Year 8 Geography Summer Exam

Revision List

Know ‘What is Geography’. This includes the different types of Geography (physical, human and environmental) and examples of each.
Label continents and oceans on a world map.
Label a` UK map (cities, rivers and mountains)
Name map symbols

Link to Christmas Notes

Name some tourist attractions in Belfast

Settlement – definition of settlement, site and situation.

Settlement - A place where people live.

Site - The exact location where a settlement started.

Situation - the location of a settlement in relation to the surrounding area

Explain why people built settlements years ago.

Early settlers often looked for certain features in an area to make life easier:

flat land, to make building easier and safer
local raw materials, eg wood and stone, to build homes
a local water supply for drinking, washing, cooking and transport
dry land, so thap people can build on areas that don’t flood
a defendable site, eg a hilltop or river bend, to protect from attackers
good farm land with fertile soils, so people could grow crops
shelter, eg to protect from bad weather
transport links, eg a ford or low crossing point of a river

Explain why Belfast was a good site for a settlement.

A settlement like Belfast, which has more than one of these site advantages, is more likely to grow and develop.

Belfast grew up around the narrowest bridging point of the Farset river, where High street is today. The river provided a supply of fresh water to the settlement's inhabitants. The Lough and the Connswater, Lagan and Blackstaff rivers provided access to water transport routes. Shelter was provided by the surrounding Divis, Black and Cavehill mountains and the Castlereagh and Hollywood hills. The fertile farmland of the Lagan valley was another advantage. Belfast has developed into a nodal point being the point where rail, road and sea networks meet.

Traffic and Transport – describe problems of traffic congestion,

Traffic congestion is a major issue in developed and developing countries.

In developed world cities, there has been an increase in the number of cars on the road. As more people move to the edge of towns and cities, traffic congestion may get worse.

Many people will drive their cars into the city centre for work. Substantial numbers get there on newer, larger roads or motorways.

These roads then link up with older, narrower roads in the city centre. This causes a bottleneck and congestion. Many inner city areas, with a network of narrow roads and many junctions, cannot cope with the increased volume of traffic.

Further traffic issues include:

increasing numbers of private and commercial vehicles in the city centre
cost or lack of public transport
cars parking on the main roads and a shortage of adequate parking facilities in the city centre

In developing countries, population growth in urban areas has exploded, leading to many people trying to access the cities for work. This situation is worsened by poor public transport. Developing world governments cannot afford to invest in the infrastructure, therefore roads are in disrepair.

What causes traffic problems,

PWC, the international accountancy firm, identify six contributors to urban traffic congestion:

Economic expansion
Demographic change, and urbanization
Transport disruption
E-commerce and the growth of delivery vehicles
Lack of good infrastructure
Inconsistency in policies and programmes to solve the problem

The causes of congestion rarely happen in isolation. For example, economic expansion doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in congestion if the development of infrastructure is planned to meet demand, and inconsistent policies are likely to fail to account for demographic change.

Describe ways to reduce traffic problems.

In developed countries, cities have tried to manage this problem by introducing traffic management schemes.

These schemes may include:

park and ride schemes – people park in car parks on the edge of a settlement and catch public transport into the centre
congestion charging schemes, such as those in Durham and London
vehicle exclusion zones – for example large vehicles may not be allowed to enter narrow roads or residential areas
permit holder parking – certain parts of the city, especially the centre can only be parked in by residents or business users who have a permit. Users often have to pay for this
car-pooling – encourages people to share cars only driving when they really need to
prioritised road lanes – usually for buses,taxis and cycles. Bradford has introduced 2+ lanes that only cars with high numbers of occupants can use
low emission zones, as in London
separate cycle lanes
traffic calming – including road narrowing, speed bumps and reduced speed limits

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