Examine reasons for the location of different economic activities in one or more cities.

Evaluate the use of eco-city design as a way of managing large cities more sustainably.

Marks should be allocated according to the Paper 1 markbands (available under the "Your tests" tab > supplemental materials).

The focus of the question is on the location/distribution/pattern of different economic activities (retail, commercial and industrial) in urban areas. The factors affecting the pattern might be physical, economic and political. The relative importance of these will vary between different urban areas in countries at contrasting levels of development.

Possible applied themes (AO2) demonstrating knowledge and understanding (AO1):

• There is a variety of physical, economic and political factors that influence the location of different economic activities.
• Physical factors might include relief, drainage, proximity to the sea or rivers.
• Economic factors include land values, access to transportation, proximity to a CBD.
• Political factors include planning and controls over development.
• Social factors might include relative wealth and poverty, and deprivation which influence informal economic activities.

Good answers may be well structured (AO4) and may additionally offer a critical evaluation (AO3) of the statement in a way that examines varying reasons for the location of economic activities in urban areas. The power of different stakeholders might be considered in urban places and scales. Another approach might be to consider the different time scales of changing locations of economic activity in urban areas.

For 5–6 marks, expect weakly evidenced outlining of reasons for location of economic activities in an urban area.

For 7–8 marks, expect a structured account which includes:

• either an evidenced explanation of the influence of different factors affecting the location of economic activity in one or more urban areas
• or a discursive conclusion (or ongoing evaluation) grounded in geographical concepts and/or perspectives.

For 9–10 marks, expect both of these traits.

Marks should be allocated according to the Paper 1 markbands (available under the "Your tests" tab > supplemental materials).

The increasing concentration of people into large urban areas poses considerable challenges to urban planners, including management of the urban ecological footprint. Ecological issues include: atmospheric pollution and production of greenhouse gases, dependence on fossil fuels, pollution and over-use of water supplies; damage to natural ecosystems and wildlife. Sustainable management aims to reduce these ecological stresses and the urban ecological footprint. The use of eco-city designs is important, but these are often only at small scale, are expensive and can only play a small role in overcoming future urban challenges. Eco-cities may not always be appropriate, but the design principles may be successfully applied to existing cities.

Possible applied themes (AO2) demonstrating knowledge and understanding (AO1):

• Eco-cities are designed to reduce ecological footprint, including minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, the sustainable use of water, and disposal of waste.
• Several eco-cities and eco-communities have been constructed, but these are often of small scale and expensive.
• Planned eco-cities may be more appropriate in richer countries, with lower rates of urbanization, but less appropriate in large, rapidly growing cities in NICs.
• Principles of eco-city design may be “retro-fitted” to sustainable management of existing cities.

Good answers may be well structured (AO4) and may additionally offer a critical evaluation (AO3) of the statement in a way that examines the contribution of eco-city design processes to the sustainable management of cities. The power and perspectives of different stakeholders might be considered. Another approach might be to examine the success in terms of different spatial scales, the time scale of the changes, and whether the cities are new or long established.

For 5–6 marks, expect weakly evidenced outlining of eco-city design and/or sustainable management.

For 7–8 marks, expect a structured account which includes:

• either an evidenced explanation of the contribution of eco-city design to sustainable management in large cities
• or a discursive conclusion (or ongoing evaluation) grounded in geographical concepts and/or perspectives.

For 9–10 marks, expect both of these traits.

This was an unpopular question and was poorly answered. Few were able to apply geographical concepts such as accessibility and land value as reasons, and the question was interpreted to mean why different cities have different economic functions (for example, port, tourism) rather than the location of economic activity within cities.

There was good understanding of why cities need to be managed sustainably, and some interesting examples from cities in different parts of the world. Weaker answers used examples of management strategies in cities that were introduced for other reasons (Curitiba for example). There was some confusion over what was exactly meant by eco-city design and many included resilient and smart city concepts as well. There were many descriptive responses as the case studies had been learnt well, but few were able to evaluate — those that did looked at the cost of strategies and the difficulty of retrofitting.