WJEC GEOGRAPHY – Theme 2 – Investigating Settlement Change in MEDCs
Theme 2 – Investigating Settlement Change in MEDCs
Below is the key areas from the AS Level specification, key aspects and the knowledge and case
studies you must know for the examination.
Specification
Reference
2.1 What are the
distinctive features of
settlements?
Key Questions
Knowledge and case studies
• The settlement
hierarchy/continuum comprising
mega-cities, cities, towns,
villages and hamlets.
• The urban-rural continuum.
• The distinctiveness of places perceptions of places/local
areas.
2.2 How does the social
and cultural structure of
settlements vary and
why?
• Patterns of intra-urban
migration leading to
ghettoisation and student
districts.
• The reasons for counter
urbanisation and reurbanisation.
• Social patterns and diversity of
life styles that are influenced
both by human and physical
factors.
2.3 What are the issues
of the inner city?
• The reasons why regeneration
is considered appropriate
including deindustrialisation,
dereliction,
wasteland and social exclusion
and global economic changes.
• Evaluation of the success of
regeneration schemes in social,
economic and environmental
terms.
Need to know
How a settlement changes from the
CBD out to the urban rural fringe in
terms of services, housing, open space,
transport links ect.
Types of settlement and their
characteristics i.e. villages and the
services there. Think about population
structure and types of services that are
available to them. Also consider
peoples opinions of places(perception).
How does our perception of a rural area
differ from that of a locals perception/
Case studies
Any town, city, village in the UK or
developed country.
Farnborough
Bromley
Yalding (Place we visited)
Need to know
Social segregation in London / Los
Angeles and why people of different
ethnic and cultural groups decide to live
together.
Counter-urbanisatition and the reasons
for it – push and pull factors.
Why people (and who these people
are) who decide to live nearer the city
centre (CBD).
How our lives are determined by the
physical things we build but also the
natural constraints of areas.
Case studies
Student districts in Canterbury
Ghettos of Los Angeles (Watts)
Counter urbanistion in Leicester and
from Central London to the Urban rural
fringe around Epsom.
Nappy Valley (Clapham)
Bornemouth (Retirement)
Bleanau Gwent (Old mining village)
Need to know
What regeneration is and how this
takes place and why it is needed in
some areas more than others.
How areas are improved by
regeneration and specific groups
opinions on the regeneration both good
and bad.
Case Studies
London Docklands
Olympic site in Newham
Canterbury – White friars
WJEC GEOGRAPHY – Theme 2 – Investigating Settlement Change in MEDCs
2.4 What are the issues
being faced in the
CBD?
• The issues of access,
pedestrianisation, entertainment
districts, uniformity of retailing,
office
districts and transport.
• An understanding of the
necessity of maintaining /
enhancing a vibrant retailing
experience in the face
of competition from other retail
locations away from the CBD
and from the Internet.
2.5 How is the
ruralurban fringe
changing and why?
• The pressures on green belts
from recreation (golf and stadia),
retailing and business/ office
parks and government housing
targets, bypasses and ring road
developments.
• Evaluation of the impact of
changes.
2.6 How are rural
settlements changing
and why?
• Perceptions of rurality.
• The nature of rural settlements
and changing rural settlements
to include consideration of
peripherality,
isolation; abandonment; second
homes; homes for local
employees and retirement;
employment; retailing and
service provision.
• The changing social profile of
settlements.
• The social impacts of the
changing rural economy.
redevelopment.
Need to know
The issues that CBDs face dure to
completion from out of town and
internet shopping.
The impact that change can have for
the people that live there and the
problems that can occur if change does
not happen.
How transportation links can affect a
location.
Case Studies
Canterbury - White friars
redevelopment
Orpington – Problems created by new
Tesco and Nugent Park development.
Look at the new plans to develop the
area.
Need to know
What is an urban rural fringe and how
this can be identified.
What is happening to the urban rural
fringe as peoples lifestyle and needs
are changing.
Social, economic and environmental
impacts that this change can have on
these specific locations.
Case Studies
Blue Circle site – Bromley Common
Epsom
Need to know
Different ways of defining a rural area
and how and why these definitions vary
across time and space.
How rural areas are sometimes
becoming a ghetto for the urban rich
and how this can lead to locals being
forced out.
The issues of people living in the
villages as services go into decline as
rich move in.
What a second home is and the
problems that these can cause.
(Dormitory village)
How and why the rural economy has
changed from agriculture to different
types of manufacturing and tourism.
How social make up of villages are
changing.
Case Studies
Farnborough
Yalding