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SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyThe changing human world28 min★★★ difficulty

Urbanisation and megacities

More than half of the world's people now live in cities. Understanding why, and what happens as cities grow into megacities, explains huge changes across the planet.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Human and physical geography: Understand urbanisation, including the causes and geographical effects, at country and city scale, of urbanisation and megacities

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand urbanisation, including the causes and geographical effects, at country and city scale, of urbanisation and megacities

Key learning points

  • • Causes of urbanisation
  • • Megacities
  • • Effects
  • • Managing growth

This lesson at a glance

  • 28 minutes
  • 15 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

urbanisationcausesgeographicaleffectscountry

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 15 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 15

Watch first

Urbanisation and megacities

An English teaching video on this topic from BBC Earth Science. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand urbanisation, including the causes and geographical effects, at country and city scale, of urbanisation and megacities

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 15

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Causes of urbanisation

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 15

Learn

Causes of urbanisation

Rural-to-urban migration is driven by push factors like limited farmland or drought, and pull factors like jobs, education and healthcare in cities. Natural population growth within cities adds further to their size.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 15

Learn

Megacities

A megacity has over 10 million people. Lagos in Nigeria and Mumbai in India have grown rapidly, often faster than infrastructure can cope with, creating large informal settlements alongside formal housing.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 15

Quick check

What is the minimum population usually used to define a megacity?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 15

Quick check

Which of these is a 'pull' factor drawing people to cities?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 15

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 15

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Effects

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 15

Learn

Effects

Rapid urbanisation can bring economic growth and better access to services, but also traffic congestion, pollution, housing shortages and strain on water and sanitation systems, especially in cities with weak planning.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 15

Learn

Managing growth

Cities like Curitiba in Brazil have managed growth through planned public transport and green space, showing that urbanisation's effects depend heavily on planning and investment, not just population size.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 15

Quick check

What can result when urban growth outpaces infrastructure?

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 15

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 15

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Rapid ____ can bring economic growth and better access to services, but also traffic congestion, pollution, housing shortages and strain on water and sanitation systems, especially in cities with weak planning.

Cities like Curitiba in Brazil have managed growth through planned public transport and green space, showing that urbanisation's ____ depend heavily on planning and investment, not just population size.

14

Mastery quiz

Part 14 of 15

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Urbanisation and megacities

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What is the minimum population usually used to define a megacity?

  2. 2. Which of these is a 'pull' factor drawing people to cities?

  3. 3. What can result when urban growth outpaces infrastructure?

15

Lesson round-up

Part 15 of 15

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 15 · Watch & discover

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    Understand urbanisation, including the causes and geographical effects, at country and city scale, of urbanisation and megacities

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