Modern vs Modest infrastructure: meeting the needs of growing urban populations

Course links: GCSE • IGCSE • A-level • IA-level • IB • National 5 • Higher Geography

Contents

Over half the world's population live in cities, which face the challenge of providing essential infrastructure that meets the needs of growing populations. To investigate this challenge, we team up with Dr Mary Lawhon, a human geographer who studies urbanisation and sewerage systems in lower income countries. We explore:

• • The Modern infrastructure ideal | A decades old idea that all inhabitants of a city should be served by large, integrated infrastructure systems, managed by experts and made sustainable through big technology and strong government.
• • Barriers to achieving this ideal in lower income countries, particularly where systems were developed under colonialism and not built to serve the needs of local populations.
• • Modest infrastructure: an alternative approach | Small scale sustainable systems, where waste is processed locally, for example through bio-toilets and compositing systems within homes and gardens. These can take a variety of forms to address different environmental challenges.

Acknowledgements

Written and developed by: Mary Lawhon, Ellie Barker, Rob Parker, Josh Carron