GCSERevise
AQASpec 3.2.1Foundation & Higher~40 min

Urban Issues & Challenges

Geography · Topic revision workspace

Topic progress0%

Read the notes, score 80% and know 75% of the cards.

Topic overview

What you need to know

Urban growth creates opportunities and challenges. Sustainable urban planning aims to improve housing, transport, services and environmental quality without shifting problems elsewhere.

Exam tip

Use place-specific evidence and organise effects into social, economic and environmental categories.

Revision notes

Core ideas

Secure these ideas first. Say each definition in your own words, then connect it to the topic overview.

  • Urbanisation: An increase in the proportion of a country's population living in towns and cities.
  • Natural increase: Population growth when the birth rate is higher than the death rate.
  • Rural–urban migration: The movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities.

Revision notes

Apply it in the exam

The exam will rarely ask for an isolated definition. Practise selecting the right idea and using it as part of a complete explanation or method.

  • Megacity: An urban area with a population of more than 10 million people.
  • Urban regeneration: Long-term investment intended to reverse decline and improve an urban area.
  • Sustainable urban living: Meeting residents' needs while reducing resource use, pollution and harm to future generations.

Core knowledge

Key facts for Urban Issues & Challenges

1

Urbanisation

An increase in the proportion of a country's population living in towns and cities.

2

Natural increase

Population growth when the birth rate is higher than the death rate.

3

Rural–urban migration

The movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities.

4

Megacity

An urban area with a population of more than 10 million people.

5

Urban regeneration

Long-term investment intended to reverse decline and improve an urban area.

6

Sustainable urban living

Meeting residents' needs while reducing resource use, pollution and harm to future generations.

Active recall

Close the notes and answer these

  1. 1.Without looking, explain urbanisation and give one example or consequence.
  2. 2.Without looking, explain natural increase and give one example or consequence.
  3. 3.Without looking, explain rural–urban migration and give one example or consequence.
  4. 4.Without looking, explain megacity and give one example or consequence.

Content reviewed 23 July 2026 against the current linked specification.

Finished learning?

Mark the notes complete, then test what you can recall.

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