Theme 1: Key Idea 1.1 Urbanisation in contrasting global cities — Eduqas GCSE Geography B
Teaching note based on the EDUQAS specification.
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Theme 1: Key Idea 1.1 Urbanisation in contrasting global cities explained
This key idea asks you to read the world map of urban change.
Read the full explanation
Global scale patterns means the worldwide distribution of urban population and growth, and how these patterns vary over time (for example the shift of fastest growth from high-income to lower-income regions) and over space (for example contrasts between continents and within countries). Urbanisation is the rising proportion of a population living in towns and cities; re-urbanisation is the movement of people and investment back into inner urban areas after decline. Global cities are cities with major international influence in finance, business and culture, such as London, New York and Tokyo. Learn where such cities developed historically and where they are distributed today, and be ready to interpret maps, graphs and tables showing these patterns.
Your focus
- Define urbanisation and re-urbanisation accurately.
- Describe global patterns of urban change and how they vary over time and space.
- Identify global cities and describe their development over time and present distribution.
Theme 1: Key Idea 1.1 Urbanisation in contrasting global cities exam tips
Marking Points
- Identifies global cities by naming examples such as London, New York or Tokyo and locating them on a world map.
- Defines urbanisation as the rising proportion of a population living in urban areas.
- Defines re-urbanisation as the movement of people and investment back into inner urban areas after decline.
- Describes how global patterns of urban growth vary over time, for example faster growth in lower-income regions in recent decades.
- Describes how patterns vary over space, for example contrasts between continents or within one country.
- Locates the present distribution of global cities using a map or data source.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Read the question stem for the scale word (global, national or local) and match your answer to that scale.
- 💡When a map or graph is given, quote a specific pattern from it rather than describing cities from memory.
- 💡Use precise terms such as urbanisation and re-urbanisation correctly, since muddled definitions lose credit.
Common Mistakes
- Confuses urbanisation with urban growth in absolute numbers; keep the definition as a rising proportion of the population living in cities.
- Treats re-urbanisation as ordinary suburban expansion; instead link it to people and investment returning to inner urban areas after decline.
- Names any large city as a global city; instead select cities with recognised international influence in finance, business and culture.