Geography- theme 1 case studies

Barcelona is located in the North West of Spain. It is approximately 140km south of the French Border and is South of the Pyrenees

Many people have migrated to Barcelona from abroad and many of these migrants tend to settle in the inner urban area of Ciutat Vella. As a result Ciutat Vella has 20% more foreign migrants than any other district in Barcelona. Most of these come form Morocco and Pakistan. 

Migrants choose to settle in Ciutat Vella because they have better access to services such as mosques, halal butchers and internet cafes as these are established services. The house prices are amoung the lowest in Barcelona and any migrants tend to be low skilled and poorley paid they can afford the hosuing there. 

Many of the migrants have diseases such as AIDs and TB. This means that the area has the second lowest life expectancy in Barcelona. Many of the migrants are also young which means that there is a young population and high birth rate.   

These things have an affect on the services in the area. As the migrants are low skilled and poorly paid the houses are small, cramped and cheap. The low life expectancy means that more doctors sugeries have opened in these districts. The young population means that there are many youth centres in the area. Services such as mosques, halal butchers and internet cafes are only really found in Ciutat Vella. This puts people off moving away.

Shenzhen is a coastal city in South East China. It has a coast on the South China Sea and is loacted in the Guangdong province.  

The Hukou system was a household registration system introduced in China in the 1950s that prevented people from moving away from their home for more than 3 days without special permission from the Government. It was introduced to stop the rapid urbanisation which was causing problems with infrastructure.   

Many people who lived in rural areas wanted to mirgrate to cities for two main reasons. Firstly the inequality between the rural and urban areas was big. Investment improved the quality of life in Urban areas making it comparible to western standards. In contrast the rural areas recieved little investment and had a much lower quality of life and standard of living. Secondly the modernisation of agriculture and the growth of population meant than there was a surplus of labour in rural areas.        

The thing that made Shenzhen so attractive to people migrating was the fact that it was a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). In 1979 China created four SEZ's one of which was Shenzhen. Unlike the rest of China these areas were permitted to accept foreign direct investment including foreign ownership of assets such as factories, mines and land in addition to the investment of management and expertise. This means that there are a huge number of jobs avaliable in the area. To fuel the development the government relaxed the Hukou system in 1980 and again in 2001. As a result the population of Shenzhen and other urban areas in China, especially the SEZs, increased rapidly.

The London Olympics took place in Stratford in East London. East London is in the county of Greater London which is in South East England, South east of Birmingham.

The London Olympics aimed to have 80% of Athletes travel 20 minutes or less to their event and 93% of athletes travel 30 minutes or less to their events. The Olympic park would be served by 10 separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour. In addition 90% of venues would be served by 3 or more types of public transport.

This however required the purchase of some business properties which would be demolished to make way for Olympic venues and other infrastructural projects. However this created some controversy as some of the owners of the businesses claimed that the compensation offered was inadequate. There was also concern about the potential impact on the future of the century old Manor Garden allotments which sparked a community campaign. The demolition of the Clays Lane housing estate was opposed by tenants.       

The games were sustainable because the Velodrome used sustainably sourced timber and natural light and ventilation, more than 2 million tones of soil were removed but then cleaned and re-used and two-thirds of the steel used in the Olympic stadium roof was recycled.   

The games were not sustainable because they were sponsored by unsustainable companies such as DOW, they failed to meet the target of 20% renewable energy during the games and the carbon emissions of flights into London were massive.

The Lake District National Park is located in North West England, in the county of Cumbria, North of Liverpool. Keswick is a Honey Pot location in the centre of the park. 

National Parks are areas of Natural beauty and have 3 main aims: To preserve and enhance, to provide a place for recreation and enjoyment and to protect the social and economic wellbeing of the people who live there. The number of visitors has increased in the last 50 years because of higher wages, longer holidays, better transport links, more advertisement by national parks and more people own a car.  

People go to national parks for a range of different reasons such as walk, camp, enjoy the peace and quiet, see the natural scenery and wildlife, take part in water sports, fish, military use and mining.     

Some of the problems in the national parks. Noise pollution and congestion from cars, people and boats. this disturbs the wildlife and residents, which decreases biodiversity, increases journey times, reduces tourism and has a negative impact on the local economy. Littering, chokes animals, pollutes water, aesthetically undesirable, reduces tourism which has a negative impact on the economy. Water pollution caused by boats, litter and dumping, poisons river, causes eutrophication, kills animals and plants, may smell, reduces tourism, negative impact on the local community.           

Solutions to these problems. Noise pollution, national parks authorities restrict traffic flow/boating by using positive and negative planning and educate tourist using notice boards, jobs created to enforce reduction scheme, reduces noise pollution and economic activity continues to grow or improves due to education. Littering, authorities provide bins, jobs created to monitor and collect rubbish, reduces litter, tourism continues and economy continues to grow. Water pollution, authorities monitor water pollution, jobs created to monitor and collect water readings, helps national park authority and local authority react to problems, reduces negative impact, tourism continues and local economy continues to grow.  

Negative planning techniques - discourage tourism - restricted parking, narrower roads, discouraging caravan sites and other tourist attractions and make it so that lakeside owners are the only ones that can use the lakes. Positive Planning techniques - encourage tourism - providing more parking spaces, providing tourist facilities, encouraging caravan site, improving and widening roads and free access to the lakes.

Newcastle-under-Lyme is located in the West Midlands of England in Staffordshire, south of Manchester.

Some facts about the quality of life and standard of living compared to other urban areas in the West Midlands: Life expectancy varies considerably from one part of town to another, GCSE results are significantly lower than the national average, there is a high rate of recorded violent crime with nearly 3,000 incidents in a single year and it is estimated that less than 20% of adults eat a healthy balance of fruit and vegetables and nearly a quarter of adults obese. .     

Cross Heath and Town, which are both inner urban areas, have very similar housing tenure. In both areas, approximately 50% of the houses are owner occupied. In Cross Heath social housing accounts for 40% whereas in Town it is only 30%. This may be because in Cross Heath unemployment is 10% higher so more people rely on the authorities. Westlands is a suburban area where 85% of the houses are owner occupied. This is because the residents in this area are much more wealthy. Although Kelee is an Urban area only 63% of the housing is owner occupied as many of the residents are students of the university and therefore rent properties. Loggerheads is a wealthy commuter village with a similar number of owner occupied houses to Westlands however has half the social housing.      

Other comparisons can be made between the different areas. Firstly life expectancy is higher than the national average in the wealthy suburban areas of Loggerheads and Westlands but is lower than  the national average in the urban areas of Cross Heath and Town. In Cross Heath 41% of 16-21 year olds are unemployed compared to 21% in Westlands. In Cross Heath 60% of people have good health compared to 72% in both Westlands and Loggerheads.

Newcastle-under-Lyme

Barcelona

Shenzhen

London Olympics

The Lake District