IB Geography
Topics

I. Urban Populations
  1. Definition of urbanization and variation in global growth rates and patterns
  2. Inward and outward movements affecting urban areas
  3. Contribution of natural change to patterns of population density within urban areas
  4. Megacities
II. Urban Land-Use
  1. Land-use models
  2. Residential patterns in rich countries
  3. Poverty and deprivation
  4. Areas of economic activity
III. Urban stress
  1. Microclimates
  2. Environmental and social problems
IV. The Sustainable City
  1. The city as a system
  2. Sustainable city management strategies
  3. Urban ecological footprint
  4. Case-studies of specific sustainable strategies
Resources

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Featured video: life in the megacity of Dhaka (Bangladesh):
Definitions

Brownfield Site
Abandoned, derelict or under‑used industrial buildings and land that may be contaminated but have potential for redevelopment.
Counter-Urbanization
The movement of population away from inner urban areas to a new town, a new estate, a commuter town or a village on the edge or just beyond the city limits/rural–urban fringe.
Re-Urbanization: The development of activities to increase residential population densities within the existing built‑up area of a city. This may include the redevelopment of vacant land, the refurbishment of housing and the development of new business enterprises.
Gentrification: the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents
Ecological Footprint
The theoretical measurement of the amount of land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its waste under prevailing technology.
Re-Urbanization
The development of activities to increase residential population densities within the existing built‑up area of a city. This may include the redevelopment of vacant land, the refurbishment of housing and the development of new business enterprises.
Suburb
A residential area within or just outside the boundaries of a city.
Suburbanization
The outward growth of towns and cities to engulf surrounding villages and rural areas. This may result from the out‑migration of population from the inner urban area to the suburbs or from inward rural–urban movement.
Sustainable Urban Management Strategy
An approach to urban management that seeks to maintain and improve the quality of life for current and future urban dwellers. Aspects of management may be social (housing quality, crime), economic (jobs, income) or environmental (air, water, land, resources).
Urbanization
An increasing percentage of a country’s population comes to live in towns and cities. It may involve both rural–urban migration and natural increase.
Urban Sprawl
The unplanned and uncontrolled physical expansion of an urban area into the surrounding countryside. It is closely linked to the process of suburbanization.