Urban Issues and ChallengesTopic Summary
Topic Summary: Urban World — Urbanisation, Growth, and Lagos
Part of Urban Growth and the Global Urban World — GCSE Geography
This topic summary covers Topic Summary: Urban World — Urbanisation, Growth, and Lagos within Urban Growth and the Global Urban World for GCSE Geography. Revise Urban Growth and the Global Urban World in Urban Issues and Challenges for GCSE Geography with 15 exam-style questions and 22 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 14 of 14 in this topic. Use this topic summary to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 14 of 14
Practice
15 questions
Recall
22 flashcards
Topic Summary: Urban World — Urbanisation, Growth, and Lagos
Key Terms
- Urbanisation: Increasing proportion of population in cities
- Rural-to-urban migration: Movement from countryside to city
- Push factors: Reasons driving people away from rural areas
- Pull factors: Reasons attracting people to cities
- Natural increase: Births exceed deaths → population grows
- Megacity: Urban area with 10m+ population
- Informal settlement: Unplanned housing without services
- Desertification: Fertile land becoming desert (Sahel)
Lagos Key Facts
- Population: ~15–21 million (fastest-growing African city)
- Growth: 0.3m (1950) → 21m (today) — 70-fold increase
- 60–70% population in informal housing
- 40% lack safe piped drinking water
- Nollywood: $1bn/year; world's 2nd-largest film industry
- Lagos generates 25% of Nigeria's GDP
- BRT: 200,000 passengers/day
- Makoko: 100,000 people on stilts, Lagos Lagoon
- Traffic congestion: $1bn/year economic cost
- Eko Atlantic: 10km² land reclamation off Victoria Island
Push and Pull Factors
- Push: Agricultural mechanisation (fewer farm jobs)
- Push: Drought / desertification (north Nigeria / Sahel)
- Push: Lack of services (schools, hospitals)
- Push: Conflict (Boko Haram → 2m displaced)
- Pull: Employment (formal + informal economy)
- Pull: Better services (hospitals, schools, universities)
- Pull: Chain migration (family already there)
- Pull: Perceived higher wages
HIC vs LIC/NEE Urbanisation
- UK: 83% urban — urbanisation already complete
- LICs/NEEs: rapid urbanisation NOW — sub-Saharan Africa + South Asia
- Pace: UK took ~100 years; Nigeria taking ~50 years
- Megacities 1950: 2 (New York + Tokyo)
- Megacities 2020: 30+ — majority in Asia/Africa
- HIC challenge: regeneration of deindustrialised areas, housing affordability
- LIC/NEE challenge: informal housing, sanitation, congestion
- TOSH: Traffic, Overcrowding, Sanitation, Hazards (Lagos challenges)
- OPEN: One billion (Nollywood), Port/finance, Education, New tech (Lagos opportunities)