Megacities IB Geography II

Possible IB Exam Question Referring to 1 or more case studies, explain the opportunities and challenges that exist in megacities. You will eventually need to complete an essay planning tool on this prompt!

What are Megacities? Megacities are large metropolitan areas of 10 million inhabitants or more. By 2050, 7 out of 10 people will live in megacities!

Megacities Intro: Dhaka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFboV2m1yuw In your notebooks, create a T-Chart of the Opportunities and Challenges found in Dhaka. Opportunities Challenges

Megacity Demographics Cities are growing at a rate of around 1 million people every week. Half the Earth's population will soon live in congested, urban regions mainly in the poor, developing countries. If the 20th century was the century of urban sprawl, the 21st century will be the century of the megacity.

Growth of Megacities in Rich and Poor Countries While the greatest megacities were once in rich countries, they are now dominated by cities in the less developed world Why??? Think about rural push factors and natural increase… MAJOR UNIT CONCEPTS!

Megacity Demographics The world's megacities take up just 2% of the Earth's land surface, yet they account for roughly 75% of industrial wood use, 60% of human water use, and nearly 80% of all human produced carbon emissions. These figures suggest that the struggle to achieve an environmentally sustainable economy for the 21st century will be won or lost in the world's urban areas.

Agglomerations An agglomeration is the metropolitan area incorporating several large towns and cities.

Tokyo is the world’s largest megacity: Approximately 37 million people 13.5 million people in city limits

How does Tokyo compare to Chicago? In city limits= 2.7 million Total Agglomeration: 9.8 million Tokyo is roughly 5 x the size of Chicago in terms of city limit population

Shanghai: approximately 29 million

Urban Hierarchy Chicago (Capital City) A national arrangement of urban areas, for example from one large city to many small villages. Chicago (Capital City) Springfield (Regional Center) Champaign (Large Town) Effingham (Small Town) Fisher (Village) Valley City (Hamlet)

The Opportunities of a Megacity Megacities are vibrant centers of economic activity, social interaction and creativity. Hubs in the global network of economic activities such as trade. Megacities bring together people and resources and are able to generate huge amounts of wealth.

Challenges of Megacities High population concentration and density Uncontrolled spatial expansion Severe infrastructural deficits Inadequate water supply and sewage Signs of ecological strain and overload Poor housing provision Increasing disparity between rich and poor