Urban problems, solutions & change in cities

When a city grows faster than it can build houses, roads, water pipes and clinics, problems pile up — this AS lesson takes them one careful step at a time. We map the web of urban problems: urban sprawl, urban decay, pollution and traffic congestion, and the housing shortage that breeds informal settlements. Then we work through the solutions planners use — urban planning, satellite settlements, site-and-service schemes, better transport and new forms of communication. We look at why urban areas change and at the sharp inequalities in living standards within a single city, contrasting a wealthy formal suburb with a self-built informal settlement. Havana, on the edge of Windhoek's Katutura, is our required case study — its challenges, its attempted solutions, and the struggle to provide power and transport infrastructure. We finish with how rich-country cities change through counter-urbanisation and gentrification.