‘Addressing socio-economic issues is more important than dealing with environmental challenges in the management of urban areas’.

How far do you agree with this view?

AO1 – Knowledge and understanding of the social and economic issues and environmental issues affecting urban areas. Knowledge and understanding of management strategies used to manage these issues.

AO2 – Application of knowledge and understanding to analyse and evaluate the relative significance of socio-economic and environmental challenges when deciding urban management strategies.

Notes for answers

The question links various aspects of the Contemporary urban environments section of the specification, specifically the social and economic issues associated with urbanisation, urban environmental issues, and potentially, urban climate and urban waste and its disposal. Focus might be based on managing part of an urban system: eg transport, housing/industry, energy/waste.

AO1

An understanding of the key ideas, ‘socio-economic’ and ‘environmental’ should be expected. The idea of urban ‘management’ will be important as the focus of the question.
Knowledge and understanding of issues associated with economic inequality, social segregation, and cultural diversity.
Inequalities tend to exist in terms of access to job opportunities, education, housing and basic public services such as water and sanitation. Knock-on impacts of this are poorer health, higher unemployment and a lack of social mobility. The poor get stuck in a cycle of poverty from which it is hard to escape.
Ethnic communities have become isolated from wider society as they have maintained their own language and beliefs and limited their interaction with others, leading to segregation.
Awareness of strategies to manage socio-economic issues such as improved provision of schools, enforcing a living wage, giving access to affordable housing, greater provision of public transport.
Measures to deal with social variations eg health care such as spatial availability of clinics; health education programmes eg access to healthy living eg sports and leisure facilities.
Segregation may be reduced by legislation on anti-racism, employment rights and opportunities to combat discrimination, prejudice and racism and encouraging greater political involvement of different cultural groups.
Issues of cultural diversity: local authorities provide English lessons or bilingual literature. Hospitals cater for specific illnesses and schools may alter their curricula and holiday patterns to cater for different ethnic groups.
Knowledge and understanding of environmental challenges in urban areas, including atmospheric pollution, water pollution, dereliction and urban sprawl, urban waste disposal.
Pollution controls on industry and traffic; dealing with legacy of an industrial past - land remediation strategies designed to remove contaminants from the ground; waste related legislation, education and financial incentives; improvements to housing built when standards were lower eg heating, damp.
Water pollution strategies, for instance, may entail construction of water-treatment facilities and wastewater plants; and regulations aimed at ‘point source’ polluters such as industries, which discharge water pollution into receiving waters or sewer systems that flow into treatment plants.
Knowledge and understanding of specific government and local strategies designed to manage social and environmental challenges.
Knowledge and understanding of the different approaches used to tackle socio-economic and environmental issues, partially dependent on national economic context.

AO2

Management of socio-economic issues may be seen to be more pressing and immediate than environmental problems, although much depends on the nature of the environmental issue. Some environmental challenges may require immediate action, particularly where pollution incidents occur. Credit opposing/balanced view if supported by evidence.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies to reduce urban inequalities, including cultural segregation and economic inequalities.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies to tackle cultural diversity issues. Cultural diversity can put extra pressure on stretched urban services. Effectiveness linked to financial investment, prioritisation by decision makers, degree of isolation of different communities and receptivity to strategies adopted.
Evaluation of effectiveness of strategies to tackle environmental challenges. Most difficult water-quality challenge: dealing with ‘non-point source’ pollution which is the result of precipitation run-off from chemicals and toxins from urban settlements.
Analysis of the severity and nature of environmental issues, which will vary between high income and lower income countries. Lack of money and inadequate technology in low income countries has resulted in much lower water quality standards. Effective legislation is often absent and enforcement of pollution controls limited.
Analysis of urban management in different contexts. In many low income countries management of urban issues is handicapped by lack of capital. Scale of poverty, homelessness, poor infrastructure is much greater, so governments may focus efforts on dealing with socio economic challenges.
In high income countries, urban management may give greater precedence to environmental challenges, partly due to pressure from local population. There is a strong imperative to give serious attention to environmental challenges because of national and international agreements and targets.
Overall conclusion may highlight the complexity of urban management strategies. Contemporary sustainable strategies may take account of both socioeconomic and environmental challenges, and consider planning holistically.

Level 4 Description (16–20 marks)

Detailed evaluative conclusion that is rational and firmly based on knowledge and understanding which is applied to the context of the question. (AO2)
Detailed, coherent and relevant analysis and evaluation in the application of knowledge and understanding throughout (AO2).
Full evidence of links between knowledge and understanding to the application of knowledge and understanding in different contexts (AO2).
Detailed, highly relevant and appropriate knowledge and understanding of place(s) and environments used throughout (AO1).
Full and accurate knowledge and understanding of key concepts and processes throughout (AO1).
Detailed awareness of scale and temporal change which is well integrated where appropriate (AO1).

Social & Economic Issues Associated with Urbanisation (AQA A Level Geography)

Topic Questions