Urban Development

Brief description about Topic
Urbanization is the process through which towns and cities are formed. The topic deals with factors that have contributed to the growth and development of towns and cities and effects of urbanization.

Teaching Methods

• Brain storming
  
• Discovery
  
• Question and answer
  
• Discussion
  
• Photographic discussion
  
• Use of case study
  
• Field tours/field work.
  
• Group work
  
• Integrated approach
  
• Information technology
  

Teaching/Learning Materials

• Text books
  
• Atlas
  
• Photography
  
• Computer
  

Expected Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson student should be able to.

• Locate New York on the map.
  
• Explain the factors that led to the growth of New York.
  
• Explain the functions of New York.
  
• Explain the problems facing the city of New York.
  
• Describe some solutions to New York’s problems
  
• Describe the types of industry in New York
  
• Compare New York with a port and a city in East Africa (Kampala and Mombasa).
  

 Job Mark related Life Skills

Skills to be developed

Study Skills

• Reading and interpreting source of information.
  
• Photograph interpretation – skills of photographic sketching and annotating, analysing and interpreting.
  
• Compare and contrast problems of development in the developed and developing world.
  
• Inquiry methods – goal oriented, planning, observation, recording, interviewing/ asking questions, questionnaire, and reporting / feed back and decision.
  
• Compute skills –use website to search for information.
  

Social skills

• Problem solving to provide remember to issues of development in developing and advanced countries.
  
• Team work / group work aim is to promote leadership, cooperation, coordination, harmony, summary sharing, communication/interact cordially, sense of belonging, creation of obligation and accountability, respecting one another improved listening skills and greater trust in each other.
  
• Attitude:  are ways one thinks and feel about something, attitude to be developed -------- awareness, appreciation, responsibility, conservation, preservation, moral character / desirable behavour, empathy for others, tolerance for individuals differences, adoption and flexible to change and development.
  
  
  
  NEW YORK CITY
  Site and location of New York
  Location refers to the description of the surroundings of a place, where its site means the actual ground occupied by a feature such as a town. The site gives greater detail of the place. New York is located alongthe eastern coast of North America, at 40^o 45'N, 73^o 57'W. It borders the Atlantic Ocean. New York is sited on several islands, of which the most important as far as the city is concerned is Manhattan Island. The other islands include Long Island and Staten Island.
  Growth of New York port and city
  New York, just like any other part of North America, received immigrants. Immigrants are people who come from another country to make a home in this new country. Those who leave their own country to go and live in another country are called emigrants. By the time the first immigrants arrived in New York there were only a million American Indians in the whole of North America. The first settlers were European and Dutch traders. This was in 1624. They named it New Amsterdam, but in 1664 it was colonized by the British and the renamed it New York. By the time America gained independence (1776), the population of New York was about 300,000 people, but the town was of little importance.
  Its growth started at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1825 the opening of the Erie Canal boosted its growth, because it created a cheaper route to the interior of North America. There was a dramatic growth of population from 60 000 in 1800 to 800 000 in 1861, then to 1 000 000 in 1880. The immigrants to New York created new cultures from their home countries. They comprised of Greeks, Jews, Haitians and Chinese among others. The population of New York in 2006, quoted by Wikipedia). According to this data it is ranked as the most populous city in the USA and 13th in the world.
  As a city, New York has greatly developed. It contains very many tall buildings and a very large population from all walks of life. Its growth it attributed to the investment of capital, which comes from many different sources including the government and the immigrant traders. Much has been invested in the building of skyscrapers, in transport facilities and the like. The presence of a large population also enabled the growth by offering both skilled they had used to build cities in their home countries. In addition plenty of water was available for use in industries and homes.
  New York has also developed as a city because it has flat relief, which makes the construction of roads and railways easier. The city was planned with the streets forming a grid pattern, allowing easy access to all parts of the city.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Factors that favoured the development of New York as a port
  New York has developed into a very large and busy port as the result of a variety of factors. Some of these factors are natural, while others have been a result of human efforts. Below we consider some of the important natural factors.
• The presence of a deep-water harbour. A harbour is an area of water along the coat where ships can anchor and unload safely. New York has a barbour with very deep channels, and so large ships, including oil tankers, can be safely accommodated. For Example, the channel on the eastern side of the Hudson river, which is 14 metres deep.
  

 New York’s situation allows it to function well as a port.

New York port experiences ice-free conditions throughout the year, therefore it is used by many transporters who would otherwise use the St. Lawrence Seaway during its months of freezing. It therefore handles more business during these months and indeed generally throughout the year.
Shelter from the Atlantic Ocean is another natural factor that favoured the development of New York port. This shelter is provided by islands like Long Island, which prevent strong winds from the Atlantic Ocean from reaching the port directly. They could otherwise have damaging effects on vessels in the port. New York has a low tidal range. The tidal range is the difference between the highest tide and lowest tides. The difference between high and low tides is less than 2 metres which does not create a problem for shipping activities.

Its locations on the North Atlantic trade route also give New York an advantage. This is because ships en route to Europe can easily call at New York, which facilitates trade with the developed countries of Europe. The location at the southern end of the Hudson-Mohawk gap is another added advantage, providing the easiest route through the Appalachians to the interior of the USA.

• The human factor that stands out in the development of New York is the presence of large hinterland. The port serves the Midwest of the USA, which is an area very rich in industry. The hinterland is the inland area served by a port. New York handles such as goods as petroleum, textiles, iron ore and other industrial raw materials, as well as grain.
  

The Hudson-Mohawk Gap

This is a gap in the Appalachain Mountains, existing where the Hudson river drains into the Atlantic Ocean. It is very important to transport because:

• It gives New York access to the Midwest of the USA, an area rich in industry and agriculture, through the Erie Canal.
  
• Since it doesn’t freeze in the winter, it serves Canada when the St. Lawrence Seaway it frozen.
  
• It provided for the construction of many roads and railways, because it is a low-lying area within the mountain barrier.
  

 The Hudson-Mohawk gap.

As noted earlier New York is the most important city in North America. This importance is attributed to the many functions that New York serves.

• It serves as a financial centre, since it has the world’s largest stock exchange in Wall Street, as well as auction rooms, numerous financial houses, banks and commercial agencies.
  
• It is the world’s second largest port, after Rotterdam. It handles more than half of the USA’s imports and exports.
  
• It is a residential centre accommodating a huge population. As well as residential estates, there are slum areas where the many poorer people of the city reside.
  
• It is a political centre, housing the headquarters of world organization such as the United Nation Organization (UNO) and the World Bank.
  
• It is a cultural centre with  many museums, art galleries and libraries.
  
• It is also an industrial centre, with both light and heavy industries.
  
  
  Problems facing New York
  
  New York as an urban centre faces big problems, just like many other cities in the world. Many of the problems arise in because of the large population found in the city.
  
• There is a shortage of adequate and decent accommodation. Many people migrate to New York in the hope of enjoying the facilities in an urban centre, but find they do not have enough money and so end up living in very poor housing.
  
• The port of New York, and the city as a whole, experience fog. Fog is very thick mist. It is a serious problem, because when it occurs road traffic finds it hard to move owing to the poor visibility, and likewise ships find it difficult to move safety.
  

• The fact that New York is made up of islands means that it is surrounded with water. The problem with this is that there is a lack of space for expansion of the city.
  
• Pollution is another problem facing New York City. It happens because New York has many industries and cars disposing of waste products, especially gases into the air but also liquids into the water. Pollution means making the environment dangerously impure.
  
• Congestion: New York is overpopulated and therefore experiences congestion in terms of housing as well as from traffic. There are very bad traffic jams during rush hours, from 7.00 am to 10.00 am and from 4.00 to 5.00 pm. The port, too, experiences congestion, with too many ships wanting to use the facilities.
  
• The city also faces the problem of slums. A slum is a part of the city with poor living conditions, such as inadequate housing poor hygiene and many other problems. These slums are mainly found in Halrem and the Bronx.
  

• The crime rate is quite high. This is partly because of the high number of unemployed people living in New York. Serious crimes like murder, robbery and violence take place in some areas.
  
• Unemployment is common in New York. So many people migrate there with the hope of finding jobs that not all of the can be successful. Therefore many people in the city are unemployed.
  
• Commuting from one place to another presents a problem, because many people live far away from their work places. This involves a considerable loss of time each day. It can be difficult to commute from one inland to another.
  
• Waste disposal is also a problem facing the city of New York. Owing to the large population and the many industries, masses of waste accumulates and causes a problem of contamination to the environment, as well as being difficult to dispose of.
  
  Some solutions to the problems facing New York
  Several steps have been taken in order to overcome these problems and make life in New York more comfortable.
  
• For accommodation improvement, some of the slum area cleared and replaced with housing estates. These are better organized and provide housing facilities at a cheaper rate to accommodate low-income earners.
  
• The problem of space has been handled by expanding vertically. This involves the construction of very tall building called skyscrapers. A building can have more than 100 floors.
  

• Pollution and poor waste disposal is checked by instituting laws requiring industries to treat their waste is now effectively handled by government programs like waste recycling.
  
• Congestion at the port has been reduced by the use of containerization. Here loading and offloading takes only a short time, so ships are not subject to long delays. Using this method goods are packed in vary large standard containers that are loaded or offloaded complete, instead of handling one item at a time, which would take much longer.
  
• The high crime rate is tackled by the reinforcement of police and intelligence organizations.
  
• Unemployment is still a problem, but efforts are being made to increase employment opportunities through the construction of more industries.
  
• These has been an increase in the number of bridges, subways and underground tunnels to help ease commuting from one island to another.
  

Industrial development in New York
New York is the largest industrial centre in the USA and has both light and heavy industries. The light industries include textiles, food processing, printing and publishing. Most of the textile industries are found in Manhattan. They are normally small and employ few people. Other light industries are located in the suburbs and on Long Island. A suburb is an in the outer area of town or city where people live.
Heavy industries are located in Jersey City and Lewark; they include oil refineries, chemical works, engineering and shipbuilding.

Factors favouring the development of industries in New York

• Availability of power. Both hydro-electric power and thermal power from imported petroleum products are used to run machines and facilitate other industries operations.
  
• New York provides a thriving market, because not only is it densely populated, but it also has access by sea to the densely populated European nations. This allows production to continue, since normally the level of output is determined by demand.
  
• Another important factor for industry is the availability of water. The city has an abundant supply of water, since it is situated on the coast. Water is used both as a raw material and as a coolant in the various industries in New York.
  
• The heavy population density provides an abundance of labour, which is also very necessary to industrial development. Plenty of people mean both skilled and unskilled labour is available to industry, thereby promoting high production levels.
  
• The capital for industry has been provided by the immigrant traders and by the government, making it easier to set up many industries and to put in place industrial activities.
  
• Raw materials are readily available. Some of them, like agricultural raw materials and crude oil for refineries, have to be imported, but they are made available in sufficient quantities to sustain the industrial functions.
  
• The good transport facilities in New York, consisting of road, railways and airports, have encouraged the development of industry, because raw materials and finished goods are both easily taken to where they are needed.