Why cities swell so fast

Geography · People & Environments · ages 14-16

Name ______________________ Date ____________

What are the two ways a city grows?
- Taller towers plus wider roads
- More cars plus more parks
- Arrivals plus more births than deaths
What is urbanisation?
- The end of all farming
- A rising share of people in towns and cities
- A falling share of people in towns and cities
Today well over half the world lives in urban areas.
Circle one: True False
Growth outran drains and water. What followed?
- Empty streets
- Slums, disease, and fires
- Free food for all
Why did workers crowd near factories in the late 1800s?
- Twelve-hour shifts near round-the-clock worksites
- Love of long walks
- Free houses in the suburbs
What answered crowding once reformers acted?
- Bigger factory bells
- Taller fences
- Building codes, parks, and transit
A student says cities grow only because people arrive. What is the flaw?
- Arrivals never grow cities
- Births shrink cities
- It drops natural increase inside the city
Two claims: 200 years ago hundreds of cities held over a million, or only Beijing did. Which fits?
- Only Beijing then; over 500 today
- Hundreds of million-plus cities then
- No city held a million

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Arrivals plus more births than deaths · Movement in plus natural increase: the two engines.
A rising share of people in towns and cities · Urbanisation is the urban share rising, not falling.
True · The urban share passed half and keeps climbing.
Slums, disease, and fires · Services trail growth, and crowding turns costly.
Twelve-hour shifts near round-the-clock worksites · Gruelling shifts near day-and-night factories forced closeness.
Building codes, parks, and transit · Codes, parks, and transit tamed the crowded city.
It drops natural increase inside the city · Births inside the city form the second engine.
Only Beijing then; over 500 today · Million-plus cities exploded from one to over five hundred.