The Growth of Cities › Revision notes
The Growth of Cities — Revision notes
Need a recap first? Read the full explanation →
Quick recap
5 clipsShort clips from the lesson video. Watch a couple to jog your memory, then try the Brain dump below.
Swipe or scroll sideways to see them all →
Brain dump
Before you look at anything else, write down everything you can remember about this lesson: key words, facts, examples. Spelling doesn't matter. Then see which of the 10 key terms you remembered.
Everything else on this page is hidden until you're done. No peeking!
Ones you missed. Read these, then try again tomorrow:
Key terms
- Settlement hierarchy
- A ranking of settlements by population size and the range of services they offer, ranging from hamlets to global cities
- Hamlet
- The smallest settlement in the hierarchy — just a handful of homes, often with no shops and maybe not even a school
- Village
- A settlement of a few hundred people, typically with one small shop and a primary school
- Town
- A settlement bigger than a village, with more shops, several schools, and a wider range of services
- City
- A settlement with a large population, hospitals, colleges, train and bus networks, and a wide variety of jobs
- Global city
- A major urban center at the top of the settlement hierarchy, such as London, New York, or Tokyo, that shapes global business and culture
- Urbanisation
- The increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities compared to rural areas
- Rural-to-urban migration
- The movement of people from the countryside into towns and cities, driven by better job opportunities and transport links
- Natural increase
- Population growth that occurs when the birth rate is higher than the death rate within a population
- Megacity
- An urban area with a total population of ten million or more people
TERM — tap to reveal
What this lesson covers
How well do you know each one? Be honest: red means go back over it.
- Describe the settlement hierarchy from hamlet to megacity
- Define urbanisation and explain what it means for a country
- Explain how rural-to-urban migration and natural increase make cities grow
- Explain the significance of the 2008 urbanisation milestone
- Describe how the location of the world's largest cities has shifted over time
- Compare living in a city with living in a village
Test yourself
Cover the answer, say it out loud, then check the full quiz on the lesson page.
- Which settlement sits at the very top of the hierarchy?
- Which of these is NOT a cause of urban growth?
- Which countries are urbanising fastest today?
Topic quiz
13 questions on this topic only — not mixed with anything else, one at a time.
Question 1 of 13
Score: 0 out of 13
Spelling challenge
Read the definition, then type the correct spelling of the term. Uses the same terms as above.
Score: 0/0