Typical mistake Students can sometimes state generalisations as absolute fact. For example, although inner cities in general are considerably less affluent than the suburbs surrounding them, some parts of inner cities, particularly in large urban areas such as London, are extremely affluent, illustrating the concept of the residential mosaic. Notting Hill, Chelsea and St John’s Wood in London are examples of inner city affluence.
Now test yourself
The residential mosaic is the complex pattern of different residential areas within a city reflecting variations in socio-economic status that are mainly attributable to income, but also influenced by ethnicity and age.
Tested
23 Define deindustrialisation. 24 State two elements of constrained location theory. 25 Name the two sub-sections of the CBD. 26 What is the residential mosaic?
6 Settlement dynamics
intricate, forming the residential mosaic that social geographers frequently talk about. The process of gentrification invariably increases residential segregation.
Answers on p.217
6.4 The management of urban settlements Squatter settlements in São Paulo Income inequality
Poverty
Lack of economic growth
Revised
In-migration
Lack of affordable housing
Slum formation
Figure 6.9 Inequality, poverty and slum formation
The slum housing problem
The population of São Paulo’s metropolitan area (2000 census) is almost 18 million. At approximately 8110/km2 the population density is more than three times that of Los Angeles. It is estimated that substandard housing occupies 70% of São Paulo’s area: l Two million people, 20% of the population, live in favelas. l Over half a million people live in converted older homes in São Paulo’s inner core, which are known as cortiços.
Slums are run-down areas of a city characterised by sub-standard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security.
Heliopolis is São Paulo’s largest slum. One hundred thousand people live here in a mix of absolute and semi-poverty. Squatter settlements are located: l near gullies l on floodplains l on river banks l along railways l beside main roads l adjacent to industrial areas
Cortiços comprise decaying formal housing, mainly in the inner city.
Favelas is a Brazilian term for informal, shanty-type settlements. They generally involve the illegal occupation of land by squatters.
Paper 1 Core Geography
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