Urban Geography

Settlement and planning issues

Urban Settlement and Planning Issues

Introduction

Cities today are constantly expanding. As they expand their needs change which can cause planning issues to arise. Land in cities is zoned according to different functions.

These areas can be rezoned to a different function if the needs the expanding city requires it.

Land use zones within cities

Typical Question:

'Examine the aerial photograph of *Dungarvan accompanying this paper. Describe and explain three different functions of *Dungarvan, using evidence from the aerial photograph to illustrate each function (2014)'

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Urban Geography

Commercial

• Commercial activities include retail shops, offices, financial services and personal services e.g. hairdresser

• These activities are usually grouped in particular zones such as shopping centres or stretched along streets and roads – known as commercial ribbons

• Busiest/dominant commercial centre for any urban area is the central business district (CBD)

  • CBD is normally located in the centre of an urban area where roads meet

  • Usually consists of multi-storey buildings to maximise the limited space in the area

  • Generally, businesses with a high customer threshold locate within a CBD as the area is easily accessible for a larger number of people

  • In multi-storey buildings, shops/banks occupy the ground floor as they have a higher threshold. Services such as solicitors/accountants occupy the first floor as rent is cheaper and they have less footfall, while the top floor is usually residential

  • In the past, industries used to locate near the CBD but increasing rent in city centres have seen industries move to the urban fringe

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Urban Geography

• Commercial shopping centres have become popular in recent years and these are usually built on cheap land on the outskirts of a city with plenty of parking facilities
  • This has led to a decline in the CBD of some urban centres in terms of the retail outlets in city centres

Transport

• This relates to roads, car parks, railway lines and railway stations
• Transport takes up a lot of valuable space in urban centres but is necessary for people entering and exiting the area
• Many European cities have narrow streets due to their medieval history and find it increasingly difficult to cope with modern traffic
• This is different to the USA where city streets have developed based on increasing traffic with wide streets organised in grids to help with traffic flow

Residential

• One of the largest and most common land uses within cities
• The density of housing is different throughout urban areas for two reasons – cost of land and age of the area

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Urban Geography

Cost of land

• This increases the closer you get to the city centre, therefore higher density housing tends to be in these areas in the form of multi-storey apartment blocks, terraced housing

• Low-density housing such as detached and semi-detached houses can be found in the urban fringe/outskirts of the urban area where land costs are lower

Age of the area

• This decreases as you move away from the city centre

• From the 1950's onwards car ownership increased, creating a commuter belt around big urban areas as people travel to and from work

Industrial

• Traditionally industrial land was located in the city centre, near main transport routes, waterfront locations (ports) or close to large residential areas (workforce)

• Most industries are now located on the outskirts of urban areas due to increased traffic congestion and soaring land prices. There is also much more room for expansion

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Urban Geography

Industrial Development

• This movement of industries is helped by the fact that most industries are light industries such as computer manufacturing and are not tied down by locational factors
• The edge of cities are now often covered in industrial estates and business parks
• The movement of these large industries from the city centre have left behind 'brownfield sites' (sites previously used for industrial activity which are targeted by urban planners for urban renewal)

Recreational

• All development plans for cities must allow for open/recreational space
• These large green areas cannot be rezoned e.g. Phoenix park in Dublin
• They consist of parks, woodlands and playgrounds
• These areas are important for people living in large urban areas to maintain physical and mental health

Case Study: Dublin

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Geography

Urban Geography

Dublin's CBD (Central Business District)

• The CBD is the centre of an urban area, the most desirable location for shops and offices due to its accessibility (all routes lead to the city centre) and the high number of potential customers

• Dublin's CBD consists of shopping areas from Grafton street to O'Connell street, with banks and insurance offices located at Dame street and College green

• Rent is high due to the location and consist of multi-storey buildings which have multiple functions such as a shop on the ground floor that needs an attractive display window to attract customers, a solicitor or accountant office on the first floor and an apartment on the third floor

• The functions of the land in the CBD changes as the urban centre grows and expands

• The function of buildings in the CBD change with this expansion in order to maximise profit made from rent in urban city centres. Old inner-city residential buildings are redeveloped into office buildings e.g. Merrion Street

• Other buildings change function in order to meet the needs of a modern, expanding city. The old Jervis street hospital was replaced by as shopping centre with most new hospitals now located on the outskirts of cities for easier access

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Urban Geography

Industrial land use

• Dublin's original industrial area was located along or near the river so that raw materials and finished goods could be imported and exported easily through Dublin Port, e.g. Guinness

• The river, canals and railways were important for transporting goods throughout the city and Ireland

• The fresh water supply was also important for brewing and food processing industries located here

• Workers lived in terraced housing close to/along the quays and close to the port

• As the city grew, road transport replaced rivers and canals as the dominant method of transporting goods, meaning traffic congestion became a big problem

• Due to this traffic congestion and increasing costs in Dublin city centre. Industries have now begun to locate in easily accessible industrial estates on the outskirts of Dublin city with workers commuting from near-by satellite towns

• The old dockland and industrial area in the city centre became derelict and run down but since the 1990's, they have been redeveloped and are now a hub of commercial and residential activity e.g. Dublin Docklands, Temple Bar

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Urban Geography

• Suburban industrial estates are located in a ring around the periphery of Dublin e.g. Santry, Swords, Tallaght

• These estates have easy access to the M50 motorway which provides further access to all main motorways in Ireland, thus speeding up the transport of raw materials and finished goods to and from national, EU and worldwide markets via the port and airport

The zone of transition

• This zone lies just beyond the CBD and is close to or part of the old inner-city area. Every city has one

• In Dublin, this zone is visible in the area around the quays and docklands from Heuston station to the Three Arena

• This area is a focus of urban renewal and urban redevelopment as decaying flats and factories are being demolished and rebuilt as new apartment blocks, offices and hotels

• The former gasworks factory in Ringsend is now a mini town with housing, offices, shops and leisure facilities

• The docklands are now home to the IFSC (Irish Financial Services Centre), apartment blocks, hotels, shops and the 3 Arena