Urban growth and change

Learn how cities grow and examine changes in transport, housing and access to services.

An imagined river city after rain, with lit windows and a bridge beneath a clearing sky.

Part 1 of 3

Explain growth and its geography

Urban population can increase through natural increase and migration. Reclassification and changing boundaries can also affect a recorded total. Distinguish urbanisation, the increasing share living in urban areas, from growth in a city’s population.

Jobs, housing and services influence where people live. A citywide average can conceal large differences in water access, income and journey time among neighbourhoods.

Worked example

A fictional country has 12m urban residents out of 30m people: 40%. Later it has 15m out of 40m: 37.5%. Its urban population grew, but its urban share fell.

Common mistake: An increase in the number of urban residents does not always mean a higher urban percentage.

Population density · Population pyramids

Next: Measure access to opportunities →

Part 2 of 3

Measure access to opportunities

Mobility describes movement; accessibility concerns reaching opportunities such as work, education and healthcare. Faster travel can help, but fares, routes, reliability and the distribution of destinations also matter.

Assess who uses a new service and who remains outside it. A project’s beneficiary result cannot automatically describe every resident.

Worked example

A fictional journey costs £2 before an intervention and £1.40 afterwards. Reduction = £0.60; percentage reduction = 0.60 ÷ 2 × 100 = 30%. The saving concerns that journey, not every household’s transport spending.

Common mistake: A shorter route does not guarantee better access if its fare is unaffordable or services are infrequent.

Percentage change · Choropleth maps

Next: Who benefits from regeneration? →

Part 3 of 3

Who benefits from regeneration?

Regeneration can alter land use, housing, employment and public space. Record conditions before the project and compare them with later observations.

Use several measures and look at who gains and who loses. Rising property values can accompany investment while making housing less affordable for some residents. A before-and-after association needs caution about other causes.

Worked example

In a fictional survey, 60 of 100 respondents before a project and 80 of 100 afterwards report good access. The change is 20 percentage points, or a 33.3% relative increase. Different survey samples may limit the comparison.

Common mistake: A favourable average does not prove all groups benefited or that the project caused the entire change.

Sampling methods · Source evaluation

Try a fresh question →

Try a different resource

Transport accessibility

Use only open links. Add stated journey times, rather than measuring the drawing. The route times are a simplified fictional model; waiting, congestion and individual access needs are not supplied.

Scroll the diagram sideways to see the full resource.

From	To	Journey time (min)	Status
A	B	4	Open
B	D	8	Open
A	C	4	Open
C	D	3	Closed
B	C	10	Open

Fictional journey network. Original fictional resource; not an official map or real dataset.

Resource description

Travel times and status: A–B: 4 minutes, open; B–D: 8 minutes, open; A–C: 4 minutes, open; C–D: 3 minutes, closed; B–C: 10 minutes, open. Travel is allowed in both directions on open links.

1. What is the minimum modelled journey from A to D, in minutes?

2. How should the closed link be treated in the shortest-route calculation?

Choose an answerInclude it when its drawn length is shorter than open links.Replace its stated time with the mean time of open links.Exclude it before comparing permitted route-time sums.Use it with an extra penalty equal to its stated time.

3. What additional evidence would help compare residents’ practical accessibility?

Choose an answerThe number of letters assigned to junctions in each route.The mean open-link time without their connecting routes.Door-to-door times, service frequency and access needs.The total drawn length of links on the network diagram.

The maps and data are fictional. These exercises do not count as required fieldwork.

Try the model

Choosing flood protection

Case studies

Lagos: city growth, living conditions and management · Bristol’s clean air zone · Nigeria: economic change and uneven development

These pages provide selected evidence. Check the whole case requirement with your teacher.

Read further

Urban transport and access · Evaluating regeneration · Measuring development

Course links

AQA GCSE Geography · Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography B · National 5 Geography · Higher Geography · Pearson Edexcel GCSE Geography A · OCR GCSE Geography A · OCR GCSE Geography B · Eduqas GCSE Geography A · Eduqas GCSE Geography B

Next topics

Changing places: meaning, evidence and connections · Regeneration: success for whom and compared with what?

Selected teaching sequence; linked cases cover bounded interventions rather than complete course cases.

Scottish links identify reusable parts of the topic. Scottish landforms, soil, weather and disease requirements need additional course-specific teaching.

Worked numerical examples are fictional unless explicitly attributed. These lessons cover selected parts of the topic; check your course requirements for the rest.

How a city gains global influence

Practise question focus, explanations and evidence with a short original activity.