Lesson video

Hello, my name is Chloe, and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

This lesson is called the Characteristics and Factors Influencing Different Urban Land Uses.

It forms part of the Urban Change unit of work.

We're going to be looking at different urban land uses and where they sit within an urban space, how they look and how we can identify them using maps as well.

Let's begin.

In this lesson, you will be able to describe and explain different urban land uses.

There are four key terms for us to review, first of all.

Commercial.

This is a land use category used for areas that trade goods and services.

The CBD is the central business district, the commercial centre of an urban area.

A brownfield site is an area of land that was formerly used for something but which now is abandoned or derelict.

And the greenbelt is a ring of land that surrounds some UK urban areas where new constructions are regulated to prevent urban sprawl.

There are two parts in this lesson.

We're first going to look at the characteristics of different urban land uses and then we're going to look at factors influencing those land uses.

Let's start with the characteristics.

So when we look at different urban land uses, we're going to be thinking about commercial, industrial, and residential land use.

And then when we think about the factors that affect urban land use, we're going to be looking at accessibility to areas, the availability of land, the cost of land, and planning regulations.

But let's start first of all via by looking at commercial land use.

Commercial urban land use is used to trade goods and services.

It includes things like shops, cafes and restaurants, bank branches, and the offices of a business.

Commercial land use tends to be found in the CBD, or the central business district.

You can see there it's in the centre of our urban space.

It includes things like high streets and market squares.

These are typical areas of commercial land use in a CBD.

So what are the typical characteristics of commercial land use? So let's take a look at this photo in more detail.

You can see that there's sort of the oldest buildings here compared to the rest of the urban area.

The shops and services are at ground level and they have high visibility.

So things like glass frontages are very common here.

Above those shops, there may be offices or flats.

And the area itself is really easy to access.

There'll be wide pavements or you may even see complete pedestrianisation, as you have in this photo.

There's also gonna be things like benches and planters, orate lighting and banners to make the place more attractive.

This will encourage people to stay in the area and of course spend their money.

Let's check our understanding of commercial land use areas.

Which of these would you be most likely to find there, in a commercial land use area? Would it be narrow or no pavements, pedestrianised roads, areas for vehicles to turn around, or new buildings? Have a think about the commercial land use area and that photo that we looked at and then have a go at answering this question.

Okay, hopefully you recognised that it's about pedestrianised roads.

They are very typical in commercial land use areas, where the road surface has been taken away and it's been paved over so that it's flat and people can walk over it.

Now let's look at our next type of land use, and it's industrial.

Industrial urban land use is where goods are made and stored.

It includes things like factories, warehouses, refineries, and shipyards.

Industrial land used to be found in the inner city, just outside the CBD.

Today, industrial estates are more likely to be found on the rural-urban fringe, so right on the outskirts of the city.

What are the typical characteristics of industrial land use? Again, let's take a closer look at this photograph.

First of all, we can see that the buildings are very different from what we saw in the CBD.

They're low story and they have a large footprint.

So often, they'll only be one story in height.

They have large loading areas and they have turning circles for vehicles.

The roads are very wide and they're really unlikely to be any pavements.

These areas are not designed for pedestrians.

There's minimal attention given to street furniture and to visual attractiveness.

And if you look very closely at the bottom of this photograph, you can see it's close to a rail line, but it also might be close to a main road junction or to things like canals.

So let's now check our understanding there.

Industrial land used to be found in the CBD but is now more likely to be found on the rural-urban fringe.

Pause the video and have a think.

Is that true or false? So that statement is almost true, but it's actually false.

Which bit of it would we need to change? Why is it false? Hopefully you recognised that industrial land use was formally found in the inner city, not in the CBD.

But yes, it is now more likely to be found on the rural-urban fringe.

We'll now move on to our final type of land use, and that is residential.

Residential urban land is where people live.

There are lots of styles of homes in urban areas.

Let's have a look at eight of them here.

First of all, terraced homes.

So this is where the homes are right next door to each other and they share walls in either side.

A semi-detached home will share a single wall down its middle with another.

A detached home is not connected to any other property.

Flats are where apartments sit one on top of each other, sometimes in a high-rise block, as you can see here.

Conversions are where the property used to be something very different, something like an industrial warehouse or a factory, and it's since been converted into apartments.

A bungalow is a single story property.

Tenements are where you have flats sitting on top of shops in the middle of a city, and that's where the office space has been converted into apartments.

And a maisonette is an apartment which covers the entirety of a single floor.

Residential land is found in lots of urban areas.

In the CBD, homes tend to be in high rise developments.

So let's have a look more closely at those types of properties, first of all.

What are the typical characteristics here? Modern, expensive, and exclusive design tend to dominate these types of properties.

There's lots of glass really 'cause you want the view to be shown off as people come in.

That's the first thing that they notice, the view out over the city.

Now these can often be penthouses.

These are the flats on top of very tall office blocks.

It might be the only residential land use in otherwise a commercial block.

In the inner city, homes tend to be terraced, high rise, or conversions of old industrial buildings like warehouses.

Let's look at some of the characteristics here.

So here we have some terraced housing.

Now these homes are much older and they have fewer modern features.

They're a much smaller footprint, and generally, the rooms are a lot smaller as well.

Some will have small gardens or yards, but generally these are only at the rear of the property.

In the front, there's very little space, if any.

There won't be any garages, so generally these roads have a lot of on-street parking.

They're also found on very straight roads, often parallel to each other.

They're really distinctive when you look at a satellite image.

Residential land makes up most of the land use in the suburbs.

Here you'll find homes that are detached and semi-detached.

Let's look at the characteristics of a detached home.

You can see here it doesn't share walls with any other property.

They're much larger.

They tend to be more modern than the homes that you would find in the inner city.

They would definitely have a garden, and this would be at the front of the property, as well as at the back.

They would probably have a driveway, and they may even have a garage as well.

Now a check for our understanding.

Which of these styles of home would you be most likely to find in a CBD? A, a penthouse flat, b, a detached house, c, a terraced house, or d, a warehouse conversion.

Have a think about those characteristics we just went through.

Pause the video and come back to me with the right answer.

Well, let's see what you got.

Hopefully it was a, yes, the penthouse flat.

You would definitely find that in a CBD.

Your detached house, you're more likely to find in the suburbs.

Your terraced house and your warehouse conversion, more likely be to be found in the inner city.

Now our first task.

Look carefully at the map extract below.

Firstly, what land use does it show? Then think about where in the urban area it might be found.

And thirdly, describe the features you can see on the map that helped you to answer questions one and two.

So you're not drawing on any background knowledge.

You can only talk about the features you can actually see in the map in order to answer part three.

Do pause the video 'cause this is gonna take you a little longer and then come back to me with some great answers.

Right, let's start with that first one.

What land use does it show? Hopefully you recognised that it is residential land use.

And where in an urban area might it be found? In the inner city.

But now let's look at the most important bit, which is what was it about the map that allowed us to work out our answers to one and two? What features can we see in the map itself? So here your answer may include things like this.

The buildings are small and closely packed together, which is typical of terraced housing in the inner city.

The roads also indicate this.

They are straight and they run parallel to each other.

Hopefully you've got those ideas.

Now let's move on to the second part of the lesson, where we're looking at the factors that influence different urban land uses.

You'll remember that there are four of these.

We're gonna start with this one, the accessibility to areas.

Commercial land use needs to be at transport intersections and termini.

In other words, things like bus stations and train stations.

This is so that shops and services are easily accessible.

This tends to be where most people pass through or congregate the most.

This means there's gonna be more footfall, and that means there's going to be more trade for all of those shops and services.

Now when we then go to industrial land use, this needs to be close to road junctions and main transport routes, as well as things like airports and ports.

This is so that raw materials and the manufactured goods that are being made in these areas can be moved easily in large vehicles such as lorries.

Let's check our understanding of that.

You've got some words to find here to complete the sentences.

Pause the video so you can have a look through the paragraph and then come back to me.

Okay, hopefully you've got these answers.

Both industrial and commercial land uses rely on being easily accessible.

Raw materials and manufactured goods need to be able to move in and out of the rural-urban fringe easily, while people need to access shops easily in the CBD.

Well done if you got those.

We've done accessibility, now let's look at the availability of land.

The highest demand for land is in the CBD.

A lot of buildings have to fit into a relatively small area.

This has resulted in very tall buildings with small footprints in many urban centres.

Land continues to be in high demand in the inner city.

This is why residential areas tend to have smaller houses with little space between them or high rise flats with smaller footprints.

When new buildings are needed to be built, they're likely to be found on the rural-urban fringe, where there is most space.

They may also be found in the inner city, where brownfield sites are infilled.

Now let's check our understanding of that.

What tends to be the correlation between land availability and building height? High availability leads to tall buildings, low availability leads to short buildings, low availability leads to tall buildings, or is there no correlation at all? Have a think about that.

Pause the video and come back to me.

Well done if you recognised that it is c.

Yes, the less availability there is of land, the smaller the footprint of the building and therefore the taller they tend to be.

Well done if you got that.

Now we're moving on to look at the cost of the land.

Land which is in highest demand is also the most expensive.

Commercial land uses that are making money through sales can afford to occupy the CBD.

As one moves from the CBD to the rural-urban fringe, the land tends to get cheaper.

This means that land uses that need a lot of space, such as industrial, tend to be found out there.

This does not mean that houses in residential areas automatically get cheaper as one moves away from the CBD, however.

As the land is less expensive in the suburbs and in the rural-urban fringe, the homes get larger, but the value is probably the same.

So true or false.

House prices will decrease the further one gets from the CBD.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think, and then come back to me.

Well done if you got that it's false, in most cases at least.

But why is that? Yes, so the land price decreases, but that often means that the houses themselves get larger, and therefore they get more expensive.

So onto to our final one now.

We'll look at the planning regulations and how that is a factor.

Urban planning departments have a lot of control over what gets built where.

For example, industry tends not to be built in the inner city anymore as pollutants and noise can potentially harm people that live close to them.

There are also restrictions for building any type of land use on the rural-urban fringe in the greenbelt.

This is one reason why brownfield sites are viewed so favourably by urban planners.

Building there does not add pressure on natural green spaces.

All right, another check for understanding.

Why might a local urban planning department reject a proposal for a new housing estate on the rural-urban fringe? Is it because it's greenbelt land and they wish to protect this? Is it because it would be too expensive to build there? Is it because there may be brownfield sites in the inner city that are suitable? Or is it because new estates can only be built in the suburbs? Have a think about that.

Pause the video and come back to me with the right answer.

Well, hopefully you recognised that it's a, it is a greenbelt land, so they're gonna want to protect it, but it's also possibly because there are brownfield sites in the inner city that are suitable.

So really well done if you recognised there's actually two correct answers here.

Our final task of this lesson now.

A businesswoman wishes to build a warehouse to store the furniture that her company makes.

Under each column title, write how each factor will have an influence over where she decides to build it.

So we've got the four factors we looked at, accessibility, availability, cost, and planning regulations.

So under each title, write how each factor has an influence over where she might build her warehouse for her furniture.

Pause the video.

This is gonna take a take a little bit longer, so don't worry.

Do take your time.

And then come back to me with some great ideas.

Let's take a look at some of your ideas now.

Your answers may include some of the following points.

So with regards to accessibility to the area, our businesswoman might have to think about the warehouse being close to road junctions or ports so that the furniture can be easily transported to where it's gonna be sold.

With regards to the availability of land, her warehouse is likely to have a large footprint, so it'll need to be somewhere where there's a lot of space available.

Then looking at the cost of land, it's a large warehouse, so it'd be best placed on cheap land as it would probably only be one story high.

And then we're thinking about planning regulations, so the warehouse will have large lorries moving around it every day, so urban planning departments may not wish for the warehouse to be near residential areas.

That could potentially be quite dangerous and unpleasant for people living there.

Let's summarise our learning now.

Residential, industrial, and commercial land uses each have their own character.

This is seen in the style of buildings they have, where they are found in an urban area, and the features that surround them.

Accessibility to areas, the availability and cost of the land, and local planning regulations are all factors that have an influence on the size and the position of the different land uses in an urban area.

Now I wonder how many of you live in an urban area and recognise some of the characteristics that we looked at in this lesson.

Maybe you even spotted a home which is very similar to yours.

Was I right with the characteristics or is there more detail to be had than that? That's something you can discuss with people around you because although, yes, there are certain characteristics which are relatively true across all urban land uses, of course, as good geographers, we have to remember that each place has its own unique character as well.