A-Level Geography: Contemporary Urban Environments

'Contemporary urban environments' is one of the most widely taught human geography options at A level; AQA, for example, sets it as section 3.2.3 of its specification. This material concentrates on the parts of that option that are easy to under-prepare: urban forms, the urban atmosphere beyond the heat island, drainage, waste and sustainability. Each question is built on an invented city, so you apply ideas rather than recall a case study.

It begins with urban change. You recognise urban resurgence in a city centre whose population recovers after deindustrialisation, and edge cities that grow at motorway junctions on the fringe as offices and retail decentralise.

The climate and air quality questions look at how buildings change the air around them: tall towers that bring strong gusts down to street level, narrow street canyons that trap traffic pollution when the wind blows across them, and the extra heat, roughness and condensation nuclei that make summer thunderstorms more frequent over and downwind of cities. You distinguish primary pollutants such as nitrogen oxides from secondary pollutants such as ozone, which peaks on sunny afternoons downwind of the centre, and evaluate a low emission zone.

The drainage section applies sustainable urban drainage (SUDS) principles to a new estate, calculates how much runoff permeable paving removes from a car park in a storm, and weighs up the benefits and costs of bringing a culverted stream back to the surface.

The waste questions link waste streams to income and lifestyle and compare landfill with energy-from-waste incineration, placing both within the waste hierarchy. The written sheet and exam extend these ideas to ecological footprints, liveability and the strategies for more sustainable cities.

The material offers a quiz with explanations, flashcards for the key terms, a printable written sheet of explanations, a calculation and evaluations, and an oral exam in which an examiner asks one question at a time, including about the two contrasting urban areas you have studied, and gives brief feedback at the end.

• Explain urban resurgence, decentralisation and new urban forms such as edge cities
• Explain how urban structures affect wind, storms and air quality, and evaluate pollution policies
• Apply the principles of sustainable urban drainage and calculate the effect on runoff
• Evaluate river restoration in urban catchments
• Relate waste streams to economic characteristics and compare landfill with incineration
• Discuss the dimensions of urban sustainability, ecological footprint and liveability

Practice material written by Zestly, based on board specifications for the contemporary urban environments option, such as AQA A-level Geography 7037, section 3.2.3 (urbanisation, urban forms, urban climate, urban drainage, urban waste, sustainable urban development).