Urban Land Use Zones

After the 1960s, urban sprawl took place with land on the rural-urban fringe being mainly used for:

• one of two types of housing - private estates or outer-city social (council) housing.
• new industrial and or/trading estates

The City of London is the financial centre of London and the original settlement site.

The City of Westminster is the administrative centre of London.

Urban Land Use Zones

Suburbia

• Route focus for roads and railways
• High density of buildings

e.g. the West End

The areas developed during the inter-war period (1920s & 1930s).

The CBD:

London has 4 central business districts

• CBDs have shops, offices and entertainment facilities
• High-rise buildings and sky scrapers
• Bus and rail stations at the edge
• Small residential population
• High land costs

• Urban areas grew rapidly at this time, with increased popularity of the car and, in London, the extension of the underground.
• This outward growth is called urban sprawl.
• Many inter-war houses were semi-detached and medium-cost.
• The houses have front and back gardens.
• As each new housing estate was built, its distance from the CBD was further. This led to the growth of small shopping parades within the estate.
• Many inter-war estates also had their own small park, as land values away from the CBD were low.
• The inter-war estates rarely had industry nearby, so residents had to travel long distances to their place of work: this process is called commuting.

e.g. the London docklands

Non-residential land uses in the inner-city

• Inner cities contained canals, railways and later, main roads leading to the CBD.
• An example of high-density housing, these cottages were built to house railway workers, and are located near to the railway.
• Open space in the inner city was extremely limited, as land near to the CBD was too expensive to leave unused,

and partly because people had little time for

recreation.

Private and social high-rise blocks are found in inner-city areas. In London these were built post-WWII on bomb sites.

Inner-city housing

This is an example of a social housing estate built on the rural-urban fringe of London, in Roehampton.

The Alton Estate it is modernist in style and high rise, built near Richmond Park in 1958.

• Most inner-city areas developed along with industry in the nineteenth century, to house the workers.
• As an increasing number of people moved from rural areas to towns for work, they needed low-cost housing in which to live.
• As people did not have private or public transport, people also wanted to live as close as possible to their place of work.
• Many of the early advantages of living and working in the inner city have since become disadvantages: noise, pollution, lack of green space etc.
• Much industry has moved out of the inner city. Some inner-city areas, such as Whitechapel, are now populated by first-generation migrants. Others have been gentrified.

• Most of the new estates had low-density, high-quality housing. Many houses were large and detatched, incorporated modern amenities both inside and outside.
• They were built either in a cul-de-sac or a winding roads that were usually tree-lined and quite free of traffic.
• They also contained small areas of open space.

Gentrified inner-city areas

The rural-urban fringe

• Many inner city areas declined in the late 20th century and have undergone a period of regeneration in recent years, for example Watford Arches Retail Park, which is located on a former industrial site.
• Run down terraced housing is often bought by investors and improved to appeal to young professionals who need access to the CBD. This is called gentrification.

Industry is declining in many inner-city areas in MEDCs, and being replaced by residential land-use.

This is Charlton, east London, where flats are replacing factories.

Rural-urban fringe

design by Dóri Sirály for Prezi

• greenfield sites are easier/cheaper to develop than brownfield sites

Much recent housing is built here because...

• land values are low = cheaper housing
• commuters are attracted by easy transport links

Where the city meets the countryside.

Some development has taken place on the edge of settlements – large scale industry and sporting venues have moved out here, because of...proximity to major roads and motorways makes access easy for workers and the movement of goods.

Science parks/ offices

Supermarkets

Superstores... with parking space and storage

The land is cheaper and more plentiful on the edge (greenfield sites) therefore larger, low density premises can be built.