Opportunities and Challenges of Urbanisation » Opportunities of Urban Living
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 7.2.1
- The six opportunities of urban living: culture, housing, services, leisure, consumption and economic development
- Examples of each from cities around the world
- How opportunities in cities in HICs differ from cities in LICs
- How to answer an exam question on the opportunities of urban living
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Unlock This CourseWhy do people want to live in cities?
Cities are crowded, but they also offer things that villages and small towns often cannot. Having so many people in one place makes it worthwhile to build hospitals, theatres, stadiums and shopping centres. The more people there are, the more choice there is.
The syllabus groups the opportunities of urban living into six types: culture, housing, services, leisure, consumption and economic development.
Key terms:
- Opportunities of urban living: the benefits that come from living in a city.
- Culture: the arts, traditions, food, languages and festivals that people share.
- Consumption: buying and using goods and services.
- Economic development: growth in jobs, wages and business activity.
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP): the total value of all the goods and services a country produces in a year.
Culture, housing and services
🎭 Culture
Cities have museums, theatres, galleries and festivals. London has the British Museum, and Rio de Janeiro hosts a world-famous carnival each year. Cities also have great diversity: people from many countries live side by side, bringing different foods, languages and religions.
🏠 Housing
Cities have more choice of housing: flats, terraced houses, student rooms, rented homes and new-build estates. People can choose a home to suit their budget and family size. Tall buildings let many homes fit on a small area of land.
🏥 Services
Large hospitals, universities and schools are found in cities. Cities are also more likely to have a piped water supply and electricity, because it is cheaper to connect many people who live close together.
Leisure, consumption and economic development
⚽ Leisure
Cities have sports stadiums, parks, cinemas, concert halls, swimming pools and gyms. People can watch top teams or take part in almost any sport or hobby.
🛒 Consumption
Cities have large shopping centres, street markets and thousands of shops. Many cities also have online delivery, so goods can arrive at your door within a day or even a few hours.
💰 Economic development
Cities offer more jobs and often higher wages than the countryside. Businesses that do similar work often set up close together, which is called clustering. A city also contributes a large share of its country's GDP.
How businesses cluster and why it helps
Clustering happens when companies in the same industry locate in the same part of a city. Examples are the banks and finance firms in the City of London, and the technology companies of Bangalore in India.
- Firms share a large pool of skilled workers.
- They are close to suppliers and customers.
- New ideas spread quickly between companies.
- More jobs are created, and workers spend their wages in local shops and services.
This is why a city can produce a large share of a country's GDP. A thriving city also helps pay for roads, schools and hospitals through taxes, which benefits the whole country.
Cities in HICs and LICs: what is different?
The opportunities exist in cities all over the world, but they are not the same everywhere. Cities in high-income countries (HICs) are usually better provided with services and jobs. Cities in low-income countries (LICs) offer real opportunities, but these are often available to fewer people.
| Opportunity | City in an HIC (e.g. London, Tokyo) | City in an LIC (e.g. Kampala, Kinshasa) |
|---|---|---|
| Culture | Many national museums and large, well-funded theatres and galleries | Lively festivals, music, film and street culture, but fewer large museums and venues |
| Housing | Wide choice of homes, most with water and electricity | Some choice, but less affordable housing, and not all homes have water or electricity |
| Services | Most people can reach a hospital, a school and a clean water supply | The best hospitals and universities are in the city, but services do not reach everybody |
| Leisure | Many stadiums, leisure centres and parks | Fewer purpose-built facilities, so people often use open spaces and markets |
| Consumption | Supermarkets, malls and online shopping with fast delivery | Large markets and small shops; online shopping is growing but is less common |
| Economic development | Many jobs in services and industry, with higher wages | More jobs than in the countryside and higher wages, but many are low paid |
The problems that come with fast city growth in LICs are taught in the next lesson, Challenges of Rapid Urban Growth.
Worked example
Question: Explain one opportunity of urban living. [2 marks]
Answer: Cities have more services such as hospitals (1). Because many people live close together, it is worth building large hospitals and schools, so people get better healthcare and education (1).
Common mistakes
- Writing only "there are more jobs". Add detail: higher wages, businesses clustering, or a contribution to GDP.
- Giving a list with no explanation. Say how each opportunity helps people.
- Saying cities in LICs have none of these opportunities. They do, but fewer people can reach them.
- Using "MEDC" or "LEDC". Use HIC and LIC.
Exam-style question
Fig. 1.1 shows made-up data for two cities, City P in an HIC and City Q in an LIC.
| Fig. 1.1 | City P | City Q |
|---|---|---|
| Households with electricity (%) | 99 | 78 |
| Households with piped water (%) | 98 | 70 |
| Hospitals per 100,000 people | 4 | 1 |
| Average monthly wage (US dollars) | 2,400 | 350 |
(a) Calculate how many more percentage points of households in City P have electricity than in City Q. [1 mark]
(b) Describe how Fig. 1.1 shows that City P has better services than City Q. [3 marks]
(c) Explain how businesses clustering together helps the economic development of a city. [3 marks]
(d) To what extent do the opportunities of urban living differ between cities in HICs and LICs? [6 marks]
Model answer
(a) 99 - 78 = 21 percentage points (1).
(b) More households in City P have electricity (99% compared with 78%) (1). More households in City P have piped water (98% compared with 70%) (1). City P has four hospitals per 100,000 people but City Q has only one (1).
(c) Firms in the same industry share skilled workers (1) and are close to suppliers and customers (1). This creates more jobs and wages, which raises the city's contribution to GDP (1).
(d) Top-level answer: Cities in both HICs and LICs offer the same types of opportunity. Both have more jobs, higher wages, hospitals, schools, shops and culture than the countryside. However, the opportunities differ in how many people can reach them. In an HIC city such as London, most people have a safe water supply and electricity, many hospitals, and a wide choice of housing, leisure and online shopping. In an LIC city such as Kampala, the best hospitals and universities are in the city, but services do not reach everybody, and wages, although higher than in rural areas, are much lower. LIC cities still have strong culture, such as music and festivals. So the opportunities are similar in type but differ in scale and access. The difference is large, but not complete.
Exam tip
For "To what extent", give both sides: what is the same, what is different, then a short judgement such as "the difference is large, but not complete".