PREPARED FOR:
HEAD OF GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
PREPARED BY:
FRANCES SIMWINGA (STAFF ASSOCIATE)
25TH SEPTEMBER, 2013
INTRODUCTION
The report was called to explain how major issues would be handled in the Urban Studies module. It provides a brief summary of topics to be covered and questions.
TOPIC ONE: URBAN SETTLEMENTS AND THE PROCESS OF URBANISATION, PROBLEM OF DEFINATION, ORIGINS AND GROWTH OF URBSNISATION
The urbanization process starts gradually from those growth spots that thrive over other growth spots due to some reasons such as economies of scale and deliberate government policy. Hydraulic, religious, military, agricultural and economic theories help explain the origins of urban areas though one cannot be mutually exclusive to others.
a) What is an urban or urban settlement?
b) How can the urbanization process be sustainable amidst the challenges that it results?
c) What reasons can we give for the rise of the earliest cities?
d) Contrast between the growth of the earliest cities and modern urban areas?
TOPIC TWO: CURRENT TRENDS OF THE WORLD URBANISATION AND COUNTER URBANISATION.
Urbanisation growth rate is higher in cities of the south than those of the developed countries. Many urbanization processes are happening concurrently in the third world while most cities in the north such processes have stabilized with some experiencing urban renaissance.
a) What are the common challenges faced in the current world urbanization processes?
b) On what scale does counter-urbanization in the north differ from cities of the south?
c) Justify the need for counter urbanization in the third world cities.
d) Explain the role of globalization the current world urbanization trends.
TOPIC THREE: DEFINE CATEGORIES OF CITIES AND THEIR ROLE IN THE GLOBAL SYSTERMS OF POWER.
Cities can be categorized by identifying distinct
References: Fellmann, J.D. etal (2007). Human Geography: Landscapes of the Human activities. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Getis, A., Getis, J., and Fellmann, D.J., (1998). Introduction to Geography 9th Ed. New York: Mc Graw_Hill Hubbard, P. Kitchin, R. and Valentine, G (Eds). (2008). Key Texts in Human Geography. London: Sage Kruse C. and Manda M. Z. (2005). “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Waste Management in Malawi”, In Kruse C. & Manda, A.Z. (Eds.) Lessons in Urban Management: Experiences in Malawi 2000-2005. Mzuzu: ALMA Consult. Pacione Michael (2005). Urban Geography: A global Perspective 3rd Ed. London/New York: Routledge Pacione Michael. The Internal Structures of Cities in the Third World. Vil.86, No.3, July 2001. Geographical association. Retrieved on 23 September, 2013 from http://www.jstor.org/atable/40573577