What is sustainable development?

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains two ideas at once: needs, particularly the needs of the poorest, and limits, set by the capacity of the environment to supply resources and absorb waste. It is conventionally analysed under three headings, environmental, social and economic, and a settlement is only sustainable if it performs adequately on all three, because a scheme that is environmentally excellent but unaffordable, or profitable but polluting, will not last.

Explain what the environmental dimension of sustainability involves in a settlement.

Living within environmental limits. In practice that means reducing energy use in buildings and transport and shifting the remainder to low-carbon sources; cutting greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollutants; reducing water consumption, leakage and abstraction; minimising waste and diverting it from landfill; protecting and connecting green space, soils and biodiversity; reusing previously developed land and existing buildings rather than consuming countryside; managing surface water to reduce flood risk and pollution; and reducing car dependence through the layout of the settlement itself.

Why can environmental and social aims conflict in a settlement, and give examples.

Because measures that reduce environmental impact can impose costs on particular groups. Building at high density reduces land take and travel distances and supports public transport, but reduces private garden space and can worsen overlooking and noise if poorly designed. Congestion charging and clean air zones cut emissions but bear most heavily on lower-income drivers of older vehicles who may have no realistic alternative. Building to very high energy standards raises construction costs, which can reduce the number of affordable homes a scheme delivers. Remediating a contaminated brownfield site is expensive, and the cost is often met by reducing the affordable housing contribution. Recognising these trade-offs, and asking who gains and who pays, is what separates a serious evaluation from a list of good intentions.

CCEA A-Level Geography 3910

Processes That Shape Fluvial Environments

Topic overview The drainage basin as an open system Storm hydrographs Factors influencing storm hydrographs Annual hydrographs and river regimes River erosion and transportation Deposition and the Hjulstrom curve Erosional and mixed river landforms Depositional river landforms

Human Interaction in Fluvial Environments

Topic overview Why rivers are channelised, and the methods used Environmentally sensitive and sustainable river management The causes of river flooding The effects of flooding on people, property and land

Global Biomes

Topic overview The global distribution of biomes The tundra biome: climate and soils The temperate grassland biome: climate and soils Climate change and tundra ecosystems

Small-Scale Ecosystems

Topic overview Biotic and abiotic components Ecosystems as open systems Trophic structure and ecological pyramids Nutrient cycling and the nutrient cycling model Plant succession and seral stages Climatic climax and plagioclimax vegetation

The Processes That Shape Our Weather and Climate

Topic overview The global energy balance Vertical and horizontal heat transfer in the atmosphere Ocean currents and the transfer of heat Pressure belts, the Coriolis effect and the pressure gradient The tri-cellular model, the global winds, and where it breaks down Jet streams and the upper westerly winds Global patterns of temperature, pressure, wind and precipitation Factors influencing air temperature

Weather in the British Isles

Topic overview How precipitation forms Air masses affecting the British Isles The polar front and the birth of a depression The life cycle of a depression, and its fronts The sequence of weather as a depression passes Anticyclones in summer and winter Isobars, wind, and the front symbols on a synoptic chart Station circles, recognising systems, and satellite images

Global Weather Issues

Topic overview The Pacific in a normal year: the Walker circulation El Niño events and their global consequences La Niña events and their global consequences How tropical cyclones form The structure of a tropical cyclone The impacts of a tropical cyclone on people and property Managing tropical cyclones: prediction, preparation and response

Population Data

Topic overview Census taking, vital registration, and how the data is collected The reliability of the data, and the use made of it

Population Change

Topic overview Fertility and mortality measures, and why crude rates are crude The demographic transition model The epidemiological transition

Population and Resources

Topic overview Overpopulation, underpopulation and optimum population Malthus and Boserup, and how they hold up Fertility policies, and evaluating one

Settlement Change and the Rural-Urban Fringe

Topic overview Defining rural and urban settlement The rural-urban continuum Issues affecting the rural-urban fringe Greenfield and brownfield development Suburbanisation Counterurbanisation

Planning in Rural Environments

Topic overview Why the countryside needs planning protection ASSIs and SSSIs Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty National parks A national park for Northern Ireland: the case for, the case against, and the verdict

Urban Challenges in MEDC and LEDC Cities

Topic overview Economic and social deprivation in the MEDC inner city Re-urbanisation in the MEDC city Gentrification and its consequences Urban growth and informal settlements in the LEDC city Service provision in the LEDC city Economic activity and the informal economy in the LEDC city

Measuring Development

Topic overview Why 'development' resists definition Two economic measures: GDP and GNI per capita Two social measures: infant mortality and adult literacy Two composite measures: the HDI and the Gender Inequality Index Using the measures together to describe global contrasts

Reducing the Development Gap

Topic overview The Millennium Development Goals: aims and framework Evaluating two Millennium Development Goals The 2030 Agenda and the Global Goals How the Global Goals build on the Millennium Development Goals Globalisation as a route to development in LEDCs Aid and development in LEDCs, and judging development in one

Emerging Markets

Topic overview What an emerging market is BRICS and MINT: what the labels group, and why they are contested Why emerging markets have grown, and one economy studied

Data Collection

Topic overview Collecting primary data in the field Sampling methods: random, systematic, stratified and pragmatic Point, line and quadrat sampling Ordnance Survey maps and map reading Photographs and satellite images as evidence Synoptic charts and remotely sensed data

Data Processing

Topic overview Geographical information systems, and mapping techniques Annotated sketch maps, and the graph types Triangular graphs Mean, median, mode and range Spearman's rank correlation Nearest neighbour analysis Chi-squared (A2 only)Location quotient (A2 only)Developing investigative skills, and the conventions of mapping and graphical work

Fieldwork Skills and Techniques

Topic overview Framing a geographical question and designing the enquiry Fieldwork safety, hazards and contingency planning Choosing and justifying sampling techniques for an investigation Collecting quantitative and qualitative evidence Describing and evaluating data collection methods Presenting evidence in cartographic, diagrammatic and graphical form Choosing and applying statistical techniques Analysing evidence and drawing conclusions Evaluating methods, evidence and the limitations of conclusions

Planning and Recording an Investigation

Topic overview Choosing an issue, hypothesis or question Identifying appropriate sources and methods Describing the study area, stating aims, and recording data

Plate Tectonics: Theory, Margins and LandformsTectonics

Topic overview The structure of the Earth and the driving mechanism The evidence for continental drift and plate tectonics Constructive margins: processes, ocean ridges and rift valleys Conservative margins: processes and why they build nothing Destructive margins: subduction, trenches and island arcs Collision margins and fold mountains Matching landform to margin: the classic confusions

Volcanic Activity and Its ManagementTectonics

Topic overview Magma composition, viscosity and eruption style Volcanic activity at constructive margins Volcanic activity at destructive margins Hot spots and intraplate volcanic activity Hazards of volcanic activity Benefits of volcanic activity Preparing for volcanic activity: monitoring, planning and protection Responding to volcanic activity and evaluating the response

Seismic Activity and Its ManagementTectonics

Topic overview The nature of a seismic event Seismic waves: P, S and L waves Seismic shaking and its impacts Liquefaction Tsunamis Attempts to predict seismic events Preparing for seismic activity Responding to seismic activity and evaluating the response

Locations and Climates of the Major Tropical BiomesTropical

Topic overview The Hadley cell and the ITCZ Tropical forest: distribution, climate and biomass Tropical grassland: distribution, climate and biomass Hot desert, and the tropical biomes compared

Management and Sustainability in Arid and Semi-Arid Tropical EcosystemsTropical

Topic overview Why irrigation is needed, and the methods used The benefits of irrigation and its environmental problems The socio-economic problems of irrigation, and the solutions

Management and Sustainability in the Tropical Forest EnvironmentTropical

Topic overview Trophic structure, the nutrient cycle, and why clearance is so damaging The zonal soil of the tropical forest Large-scale development and its threats to the forest ecosystem Attempts to achieve sustainable development in the tropical forest

Coastal Processes and FeaturesCoastal

Topic overview Waves and wave energy Wave refraction and coastal alignment Marine erosion, transport, longshore drift and deposition Landforms of high-energy coasts Landforms of low-energy coasts

Regional Coastlines: Submergence, Emergence and Rising Sea LevelCoastal

Topic overview Eustatic and isostatic change Coastlines of submergence Coastlines of emergence Rising sea level and the threat of climate change

Coastal Management and SustainabilityCoastal

Topic overview Environmental Impact Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis Sediment cells and Shoreline Management Plans Hard engineering strategies Soft engineering strategies Choosing and evaluating a management strategy

Natural Climate Change: Evidence, Causes and the Arrival of the HoloceneClimate

Topic overview Evidence for past climate change: ice cores, pollen and ocean-floor deposits Causes of long- and medium-term climate change The end of the last glaciation and the arrival of the Holocene

Lowland Glacial LandscapesClimate

Topic overview Ice sheet formation and glacial and fluvioglacial processes Landforms of glacial deposition: till, drumlins, moraines and erratics Landforms of fluvioglacial deposition: eskers and outwash plains Socio-economic development in lowland post-glacial environments

Current Global Climate Change: Human Causes and ImpactsClimate

Topic overview The greenhouse effect and the enhanced greenhouse effect Evidence for recent climate change and its links to human activity Present and potential impacts of climate change

Managing Global Climate ChangeClimate

Topic overview Mitigation: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and capturing carbon Adaptation: reducing vulnerability to climate change International action: the Kyoto Protocol, the IPCC and progress so far

Cultural Groups, Social Inequality and LandscapeCultural

Topic overview Why cultural groups exist Differences between cultural groups Cultural nationalism and its expression Social inequality: exclusion and discrimination as distinct mechanisms Inequality by ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexuality and class Social constructions of nature and landscape

MigrationCultural

Topic overview Push and pull factors: economic, social, political, cultural and environmental Barriers to migration, and its implications for services, the economy and stability Voluntary and forced migration, and immigration as a political issue

The Geographies of CyberspaceCultural

Topic overview Cyberspace, economic change and cultural globalisation Minority cultures, virtual communities and the digital divide

Sustainable Development in SettlementsPlanning

Topic overview Sustainability, and the urban ecological footprint Carbon footprints and waste management Energy consumption and water supply

Urban Design, Planning and Management for SustainabilityPlanning

Topic overview Eco-towns, eco-cities, residential space and defensible space How greenfield and brownfield development relate to sustainability Retail parks, leisure facilities and open space

Traffic and TransportPlanning

Topic overview The sustainability of transport by sea, air and land Public transport, integrated networks, and restrictions on car use Pedestrian and cycling policies, and judging a traffic management strategy

Defining EthnicityEthnic

Topic overview Race, nationality, language and religion as defining factors Ethnicity as socially constructed and self-ascribed Role, residential concentration, age and gender in perceived identity

Processes That Create and Maintain Ethnic DiversityEthnic

Topic overview Colonisation, annexation and international migration Segregation as a process maintaining diversity Multiculturalism as a process maintaining diversity Economic, social and spatial outcomes of ethnic diversity

Ethnic ConflictEthnic

Topic overview The causes of ethnic conflict The nature of ethnic conflict Social, economic and territorial outcomes of ethnic conflict Ethnic cleansing, international intervention and peace processes

The Changing Nature of TourismTourism

Topic overview The growth of mass tourism as a global industry Positive social and economic impacts of tourism The pleasure periphery and the Butler model of resort development

Challenges and Management of Mass TourismTourism

Topic overview The challenges arising from mass tourism Strategies to reduce the negative impacts of mass tourism

Ecotourism: Opportunities, Challenges and RegulationTourism

Topic overview Defining ecotourism The benefits of ecotourism The negative impacts of ecotourism Regulating ecotourism internationally

Decision Making in Geography

Topic overview What a decision-making exercise asks of you Adopting and maintaining a role Reading maps as evidence Reading photographs as evidence Reading statistics and data as evidence Reading reports and written sources as evidence Reading infographics and diagrams as evidence Processing and presenting supplied quantitative data Interpreting and evaluating the information provided Examining conflicting values Considering alternative choices Making and justifying a recommendation on greater overall benefits Structuring and supporting the decision

Sustainable Development in Settlements

3 subtopics
9 things to know
Unit A2 2
A2 2 option B, Planning for Sustainable Settlements

What Sustainable Development in Settlements covers

Sustainable development in settlements is examined in Unit A2 2, Processes and Issues in Human Geography. It covers sustainability, and the urban ecological footprint, carbon footprints and waste management and energy consumption and water supply.

Where it is assessed

Unit A2 2

Processes and Issues in Human Geography, one option of four, 24% of A level.

Check the CCEA specification ↗

The 3 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Explain what the social dimension of sustainability involves in a settlement.

Key term

Why is the economic strand still necessary if the aim is environmental and social sustainability?

Key term

What features make a settlement more sustainable in practice?

Key term

What is a carbon footprint?

Key term

Distinguish clearly between a carbon footprint and an ecological footprint.

Key term

What is the difference between production-based and consumption-based carbon accounting for a city?

Key term

How can renewable energy be used within a city, and what limits it?

Key term

How does the planning of a settlement reduce transport energy use?

Key term

How would you judge whether a city's energy strategy is sustainable?

Take Sustainable Development in Settlements further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

Ecological footprint vs Carbon footprint
Ecological footprint: the land and water area needed to supply a population and absorb its waste. Carbon footprint: the greenhouse gases its activities release, expressed as carbon dioxide.
Recycling vs Incineration
Recycling: reprocessing waste materials into new products. Incineration: burning waste, often to recover energy from it.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is sustainable development?
Model answer
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains two ideas at once: needs, particularly the needs of the poorest, and limits, set by the capacity of the environment to supply resources and absorb waste. It is conventionally analysed under three headings, environmental, social and economic, and a settlement is only sustainable if it performs adequately on all three, because a scheme that is environmentally excellent but unaffordable, or profitable but polluting, will not last.
2
Explain what the environmental dimension of sustainability involves in a settlement.
Model answer
Living within environmental limits. In practice that means reducing energy use in buildings and transport and shifting the remainder to low-carbon sources; cutting greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollutants; reducing water consumption, leakage and abstraction; minimising waste and diverting it from landfill; protecting and connecting green space, soils and biodiversity; reusing previously developed land and existing buildings rather than consuming countryside; managing surface water to reduce flood risk and pollution; and reducing car dependence through the layout of the settlement itself.
3
Explain what the social dimension of sustainability involves in a settlement.
Model answer
Meeting the needs of all the people who live there, now and in the future. That means enough decent, affordable housing of the right types and tenures; access for everyone, including those without a car, to jobs, schools, health care, shops and green space within a reasonable distance; safe streets and public spaces that people are willing to use; health and wellbeing, including freedom from fuel poverty and poor air quality; a mix of ages, incomes and household types rather than segregation by income; opportunities for people to take part in decisions about their area; and equity, both between groups today and between the present generation and the next.
4
Why can environmental and social aims conflict in a settlement, and give examples.
Model answer
Because measures that reduce environmental impact can impose costs on particular groups. Building at high density reduces land take and travel distances and supports public transport, but reduces private garden space and can worsen overlooking and noise if poorly designed. Congestion charging and clean air zones cut emissions but bear most heavily on lower-income drivers of older vehicles who may have no realistic alternative. Building to very high energy standards raises construction costs, which can reduce the number of affordable homes a scheme delivers. Remediating a contaminated brownfield site is expensive, and the cost is often met by reducing the affordable housing contribution. Recognising these trade-offs, and asking who gains and who pays, is what separates a serious evaluation from a list of good intentions.
5
Why is the economic strand still necessary if the aim is environmental and social sustainability?
Model answer
Because nothing survives that cannot be paid for. Residents need local jobs and incomes or the settlement becomes a commuter dormitory with high transport emissions and weak local services. Developers must find schemes viable or they will not build them, and the standards will be negotiated away. Public transport, parks, recycling systems and district heating all carry running and maintenance costs that must be funded for decades, and schemes that are built and then not maintained fail. Economic viability is therefore a condition for the other two strands rather than a competitor with them.
6
What features make a settlement more sustainable in practice?
Model answer
A compact, mixed-use form so that daily needs are within walking distance; densities high enough to support frequent public transport, focused around interchanges; energy-efficient buildings and retrofit of the existing stock, with low-carbon heat and local renewables; water efficiency and sustainable drainage; waste minimisation, high recycling and food waste collection; a connected network of green and blue space serving drainage, cooling, biodiversity and recreation at once; local employment and services so trips are short; a genuine mix of housing tenures and sizes including affordable homes; safe, overlooked streets designed for walking and cycling; reuse of brownfield land and existing buildings; and structures for community involvement so that residents shape and then maintain the place.

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Processes That Shape Fluvial Environments

Human Interaction in Fluvial Environments

Global Biomes

Small-Scale Ecosystems

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Sustainable Development in Settlements revision questions

What does Sustainable Development in Settlements cover in CCEA A-Level Geography?: 3 subtopics: sustainability, and the urban ecological footprint, carbon footprints and waste management and energy consumption and water supply. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Sustainable Development in Settlements organised?: By the CCEA 3910 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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