Possible Approaches for H1 Geography A-levels 2024 (Essays)

1 Possible Approaches for H1 Geography A-levels 2024 (Essays) Q4: Evaluate the demands placed on the natural environment by the growth of large urban areas. [13] Cambridge Examiner Comments: Most candidates described the impact that urbanisation and deforestation had on the local environment. Weaker responses tended to focus too much on the impact on the enhanced greenhouse effect, thus reducing their focus on large urban areas. Stronger responses did consider a variety of features of the natural environment, including climate, hydrology, pollution, vegetation and ecosystems, and many had clear cause and effect links between human activity in large urban areas and the environment, for example: ‘When waste generated by the urban area is dumped in landfill sites, it may rot and produce toxic fumes and leachate, which gets into the water table and pollutes the water supply.’ Most responses showed the lack of evaluation as to the scale, frequency and nature of the various ‘demands’, and which was the most important and why. Stronger responses recognised this would vary both with the nature of the demand and the characteristics and location of the large urban areas, for example: ‘Large urban areas in developing countries struggle with the demands placed on their environment, typified by areas such as the slums of Mumbai. On the other hand, developed countries have the knowledge, technology and willingness to do something about it, thus their demands are far less threatening to the natural environment.’ Introduction The growth of large urban areas places significant demands on the natural environment, both within city boundaries and beyond. These demands stem from the need to sustain large populations and complex economies, often without viewing waste as a potential r esource. As a result, cities absorb vast quantities of natural resources and generate substantial waste, causing environmental impacts on surrounding areas and distant regions. These effects vary with development levels and are shaped by urbanisation trends, management strategies, and levels of poverty. Body Paragraph 1: Resource Extraction and Surrounding/Faraway Impacts Large urban areas depend heavily on natural resource extraction to sustain liveability, demanding water, energy, food, and construction materials. These resources are sourced from the surrounding hinterlands and faraway rural or forested regions. For insta nce, minerals for infrastructure, rare earths for electronics, and agricultural produce to feed urban populations are typically sourced from outside city boundaries. In rapidly urbanising countries like China and India, cities such as Guangzhou and Bengalu ru rely on distant forested regions, including Southeast Asia and the Amazon, for timber, palm oil, and beef. This causes deforestation thousands of kilometres away, releasing stored carbon and reducing the planet’s ability to absorb emissions. Meanwhile, developed cities such as New York and Tokyo also demand large amounts of imported food and raw materials, but their stronger environmental regulations and supply chain controls may reduce some of the faraway ecological damage. Nonetheless, their consumptio n still contributes to global pressure on ecosystems via embedded resource use and carbon emissions. Body Paragraph 2: Metabolism of Waste and Contribution to Contemporary Climate Change Urban areas have a linear metabolism: they import resources and export waste without integrating circularity. Economic activities in cities produce massive amounts of waste, especially carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion. This contributes significantly to contemporary climate change, where urban industries, vehicles, and power generation release greenhouse gases as waste products. For instance, Lima in Peru discharges 18,000

2 litres of untreated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean every second, illustrating how cities degrade environmental quality in surrounding and downstream areas. The failure to view waste as a resource results in high ecological footprints—as seen in cities like London, where the footprint is 125 times its physical size —demonstrating how urban demand extends far into global ecosystems. However, some developed cities are actively promoting circularity to reduce this impact. For instance, Singapore's Zero Waste Masterplan aims to reduce waste sent to Semakau Landfill by 30% by 2030 through policies that promote recycling, e -waste collection, and food waste utilisation. By treating waste as a resource, Singapore re duces the need for fresh extraction of materials from the environment and limits the spatial spread of its environmental footprint. These circular strategies not only reduce landfill use and pollution but also curb emissions associated with incineration and long-distance resource supply chains—helping to lower the ecological footprint despite continued economic growth. Body Paragraph 3: Rising Demand from Asian Cities and Modifying Factors Urbanisation trends show that future environmental pressure will increasingly come from large Asian cities. Asia is home to 54% of the global population and is urbanising rapidly, with cities in China (e.g. Shanghai and Chongqing) and India (e.g. Mumbai and Delhi) projected to absorb the bulk of urban population growth by 2050. These cities face dual challenges: sustaining large populations while managing the demand for land, water, and energy. However, the impact of this demand varies depending on the leve l of development and institutional capacity. In some less developed countries, such as Mexico, industrialisation programmes like the Maquiladora initiative along the USA -Mexico border have drawn large populations into cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. These cities rely heavily on the surrounding and faraway environments for water, industrial inputs, and labour. In return, they export large quantities of hazardous waste, such as benzene solvents and pesticides, directly into the surrounding environme nt. The health impacts have been severe: many residents rely on contaminated open water sources, and rates of birth defects such as anencephaly have been reported at four times the national average. In contrast, while poverty in these LDC cities may promote some degree of informal circularity, it often occurs in hazardous or unregulated ways. In the Maquiladora towns, many poor residents rely on scavenging discarded industrial materials, repurposing packaging, or using informal recycling to make ends meet. However, this is insufficient to counterbalance the environmental burdens posed by rapid, unmanaged urban growth. Without strong environmental governance, such practices expose communities to toxic residues, unsafe drinking water, and long -term health risk s, highlighting the severe consequences for both people and ecosystems. Conclusion Large cities place significant demands on the natural environment, but these demands vary with development level and how cities are managed. In less developed cities, like those along the Mexico-USA border, poor waste management causes serious local pollution and health problems. In contrast, cities like Singapore reduce their ecological footprint through circular economy strategies. However, even well-managed cities continue to rely on faraway resources, such as food, water, and materials, to ma intain liveability. Overall, all large cities place pressure on both nearby and distant environments, but the form and intensity of this pressure differ. Less developed cities tend to have more immediate and visible environmental damage, while developed cities externalise their impacts. As urban growth continues, especially in Asia, the scale of environmental demand is likely to rise, with its effects shaped by how each city manages its growth and waste.

3 5. ‘Urban reimaging increases social inequalities.’ Evaluate this st