, partnerships, compulsory purchase and grants, and sustainable urban drainage systems, with why strategies vary between cities.Open →
• The Local Environmental Impact of CitiesRecall questions on urban air and water pollution, habitat destruction and the significance of waste generation.Open →
• Dimensions of Urban SustainabilityRecall questions on what natural, physical, social and economic sustainability each mean in an urban setting.Open →
• Compact Form, Mixed Use and LiveabilityRecall questions on why mixed land use and compact form are sustainable, and on what liveability means and how it is measured.Open →
• Contrasting Urban Case StudiesRecall questions on why two contrasting areas are needed and on the economic and social wellbeing such studies must illustrate.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Contemporary Urban Environments further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Urbanisation vs Suburbanisation

  Urbanisation: growth in the proportion of people living in urban areas. Suburbanisation: movement of people and activity from inner city to suburbs.

• Counter-urbanisation vs Re-urbanisation

  Counter-urbanisation: movement from cities to smaller settlements or rural areas. Re-urbanisation: movement back into previously declining urban areas.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is urbanisation?

   Model answer

   The process by which an increasing proportion of a population comes to live in towns and cities.

2. 2

   Define suburbanisation.

   Model answer

   The outward growth of urban areas into surrounding rural fringes, often along transport routes.

3. 3

   What is counter-urbanisation?

   Model answer

   The movement of population away from large urban areas to smaller towns and rural areas.

4. 4

   Define urban resurgence.

   Model answer

   The movement of people and economic activity back into city centres after a period of decline.

5. 5

   What population threshold defines a megacity?

   Model answer

   An urban agglomeration with a population exceeding 10 million inhabitants.

6. 6

   What is a world city?

   Model answer

   A city that acts as a major node in the global economic system, exerting significant influence on international business, finance, politics and culture.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Contemporary Urban Environments revision questions

What does Contemporary Urban Environments cover in AQA A-Level Geography?

28 subtopics: urbanisation and its related processes, the drivers of urbanisation, deindustrialisation, decentralisation and regeneration policy, megacities and world cities, what shapes urban form, cultural diversity and urban segregation, new urban landscapes and the post-modern city, economic inequality within cities, managing urban inequality and diversity, employment programmes and top-down strategies, the urban heat island and urban precipitation, urban winds and air quality, impermeable surfaces and urban catchments, urban hydrographs, sustainable urban drainage systems, river restoration and the benefits of suds, who delivers river restoration, cheonggyecheon river restoration in seoul, sources and composition of urban waste, recycling, recovery and waste disposal, landfill and incineration compared, urban air and water pollutants, dereliction and pollution in contrasting cities, managing urban pollution and dereliction, the local environmental impact of cities, dimensions of urban sustainability, compact form, mixed use and liveability and contrasting urban case studies. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Contemporary Urban Environments organised?

By the AQA 7037 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.