OCR GCSE (9-1) Geography A: Geographical Themes (J383) · Spec 1.2.5 and 1.2.6
UK cities: change and sustainable strategies
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- Suburbanisation: a city grows outwards, with housing built at its edges and people moving to the outskirts.
- Counter-urbanisation: people move out of cities to villages and small towns beyond. Reasons include commuting, remote working and quieter surroundings.
- Re-urbanisation: people move back into city centres, helped by regeneration, city-centre flats, jobs and students.
- Keep causes and consequences apart. Consequences can be social, economic or environmental, such as traffic, loss of greenfield land and rising house prices.
- Regeneration means investing in a run-down area to improve it. It may not benefit everyone, because rising prices can push long-term residents out.
- For your city case study, describe it as it is now: its links to the region, UK and world, and how migration shapes its character.
- City challenges include housing, transport and waste. A strategy is sustainable if it meets needs now without harming the future, so it must balance social, economic and environmental needs.
Key terms
- Brownfield land
- Land that has been built on before.
- Greenfield land
- Land that has never been built on.
- Dereliction
- Land or buildings that are abandoned and no longer used.
- Urban sprawl
- A city spreading outwards into the surrounding countryside.
- Rural-urban fringe
- The zone between the edge of a city and the countryside.
- Sustainable
- Meeting the needs of people today without harming the chances of future generations.
Common mistakes
- Thinking any strategy that tackles a problem is sustainable. Just building more houses is not sustainable in itself.
- Covering several challenges in an evaluate answer. Choose ONE challenge and judge strategies for that one only.
- Defining suburbanisation as 'people moving to the suburbs'. Say that the city grows outwards at its edges.
- Using a past link, like a canal, as a city's connection today. Use links that exist now, such as rail, universities, sport and culture.
Exam tip
On a Paper 1 'evaluate' question, pick one challenge, name a strategy, say how it works, then give a verdict backed by evidence. Writing about what caused the challenge earns nothing. This paper's 8-marker has often been on urban trends or a UK city.
Free practice questions
7 questions, 15 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which is the best description of regeneration?
- Question 2 · Fill the gaps[2 marks]
Previously built-on land is called ___ land; land that has never been built on is called ___ land.
Word bank: derelict · greenfield · brownfield
- Question 3 · Choose more than one[2 marks]
Which TWO are strands of sustainable urban living?
Choose 2.
- Question 4 · Matching[4 marks]
Match each urban change term to its meaning.
- Question 5 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which of these is the best definition of suburbanisation?
- Question 6 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
A UK city is short of housing. Which strategy is most likely to be sustainable?
- Question 7 · Matching[4 marks]
Match each transport strategy to how it works.