Key term
Edexcel GCSE Geography A 1GA0
Changing Cities
Topic overviewGlobal urbanisation trends and ratesThe UK’s urban population and why urbanisation varies by regionThe chosen UK city: site, situation, connectivity and structureUrbanisation, suburbanisation and migration in the chosen UK cityPopulation change and deindustrialisation in the chosen UK cityInequality and changes in retailing in the chosen UK cityMaking the chosen UK city more sustainableThe chosen developing or emerging city: site, situation and structurePopulation growth and migration in the chosen developing or emerging cityInequality and quality of life in the chosen developing or emerging cityRapid urbanisation: challenges, and bottom-up and top-down responsesGovernment policy and quality of life in the chosen city
Coastal Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management
Topic overviewThe world’s large-scale ecosystems and what controls their distributionThe biosphere as a resource, and its commercial exploitationUK terrestrial and marine ecosystemsTropical rainforest characteristics and the nutrient cycleRainforest biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsRainforest goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named rainforestDeciduous woodland characteristics and the nutrient cycleWoodland biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsWoodland goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named deciduous woodland
Energy Resource ManagementResource option
Geographical Investigations – Fieldwork
Topic overviewRiver fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataCoastal fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataUrban fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsUrban fieldwork: secondary data sourcesRural fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsRural fieldwork: secondary data sourcesThe enquiry process: asking questions and choosing methodsThe enquiry process: presenting, analysing and concludingThe enquiry process: evaluating fieldwork
Geographical Investigations − UK Challenges
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewAtlas and map skills: distributions, patterns and sketch mapsDescribing the site, situation and shape of settlementsInterpreting diagrams, sketches and photographsUsing online census sourcesHypotheses, sampling and risk assessmentCollecting, recording and presenting dataWriting about findings and building an argument
Glaciated Upland Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Topic overviewGlacial processes and the processes at work on relict landscapes todayPast climate and present UK weather in glaciated uplandsGlacial landforms of erosion and depositionCrag and tail, and drumlinsHuman activity and development in glaciated uplandsA named distinctive glaciated upland landscape in the UK
Global Development
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentThe global pattern of development and why it is unevenThe consequences of uneven development for quality of lifeStrategies to reduce uneven development: aid, top-down and bottom-upThe chosen country: location, context and internal unevennessEconomic change, trade, aid and investment in the chosen countryPopulation and social change in the chosen countryGeopolitics and technology in the chosen countryThe impacts of rapid development and how they are managed
Mathematics and Statistics Skills
Topic overviewCartographic skills: contours, transects, scale and distanceUsing GIS and geo-spatial dataChoosing, constructing and interpreting graphs and chartsNumerical skills: number, scale, proportion and ratioDrawing conclusions from numerical dataStatistical skills: averages, spread, percentages and correlationSpotting weaknesses in how data is presented
Resource Management
River Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
The Changing Landscapes of the UK
Water Resource ManagementResource option
Topic overviewThe global distribution of fresh water, and water surplus and deficitChanging water supply and demandHow water use differs between countriesWater supply problems in the UK and in developing countriesStakeholder attitudes to water, and desalinationSustainable management of water resources
Weather Hazards and Climate Change
Topic overviewGlobal atmospheric circulation and the transfer of heatNatural climate change and the evidence for itThe enhanced greenhouse effect and the effects of climate changeThe climate of the UK and how it variesHow tropical cyclones form, and where they occurWhy tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impactsResponses to tropical cyclonesThe causes of drought and why some places are more vulnerableThe impacts of drought and responses to it
Changing Cities
- 12 subtopics
- 36 things to know
- Paper 2
What Changing Cities covers
Changing Cities is examined in Paper 2, The Human Environment. It covers global urbanisation trends and rates, the UK’s urban population and why urbanisation varies by region, the chosen UK city: site, situation, connectivity and structure, urbanisation, suburbanisation and migration in the chosen UK city, population change and deindustrialisation in the chosen UK city, inequality and changes in retailing in the chosen UK city, making the chosen UK city more sustainable, the chosen developing or emerging city: site, situation and structure, population growth and migration in the chosen developing or emerging city, inequality and quality of life in the chosen developing or emerging city, rapid urbanisation: challenges, and bottom-up and top-down responses and government policy and quality of life in the chosen city.
Where it is assessed
Paper 2
The Human Environment, 37.5% of the GCSE.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 12 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Global urbanisation trends and ratesWhat urbanisation is, its level against its rate, where it is fastest, how urban growth has differed in developed, emerging and developing countries, megacities, the push and pull factors and natural increase behind city growth, and the effects of fast and slow urban change.Open →
- The UK’s urban population and why urbanisation varies by regionHow urbanised the UK is and where its people are concentrated, what a conurbation is, why London stands apart, and how coalfields, relief, ports and today's knowledge economy decided which regions grew.Open →
- The chosen UK city: site, situation, connectivity and structureThe site, situation and connectivity of a UK city, its national cultural and environmental context, its regional importance and global connections, and the land uses and buildings of its central business district, inner city, suburbs and urban-rural fringe.Open →
- Urbanisation, suburbanisation and migration in the chosen UK cityThe order of urbanisation, suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation and re-urbanisation, what drives each, and how national and international migration reshape a city's age structure, ethnic mix, housing and services.Open →
- Population change and deindustrialisation in the chosen UK cityWhat the census records and its limits, why a city's population grows or falls, and how globalisation, de-centralisation, technology and transport drove deindustrialisation and its economic and environmental impacts.Open →
- Inequality and changes in retailing in the chosen UK cityHow income, housing, health and education differ between districts, how deprivation is scored, and why shopping has moved from the central business district to out-of-town centres, retail parks and the internet.Open →
- Making the chosen UK city more sustainableWhat makes a city sustainable, how recycling, local jobs, education, health, public transport, affordable and energy-efficient housing and brownfield building contribute over the long term, and what an ecological footprint is, how a city's is calculated in global hectares, how London's compares with other places and how it can be cut.Open →
- The chosen developing or emerging city: site, situation and structureThe site, situation, connectivity and national and regional role of a fast-growing city, its global links, and how its central business district, inner city, suburbs and fringe are laid out.Open →
- Population growth and migration in the chosen developing or emerging cityNatural increase and why it is high, how investment and success speed growth, the rural push and urban pull factors, international migration, and the effects on age structure, culture, housing and services.Open →
- Inequality and quality of life in the chosen developing or emerging cityWhere the richest and poorest residents live, what an informal settlement is, why rapid growth widens the gap, and how land tenure, water, health, income and education differ between districts.Open →
- Rapid urbanisation: challenges, and bottom-up and top-down responsesUneven infrastructure, water, sanitation, transport, housing, health and education pressures in a fast-growing city, under-employment and informal employment, air and water pollution, and the advantages and disadvantages of top-down and bottom-up approaches.Open →
- Government policy and quality of life in the chosen cityWhich levels of government act, the social, economic, environmental and transport policies they use, site-and-service schemes and legal tenure, why schemes fall short, and how success is judged.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Process
In what order do the four processes of urban change occur in a British city, and what do the last three involve?
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Why do people move to a British city from within the country and from abroad, and how does migration affect its neighbourhoods and housing?
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What is urbanisation?
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Is the United Kingdom a heavily urbanised country?
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Whereabouts in the United Kingdom is the urban population concentrated?
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What does the site of a city mean?
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What is meant by a city’s connectivity?
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What is the census?
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Which population characteristics can be looked up for a city from census data?
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How has the shift from manufacturing to services widened the gap between residents?
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What is meant by quality of life?
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Why is creating local employment part of a sustainability strategy?
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How does investment in education support sustainable urban living?
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Which site features commonly explain where a fast-growing city in a poorer or emerging country began?
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What gives a rapidly growing city in an emerging country strong connectivity?
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What is natural increase?
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Why is natural increase high in a rapidly growing city of a poorer or emerging country?
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What is meant by saying extreme wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side in one city?
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What is an informal settlement?
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What water and sanitation problems does rapid growth create?
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What transport problems come with very fast urban growth?
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Which levels of government can act to improve life in a fast-growing city?
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What is a site-and-service scheme?
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What is the difference between a country’s level of urbanisation and its rate of urbanisation?
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What is a conurbation?
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What belongs in a description of your city’s national environmental context?
Process
In which order do the four processes of urban change usually occur in a British city?
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Give three reasons a British city’s population might be growing.
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How does housing differ between the richest and poorest parts of a city?
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How do health improvements raise quality of life in a city?
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What kinds of global links does an emerging-country city typically have?
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How did a fast-growing city in an emerging country usually grow in the past compared with today?
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Why does rapid growth tend to widen the gap between rich and poor?
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Why does a housing shortage develop so quickly?
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Why does granting legal land tenure improve people’s lives?
Take Changing Cities further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Push factors vs Pull factors
Push factors: negative conditions driving people away from the countryside. Pull factors: attractions drawing people towards a city.
Suburbanisation vs Counter-urbanisation
Suburbanisation: the outward spread of a city to housing estates on its edge. Counter-urbanisation: the movement of people out of a city altogether to villages and rural areas.
Site vs Situation
Site: the actual piece of land a city was first built on. Situation: where a city sits in relation to the places and features around it.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is urbanisation?
Model answer
The rising proportion of a country’s population that lives in towns and cities rather than in the countryside.
- 2
What is the difference between a country’s level of urbanisation and its rate of urbanisation?
Model answer
The level is the share of people already living in urban areas; the rate is how fast that share is currently changing.
- 3
Which groups of countries are urbanising fastest today?
Model answer
Emerging and developing countries, where cities are growing quickly from a comparatively low starting level.
- 4
Describe the pattern of urban growth in developed countries over the past half century.
Model answer
Growth has been slow because these countries were already highly urban, and some large cities lost people before regeneration brought them back.
- 5
Describe the pattern of urban growth in emerging countries over the past half century.
Model answer
Very rapid growth, with millions moving into industrial cities and several reaching megacity size.
- 6
Describe the pattern of urban growth in the poorest developing countries over the past half century.
Model answer
Most people still live rurally, but city populations are climbing steeply and the largest city often dominates.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Changing Cities revision questions
- What does Changing Cities cover in Edexcel GCSE Geography A?
- 12 subtopics: global urbanisation trends and rates, the uk’s urban population and why urbanisation varies by region, the chosen uk city: site, situation, connectivity and structure, urbanisation, suburbanisation and migration in the chosen uk city, population change and deindustrialisation in the chosen uk city, inequality and changes in retailing in the chosen uk city, making the chosen uk city more sustainable, the chosen developing or emerging city: site, situation and structure, population growth and migration in the chosen developing or emerging city, inequality and quality of life in the chosen developing or emerging city, rapid urbanisation: challenges, and bottom-up and top-down responses and government policy and quality of life in the chosen city. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Changing Cities organised?
- By the Edexcel 1GA0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Changing Cities, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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