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What does this image tell us?. What did the image tell us?. Urban Areas. What will I understand by the end of this unit? I will understand what the process of urbanisation means. I will be able to identify the characteristics and patterns of urbanisation.
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Urban Areas • What will I understand by the end of this unit? • I will understand what the process of urbanisation means. • I will be able to identify the characteristics and patterns of urbanisation. • I will understand the causes and effects of urbanisation. • I will understand the functions of urban environments. • I will understand the concept of sustainable development within a urban context. • I will be able to apply my knowledge at a local, national and global scale.
How has the World’s Urban Population changed through time? Table 2 Source: United Nations Population Data Base
Why Study Urban Environments? • Last year for the first time in human history 50% of the world’s population will live in Urban Areas. • All population growth until at least 2030 will take place in urban areas. • In 2005 only 4.3% of the world’s population lives in urban areas of more than 10 million. Source: United Nations Population Data Base
Percentage Urban Population What are the causes of a global increase in urban population?
Where the Lights Shine Brightest. The World’s ‘Millionaire’ Urban Areas 2006.
What characteristics do you associate with an urban area? • Site and Situation • The site is the actual location of the urban area. Lyon is: • 45 degrees, 46 minutes North • 4 degrees, 50 minutes East • The situation is location of an urban area relative to other places surrounding it (human and physical). • Use the following map to describe the location of Lyon.
Palmyra today. The location factors that once made it a great city are no longer important.
Functions of Urban Environments • As settlements grow they develop a specific function or set of functions. • Functions are collectively, the services, goods and amenities available in a settlement. A large city will have many more functions than a small village. • Low-order functions provide convenience goods likely to be required frequently, perhaps every day. • High-order functions will supply specialised or long lasting goods. They will only be available in larger settlements. • What functions are available in Lyon; Gerland?
Functions of Urban Environments • As an urban environment grows it will develop a huge variety of functions. • At any one time the economic structure of an urban area will consist of a complex mixture of functions of varying strength. • The strength of a particular function can be thought of as the percentage of a city’s labour force employed in that function. • What are Lyon’s main functions today, or in the past?
Urban Growth • Many are regional or national capitals and these attract service industries linked to law, finance and administration. • Companies locate their headquarters in important cities. • They are important transport centres. • Good communications make them attractive to manufacturing industries. • Many cities are at the coast and have port facilities. • Trade leads to growth of industries which process raw materials. These in turn attract commerce and finance. • The number and range of jobs attract people from other parts of the country. • The large population provides a large market for goods and services such as shops, education and entertainment. • A growing market attracts yet more investment to these cities. • History of Lyon Jigsaw Activity – Function and Reasons for Growth
Models of Urban Growth - Activity • Work in pairs / groups • Each group has a number of photos showing different zones within urban areas. • For each photograph identify which urban zone is shown and give reasons for your answer. • For each photograph give reasons for its location on the model.
Global Cities • Watch this film on Global Cities. • What issues does it raise for future development of urban environments? • In relation to urban areas what do you think sustainable development should be?
Development Decisions -Urban Planning Game • Follow the instructions provided in the game.
Living in an Urban Environment • What services do you use in your daily life? • As a class, describe your typical day and identify the services that you use. • Discuss the Triangle of Sustainable Development. For each of the services you have listed, try to identify which of the three points it belongs to. NB some may fit within 2.
What is Sustainable Development? • There are many definitions of sustainable development, including this landmark one which first appeared in 1987: • "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." — from the World Commission on Environment and Development’s (the Brundtland Commission) • Have you listed any needs that conflict with one another? For example, if you listed clean air to breathe, but also listed a car for transportation, your needs might conflict. Which would you choose, and how would you make your decision? If within ourselves, we have conflicting needs, how much is that multiplied when we look at a whole community, city, country, world? • How do we decide whose needs are met? Poor or rich people? Citizens or immigrants? People living in urban areas or rural environments? People in one country or another? You or your neighbour? The environment or business? This generation or the next generation? When there has to be a trade off, whose needs should go first?
People concerned about sustainable development suggest that meeting the needs of the future depends on how well we balance social, economic, and environmental objectives--or needs--when making decisions today. • Studying the triangle raises a number of difficult questions. • What happens to the environment in the long term if a large number of people cannot afford to meet their basic household needs today? • If you did not have access to safe water, and therefore needed wood to boil drinking water so that you and your children would not get sick, would you worry about causing deforestation? • If you had to drive a long distance to get to work each day, would you be willing to move or get a new job to avoid polluting the air with your car exhaust?
Sustainable Urban Development • Some definitions of sustainable development in urban areas: "Sustainable community development is the ability to make development choices which respect the relationship between the three "E's"-economy, ecology, and equity: • Economy - Economic activity should serve the common good, be self-renewing, and build local assets and self-reliance. • Ecology - Human are part of nature, nature has limits, and communities are responsible for protecting and building natural assets. • Equity - The opportunity for full participation in all activities, benefits, and decision-making of a society."- Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED): Hart Environmental Data "A community that believes today's growth must not be achieved at tomorrow's expense."- Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, initial report, October 1995 "... the deliberate effort to ensure that community development not only enhances the local economy, but also the local environment and quality of life."- Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development
Local Agenda 21Background • At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the United Nations agreed that the best starting point for the achievement of sustainable development is at the local level. In fact, two thirds of the 2500 action items of Agenda 21 relate to local councils (e.g.Grand Lyon) and what they are required to do. • Each local authority has had to draw up its own Local Agenda 21 (LA21) strategy • The aims of the strategies have to be based on the needs of the local citizens. • The principle of sustainable development must form a central part of the strategies. • It is believed that involvement of the whole community will ensure that everyone’s needs are taken into account, and that conflicts between different needs can be resolved locally.
Local Agenda 21Examples • As part of Local Agenda 21 in Liverpool, for example, the public and the city council have drawn up their own indicators to discover the success of sustainable development. These indicators include the number of parks and people living close to them, education standards and crime figures. • In Cheshire, the local authority has set up a transport task group as part of its LA21. This aims to set up commuter plans to discourage people from travelling by car. • Kirklees council, in West Yorkshire, has encouraged partnerships between themselves, businesses, charity groups and members of the public to help them to achieve a sustainable level of development.
Grand Lyon Agenda 21 Aims • The Action Plan for LA 21 Grand Lyon is based on five Sustainable Development Strategies • Grand Lyon’s Local Agenda 21 action plan is designed to meet the aims of sustainable development and has been a work in progress for many years. • It is evaluated and revised every two years. • The action plan has been split into 100 smaller medium to long-term action programmes. They are based on the following sustainable development strategies; • Strategy 1 – To meet the needs of both social cohesion and economic development • Strategy 2 - Continue to tackle the local effects of global warming. • Strategy 3 - To improve the environment of the inhabitants of the city. • Strategy 4 - For Grand Lyon and its communes to work in partnership as leaders in sustainable development. • Strategy 5 - To engage with, and mobilise the community to work towards the aims of sustainable development.
Develop a LA21 strategy for Lyon • You are a team of LA21 officers working for Grand Lyon. • You have been asked to suggest sustainable development projects that will • Meet the needs of the local community in relation to one of five themes and; • Help to achieve Grand Lyon’s own LA21 objectives.
