geography lic case study

Urban issues and challenges in LICs and NEEs - AQA Urban growth in low income countries (LICs)

Urban areas are growing rapidly. They can cause a range of opportunities and challenges. Urban planning is important to ensure that the opportunities are maximised and the challenges are minimised.

Part of Geography Urban issues and challenges

Urban growth in low income countries (LICs)

The world's population is growing rapidly and reached 7.3 billion people in 2011. The highest rates of population growth are occurring in low income countries (LICs) close low income country (LIC) Based on the World Bank's income classifications, a LIC has a gross national income (GNI per capita) of $1,045 or lower. , such as Zimbabwe, Malawi and Niger. Some countries are experiencing population decline, for example Japan, Russia and Ukraine.

Today more than 50% of the world's population live in urban areas close urban area A built-up place, eg a town or city. . The number of cities with over 10 million people is increasing. These are called megacities close megacity A city with over 10 million people living in it. . There are now 34 megacities in the world. The table shows the top 10 megacities.

Causes of urban growth

The population of cities usually changes in one of two ways:

• Natural increase close natural increase The natural growth of a population due to the number of births exceeding deaths. (or decrease) - this is the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths.
• Migration - this is the movement of people into or out of the city.

More and more people are leaving rural areas close rural area An area of countryside. and moving to cities. This is called rural to urban migration close rural to urban migration The movement of people from the countryside to the city. . People move because of push close push factor A factor that encourages people to leave the place in which they live and to move elsewhere. and pull factors close pull factor A factor which attracts people to move to a new place. . Push factors are things that make people want to leave rural areas and pull factors are the things that attract people to the city.

Possible push factors

• unemployment
• lower wages
• crop failure
• poor living conditions
• poor health and education services
• few facilities
• natural disasters

Possible pull factors

• higher wages
• better living conditions
• better education and health services
• better facilities
• less chance of natural disasters

More guides on this topic

• Urban change in the UK - AQA

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GCSE Geography

• Specification
• Planning resources
• Teaching resources
• Assessment resources
• Introduction
• Specification at a glance
• 3.1 Living with the physical environment

3.2 Challenges in the human environment

• 3.3 Geographical applications
• 3.4 Geographical skills
• Scheme of assessment
• General administration

This unit is concerned with human processes, systems and outcomes and how these change both spatially and temporally. They are studied in a variety of places and at a range of scales and must include places in various states of development, such as higher income countries (HICs), lower income countries (LICs) and newly emerging economies (NEEs).

The aims of this unit are to develop an understanding of the factors that produce a diverse variety of human environments; the dynamic nature of these environments that change over time and place; the need for sustainable management; and the areas of current and future challenge and opportunity for these environments.

Section A: Urban issues and challenges

In this section, students are required to study all the themes.

Section B: The changing economic world

Section c: the challenge of resource management.

In this section, students are required to study Resource management and one from Food or Water or Energy .

Resource management

Comparing an Earthquake or Volcano in a LIC and a HIC

The level of death and injury may be greater in a developing country as the hospitals and emergency services are less effective.

The cost of repair may be greater in a developed country as the infrastructure is more developed. 

More death and destruction may occur around a volcano in a developing country as many subsistence farmers will farm close to the volcanic cone in order to benefit from the fertile soil.

The amount of aid received is probably going to be greater in a developing country as the population's needs are greater.

Greater scientific monitoring and data gathering will occur in developed countries. Therefore, prediction will be more accurate in developed countries, although predicting an earthquake is very difficult. 

Emergency action plans are less likely to be prepared or practised in developing countries.

Secondary effects may be worse in developing country, as the level of poverty means that disease is more likely to spread. 

Why Nepal's Earthquake Was So Devastating?

Which Countries Can Survive Major Earthquakes?

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Geography iGCSE

Rio de Janeiro – Flavelas (LIC case study)

The problems:

• Rio de Janeiro, is one of the worlds megacities with over 10 million people, struggles to cope with these people as there isn’t a great deal of space or money, being a LIC.
• Over 500,000 people are homeless and 2 million live in favelas.
• These favelas are often over crowded with thousands living in this accomodation with little sanitation and poor building materials such as corregated iron.
• These shanty towns (favelas) are often built on undesirable land like hillsides which means they have a risk of being swept away due to sheet rainfall, flash floods and landfalls.
• There is a high crime rate in Rio mainly due to large rates of  drug trafficking. These favelas are the worst areas for the organisation of crimes and violence. This can even spread to areas of tourism such as Copacabana.
• Congestion is a huge problem in Rio de Janeiro as the mountainsides channel most of the traffic flow, limiting routes.
• Due to the high numbers of industries, pollution is becoming increasingly more of a problem caused by the traffic. This is also due to the poor sewage systems which are release onto Guanabara Bay.

Potential Solutions:

• There are self help schemes which allow those in the slums have access to sanitation, water and decent sewage systems by the government. Things like wooden buildings have been replaced by bricks and tiles. Shops have been opened up alongside entertainment centres. Things like electricity and piped water have been provided.
• A recent project calle Favela Bairro has been instilled into the shanty towns which is providing of $200 million to improve the conditions of these squatter settlments. They have planned to improve over 600 favelas by improving the structure of buildings from wood to brick. They have widened streets allowing emergencies services to come through. Also they have improved the sanitary conditions of these areas.
• To do this scheme local workers have been given jobs allowing them to learn more skills and feel as if they own their homes

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Haiti Earthquake 2010

Haiti earthquake case study.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake .

The earthquake occurred on January 12th, 2010, at 16.53 local time (21.53 GMT).

The earthquake occurred at 18.457°N, 72.533°W. The epicentre was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The earthquake’s focus was 13km (8.1 miles) below the Earth’s surface.

Haiti is situated at the northern end of the Caribbean Plate, on a transform (slip/conservative) plate boundary with the North American Plate. The North American plate is moving west. This movement is not smooth, and there is friction between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. Pressure builds between the two plates until released as an earthquake.

A map to show the location of Haiti in relation to tectonic plates. Source BBC.

The epicentre of the earthquake was 16km southwest of Port-Au-Prince. The earthquake was caused by a slip along an existing fault (Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault).

A map to show the location of the epicentre of the earthquake

Primary Effects

As of February 12th 2010, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people died, an estimated 300,000 were injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 were made homeless. They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.

Secondary Effects

• Two million people were left without water and food.
• Regular power cuts occurred.
• Crime increased – looting became a problem and sexual violence escalated.
• People moved into temporary shelters.
• By November 2010 there were outbreaks of cholera.

Immediate Responses

• Due to the port being damaged, aid was slow to arrive.
• The USA sent rescue teams and 10,000 troops.
• Bottled water and purification tablets were provided.
• 235,000 people were moved away from Port-au-Prince to less-damaged cities.
• £20 million was donated by The UK government.

Long-term Responses

• As one of the poorest countries on Earth, Haiti relied on overseas aid.
• Although the response was slow, new homes were built to a higher standard. Over one million people still lived in temporary shelters one year after the earthquake.
• The port needed rebuilding, which required a large amount of investment.

So, why did so many people die in the Haiti earthquake? There are several reasons for this:

• The earthquake occurred at shallow depth – this means that the seismic waves must travel a smaller distance through the Earth to reach the surface to maintain more energy.
• The earthquake struck the most densely populated area of the country.
• Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
• The buildings in Port-Au-Prince and other areas of Haiti were generally in poor condition and were not designed or constructed to be earthquake-resistant.
• Three million people live in Port au Prince; most live in slum conditions after rapid urbanisation.
• Haiti only has one airport with one runway. The control tower was severely damaged in the earthquake. The port is also unusable due to damage.
• Initially, aid had been piling up at the airport due to a lack of trucks and people to distribute it. Water and food have taken days to arrive, and there is not enough to go around.
• Rescue teams from around the world took up to 48 hours to arrive in Haiti due to the problems at the airport. As a result, local people have had to use their bare hands to try and dig people out of the rubble.
• There has been a severe shortage of doctors, and many people have died of injuries like broken limbs.

 The BBC News website has a comprehensive overview of the earthquake here . In addition, the BBC has produced an excellent article titled Why so many people died in the Haiti earthquake? and provides comparative data with similar earthquakes.

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