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Unlock This CourseIn Making Urban Living Sustainable you met strategies for waste, transport and housing. Cities also need to help their people to learn, stay healthy and earn a living. Good schools, health care and jobs improve the quality of life of the people who live there. This lesson uses the same two cities: London (a developed country) and Mumbai (a developing or emerging country).
Key terms:
Education gives people the skills to find better jobs. Better-paid jobs raise incomes, and educated parents often make sure their own children do well too.
The London Challenge, a government programme from 2003 to 2011, gave extra support to schools in the city that were struggling. Results in London schools improved. More recently, all children in state primary schools in London have been offered free school meals, so pupils are not hungry in lessons.
The city council runs its own schools for children from low-income families. India's Right to Education Act (2009) says that children aged 6 to 14 must be given free education. The challenge is making sure that children living in crowded squatter settlements actually attend school instead of working.
Healthy people can work and go to school, and fewer people die young. Health strategies aim to make treatment easy to reach.
The National Health Service (NHS) is free when you use it, so everyone can see a doctor or go to hospital whatever their income. This means that people can get early treatment, so illnesses are less likely to become serious.
The city council runs municipal hospitals and health posts. It has also opened small local clinics called Aapla Dawakhana, which give free basic check-ups and medicines close to where people live. These are easier to reach than a big hospital across the city.
Jobs bring a regular income, which pays for food, rent and school costs. Cities try to attract businesses so that there are jobs for everyone.
Canary Wharf in east London was built on old docklands from the 1980s. These docks had closed, and many people had lost their jobs. The area is now a business district with offices, banks and shops. After the 2012 Games the Olympic Park was also redeveloped, bringing new homes, businesses and work.
The Bandra Kurla Complex is a business district built to create jobs and to ease pressure on crowded south Mumbai. Many people also work in the informal economy, for example as street vendors, so training and support for small businesses help people there too.
Question: Explain how a health strategy can improve quality of life in a named city.
Point: in Mumbai, the council opened Aapla Dawakhana local clinics.
Explain: they give free check-ups and medicines close to home, so people with low incomes can get treated early.
Link: healthier people can work and go to school, so incomes and quality of life rise.
Planners need evidence to decide which areas need help. You can judge variations in environmental quality by using both types of information.
Traffic counts, noise readings in decibels, the number of litter items in a 100 m stretch of street, and scores on an environmental survey.
Photographs, field sketches, notes on how a street looks and smells, and interviews that record what residents think.
Numbers are easy to compare, but they do not show how people feel. Descriptions show feelings, but they are more personal. The best judgement uses both.
Park Road: 40 vehicles an hour, 50 decibels, 3 pieces of litter per 100 m, survey score +2 (on a scale from -2 to +2). Photograph shows trees and clean pavements.
Dock Street: 900 vehicles an hour, 75 decibels, 25 pieces of litter per 100 m, survey score -2. Photograph shows heavy traffic and rubbish bags.
Judgement: Dock Street has much lower environmental quality. It has 22 more pieces of litter and 25 decibels more noise, and it has far more traffic, which also means more air pollution. The photographs agree with the numbers. Park Road needs little help, while Dock Street needs action first.
(a) Give one strategy to improve education in a named urban area. [1 mark]
(b) Explain how a strategy to improve employment helps the people of a named city. [3 marks]
(c) A student measured the noise level on two streets: Street X was 48 decibels and Street Y was 78 decibels. Explain why the student should also collect qualitative information before judging environmental quality. [3 marks]
(a) In London, the London Challenge gave extra support to struggling schools. (1)
(b) In London, Canary Wharf was built on old docklands. (1) It created many office and service jobs. (1) People earn regular incomes, so they can afford housing and food and quality of life improves. (1)
(c) Noise is only one measurement, so it does not show the whole environment. (1) Photographs or interviews could show litter, smells or what residents think. (1) Using both types of information gives a fairer and more reliable judgement. (1)
In answers like (c), use the numbers in the question. Say Street Y is 30 decibels noisier than Street X, then explain what else you need to know.