Case Study: Birmingham-A Major UK City
definitions
situation
site
The land that surrounds the settlement. Where the settlement is located in respect to the physical and human features around it.
Land the settlement is built on. Describes the point at which the town/ hamlet, village/ city is located. Factors such as relief, soil, water supplies and resources were important in choosing the initial sire of a settlement.
types of settlements
Dry-point
Nodal point
Bridging point
Wet-point
Defensive
These settlements were built with invasions in mind. Something that is no longer really relevant today. Settlements were sometimes built within the meander of a river to give protection on three sides e.g. Shrewsbury or more commonly at the top of a hill to give good view e.g. Edinburgh.
These settlement were build here because the river they were next to was shallow enough to be crossed by horses ( a ford in the river e.g. Leatherhead) or narrow enough to easily build a bridge across.
These settlements were built at a source of water in an otherwise dry area. For example, in lowland Britain, many settlements were built at springs at the foot of chalk escarpments (North Downs and Leatherhead)
Settlements are often found where natural route always meet. These route ways could be along valleys or at the confluence of two rivers.
In some areas of rainfall, settlements were built on raised land to try and minimise the risk of flooding.
Types of location and their features
Outer city/ Suburbs/ Inner suburbs
Outer suburbs/ Rural-Urban Fringe
Inner city
CBD
It contains the main shops, offices and financial institutions of the urban area. It is usually the most accessible (easy to get to) part of the city. This is because most of the main transport routes lead here. Due to high land values, buildings tend to be tall, and building density is high.
The inner city tends to contain high-density 19th Century housing and wholesale manufacturing. Housing is usually linear, back to back and terraced. The streets form a gridiron pattern. This area tends to be run down unless housing has been redeveloped or gentrification has occurred. This area usually experiences social and economic problems.
The suburbs is a mostly residential area located on the outskirts of a town or city. Suburban houses are usually larger than inner city terraces and most have a garden. Typically, they are detached or semi-detached and the roads around them are arranged in cul-de-sacs and wide avenues.
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Residential areas
Recreational facilities such as golf courses
Farming
Areas of better quality housing
Larger gardens and houses due to lower land values and more open space
Features specific to Birmingham
grew on dry point site.
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Before 19 th century, small marketing town
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problems caused by rapid urbanisation
developped countries
developping countries
air pollution from traffic conjestion, huge no of ppl in busses
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competitions about jobs- wadges go down
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incresed crime rate- more ppl more victims
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cost of living, house prices/rent -competition in housing goes up
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overcrowding in schools hospitals- worse service
public transport overcrowding
growth of shanty towns
jobs competion- lower wadges
increased crime level
urban sprawl ( both)
education/ health care service is worse
urbanisation
the increase in % of people living in towns and cities, causing them to grow
Deindustrialisation and its effects on CBD of Birmingham
the closure of factories in a region/city, leading to job losses in the secondary sector.
There was large-scale unemployment and the need to retrain many workers. Something called structural unemployment occurred. This is where a vast majority of the working population are not sufficiently skilled in the jobs that are now available and so they do not gain employment
It left many brownfield sites, with empty factories and warehouses. Some of these sites were polluted and harmful chemicals may have entered the soil and thus the groundwater sources.
There was some large-scale pollution of the land where former industries such as metal smelting had taken place.
Some factories relocated to the suburbs or to new towns like Redditch, this is good news for people who live in Reddicth as new jobs will be provided, however, people who live in the centre of Birmingham are unlikely to commute outwards in order to gain a job.
Factories closed and this meant that many workers were made redundant. Being made redundant is where you lose your job because it no longer exists. This has large impacts as the amount of money that people have is dramatically reduced. People spend a lot less money in the local economy and this causes a downward spiral effect.
push and pull factors
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