Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseCities face big problems: rubbish, traffic jams, pollution and a shortage of homes. You have met these problems in Urban Challenges in a Developed Country and Pollution and Quality of Life in a Developing City. This lesson is about the solutions. Planners try to make city life sustainable, so that people today can live well without damaging the environment or making life harder for future generations. They also want to improve the quality of life of people who live there.
This lesson looks at three types of strategy: waste disposal, transport and housing. The case studies are the same two cities as before: London (a developed country) and Mumbai (a developing or emerging country).
Key terms:
Burying all rubbish in landfill wastes land and can pollute soil and water. A more sustainable plan is to reduce waste, reuse things and recycle as much as possible.
Councils collect recycling, such as paper, glass, cans and plastic, from the doorstep. Many boroughs also collect food waste separately so that it can be turned into compost and energy. Less rubbish goes to landfill, and fewer resources are used to make new goods.
The city council asks households to separate wet waste (food scraps) from dry waste (paper, plastic, metal), because sorted waste is much easier to recycle. Better organised collection builds on the work of the city's waste pickers and cuts the amount sent to the city's dumps.
Too many cars cause congestion and air pollution. Cities try to move people with fewer vehicles and cleaner ones.
The Elizabeth line, a fast cross-city railway that opened in 2022, adds capacity to the rail network. Santander Cycles hire bikes let people make short journeys without a car. The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) charges drivers of the most polluting vehicles, so people switch to cleaner vehicles or public transport and the air improves.
Millions of people already use the suburban trains and buses. The city has built new Metro lines, with Line 1 opening in 2014, to take people off crowded roads and trains. Links like the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, opened in 2009, cut journey times across the city.
Notice the difference. London adds charges and cycle schemes to a network that is already large. Mumbai is still adding basic capacity to cope with a fast-growing population.
People need safe, affordable homes close to jobs. Building on brownfield sites, which you met in The Rural-Urban Fringe, saves the countryside and puts people near existing transport.
Old industrial land has been redeveloped for homes. The Olympic Park in east London was a brownfield site. After the 2012 Games the athletes' village became new housing called East Village, with some affordable homes, and shops and parks nearby. King's Cross, a former railway yard, now has homes, offices and open spaces close to a major station.
The Slum Rehabilitation Authority, set up in 1995, helps to rehouse people living in squatter settlements in new flats with their own water and toilets. Developers build the flats and, in return, can build and sell extra homes. The aim is to improve health and safety, but flats can be small and some families lose their local work and community.
Question: How does a low emission zone make a city more sustainable?
Point: it makes drivers of old, polluting vehicles pay a charge.
Explain: drivers then switch to cleaner vehicles, buses or trains, so there are fewer harmful gases in the air.
Link: cleaner air improves health and quality of life, and less pollution means less damage to the environment for future generations.
Strategies have limits. Recycling schemes only work if people use them. New transport costs a lot of money. Charges can hit poorer drivers hardest, and rehousing can break up communities. A good answer says what the strategy does, who benefits and what the problems are. You will see who makes these decisions in Who Manages Cities?
(a) State what is meant by sustainable urban living. [1 mark]
(b) For a named city, explain how one transport strategy helps to make urban living more sustainable. [3 marks]
(c) "Strategies for housing always improve quality of life." Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer. [4 marks]
(a) Living in a city in a way that meets people's needs without damaging the environment for future generations. (1)
(b) In London, the ULEZ charges drivers of the most polluting vehicles. (1) Drivers switch to cleaner vehicles or public transport. (1) This lowers air pollution and so improves health and the environment. (1)
(c) I partly agree. Rehousing people from squatter settlements in Mumbai gives them flats with water and toilets, which improves health. (1) Brownfield redevelopment in London, such as East Village, gives people homes near jobs and transport. (1) However, flats can be small and families may lose their local work and community. (1) So housing strategies usually help, but not for everyone, and the benefits depend on how well they are planned. (1)
In a "named city" question, put the name of a real scheme in your first sentence. A general answer with no example cannot get full marks.