definition of case study geography

Case Studies in Geography Education as a Powerful Way of Teaching Geography

• First Online: 20 October 2016

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• Eduard Hofmann 5 &
• Hana Svobodová 5  

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A case study presents an appropriate form and method of providing students with a solution of real situations from the surroundings in which they live. This is called “powerful teaching”, and it is designed to help pupils and students to be able to cope with the rigours of everyday life through geography education. This method is not so well known and used in Czechia as abroad, where it is known under the name “powerful knowledge” or “powerful teaching”. For this reason the introductory part of this chapter devotes enough space to understand “powerful learning” and noted how it differs from inquiry-based, project-based, problem-based, student-centred and constructivist approaches to learning. Knowledge from the Czech geography education is in our case used for solving a case study in a decisive process in which students solve options and consequences of the construction of a ski resort in Brno (in Czechia). They submit their conclusions to the municipal council for assessment.

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Hofmann, E., Svobodová, H. (2017). Case Studies in Geography Education as a Powerful Way of Teaching Geography. In: Karvánková, P., Popjaková, D., Vančura, M., Mládek, J. (eds) Current Topics in Czech and Central European Geography Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43614-2_7

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• Introduction

The case study creation process

Types of case studies, benefits and limitations.

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case study , detailed description and assessment of a specific situation in the real world created for the purpose of deriving generalizations and other insights from it. A case study can be about an individual, a group of people, an organization, or an event, among other subjects.

By focusing on a specific subject in its natural setting, a case study can help improve understanding of the broader features and processes at work. Case studies are a research method used in multiple fields, including business, criminology , education , medicine and other forms of health care, anthropology , political science , psychology , and social work . Data in case studies can be both qualitative and quantitative. Unlike experiments, where researchers control and manipulate situations, case studies are considered to be “naturalistic” because subjects are studied in their natural context . ( See also natural experiment .)

The creation of a case study typically involves the following steps:

• The research question to be studied is defined, informed by existing literature and previous research. Researchers should clearly define the scope of the case, and they should compile a list of evidence to be collected as well as identify the nature of insights that they expect to gain from the case study.
• Once the case is identified, the research team is given access to the individual, organization, or situation being studied. Individuals are informed of risks associated with participation and must provide their consent , which may involve signing confidentiality or anonymity agreements.
• Researchers then collect evidence using multiple methods, which may include qualitative techniques, such as interviews, focus groups , and direct observations, as well as quantitative methods, such as surveys, questionnaires, and data audits. The collection procedures need to be well defined to ensure the relevance and accuracy of the evidence.
• The collected evidence is analyzed to come up with insights. Each data source must be reviewed carefully by itself and in the larger context of the case study so as to ensure continued relevance. At the same time, care must be taken not to force the analysis to fit (potentially preconceived) conclusions. While the eventual case study may serve as the basis for generalizations, these generalizations must be made cautiously to ensure that specific nuances are not lost in the averages.
• Finally, the case study is packaged for larger groups and publication. At this stage some information may be withheld, as in business case studies, to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. In scientific fields, the completed case study needs to be a coherent whole, with all findings and statistical relationships clearly documented.

Case studies have been used as a research method across multiple fields. They are particularly popular in the fields of law, business, and employee training; they typically focus on a problem that an individual or organization is facing. The situation is presented in considerable detail, often with supporting data, to discussion participants, who are asked to make recommendations that will solve the stated problem. The business case study as a method of instruction was made popular in the 1920s by instructors at Harvard Business School who adapted an approach used at Harvard Law School in which real-world cases were used in classroom discussions. Other business and law schools started compiling case studies as teaching aids for students. In a business school case study, students are not provided with the complete list of facts pertaining to the topic and are thus forced to discuss and compare their perspectives with those of their peers to recommend solutions.

In criminology , case studies typically focus on the lives of an individual or a group of individuals. These studies can provide particularly valuable insight into the personalities and motives of individual criminals, but they may suffer from a lack of objectivity on the part of the researchers (typically because of the researchers’ biases when working with people with a criminal history), and their findings may be difficult to generalize.

In sociology , the case-study method was developed by Frédéric Le Play in France during the 19th century. This approach involves a field worker staying with a family for a period of time, gathering data on the family members’ attitudes and interactions and on their income, expenditures, and physical possessions. Similar approaches have been used in anthropology . Such studies can sometimes continue for many years.

Case studies provide insight into situations that involve a specific entity or set of circumstances. They can be beneficial in helping to explain the causal relationships between quantitative indicators in a field of study, such as what drives a company’s market share. By introducing real-world examples, they also plunge the reader into an actual, concrete situation and make the concepts real rather than theoretical. They also help people study rare situations that they might not otherwise experience.

Because case studies are in a “naturalistic” environment , they are limited in terms of research design: researchers lack control over what they are studying, which means that the results often cannot be reproduced. Also, care must be taken to stay within the bounds of the research question on which the case study is focusing. Other limitations to case studies revolve around the data collected. It may be difficult, for instance, for researchers to organize the large volume of data that can emerge from the study, and their analysis of the data must be carefully thought through to produce scientifically valid insights. The research methodology used to generate these insights is as important as the insights themselves, for the latter need to be seen in the proper context. Taken out of context, they may lead to erroneous conclusions. Like all scientific studies, case studies need to be approached objectively; personal bias or opinion may skew the research methods as well as the results. ( See also confirmation bias .)

Business case studies in particular have been criticized for approaching a problem or situation from a narrow perspective. Students are expected to come up with solutions for a problem based on the data provided. However, in real life, the situation is typically reversed: business managers face a problem and must then look for data to help them solve it.

• Human Geography
• Physical Geography
• Economic Geography
• Urban Geography
• Political Geography
• The United States and Canada
• Latin America
• Russia and the Republics
• Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica
• Arctic Ocean
• Atlantic Ocean
• Indian Ocean
• Pacific Ocean
• Climate Classification

Case Study Approach

The case study approach in human geography is useful in both research and teaching, particularly when an in depth investigation is needed. The study of a single place, a particular group, or a specific issue in one location is helpful in narrowing down research topics. Such topics are often more manageable and meaningful for both early career geographers and more experienced scholars. This approach tends to be selective, with an emphasis on one or two issues that are fundamental to understanding larger research questions. Case studies are most appropriate when a researcher wishes to utilize a set of mixed methods of data collection and analysis in order to bring out the viewpoints of multiple participants in the study.

However, what criteria should be used to define and delimit a particular case study and how are research and teaching questions best framed when applying the case study approach in human geography? Answers to these and other related questions about the usefulness and the limitations of using case studies for research and teaching in geography provide the overarching structure for this article.

Types of Case Studies

Methods Useful in Case Study Research

Using the Case Study Approach to Teach Human Geography

Issues and Challenges of the Case Study Approach

• Capital’s Consumption Spatiality
• Capital and Space: Capital’s Crisis-Spatiality
• Capital and Space: Capital’s ‘Normal’ Spatiality
• How Does Capital Work?: Mechanisms of Capital
• Capital and Space
• Business Service Geographies – Global Cities, Service Offshoring, and the Second Global Shift
• Business Services – the Body and Emotional Labor
• Explaining the Growth of Business Service Firms
• Characteristics of Business Service Firms

Examples, Detailed Examples and Case Studies

Throughout the Geography Guide there are references to 'examples', 'detailed examples', and 'case studies' but what do these mean and where can they be found?

• Collect a copy of the Geography Guide and write a definition for an example, a detailed example, and a case study.
• Read through the Freshwater aspect of the Geography Guide. When you come across a reference to either an example, a detailed example or a case study write the syllabus point in a copy of the table below.
• Using the Freshwater unit on geogalot, find the relevant syllabus point that you have referenced in your table and record the name of the place and whether it is an example, a detailed example or a case study.
• Using your notes, fill in the detail section of the table for the relevant example, detailed example, or case study. Don't forget to include the data.
• Collect a piece of A4 or A3 paper and a set of coloured pens.
• Click on the link to take you to the Freshwater questions - Extended Answer Questions
• Choose a question and write in a colour on your paper.
• Mind map which examples/ detailed examples/ case studies which relate to place that you could use to aid your arguments for that question. Within the mind map write down the specific elements of the example of place that you would include.
• Using a different coloured pen - justify your choice of place.

The Geography Study School

Geographically on par for your a star.

• Agriculture
• Case Studies
• Energy, water and the environment
• Industrial systems
• Map Skills-Paper 2
• Paper 4: Alternative to coursework
• Plate tectonics
• River processes
• Weather, Climate & Ecosystems
• Recommended Resources
• Option G: Urban Environments
• Populations in Transition
• Changing space-the shrinking world
• Contact and Copyright

Overpopulation in Bangladesh

Lack of resources, poor infrastructure and under-developed technology coupled with the high population have been responsible for decreasing the carrying capacity of the region.

Problems of overpopulation:

Overpopulation in Bangladesh resulted in overcrowded areas with traffic congestion as there are too many vehicles on the the roads, especially in cities such as Dhaka. Vehicle emissions, industrial discharge and burning of fossil fuels have resulted in air pollution , while the ground water has been polluted due to arsenic. Furthermore, shortage of food lead to overcultivation on the flood plains of the Ganges river , causing lower yields and soil exhaustion. Another major problem is the widespread deforestation for firewood on the slopes of the Himalayas.

The capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, also suffers from severe housing shortages due to mass urbanisation.

Canada: Underpopulation

Canada is regarded as an underpopulated country as the carrying capacity is much higher than the current population. The 35 million people in Canada can not fully exploit the available resources and technology.

Problems of underpopulation in Canada:

• Labour shortage: 32% of Canadian employers are encountering difficulties in hiring workers due to a lack of applicants
• Services (eg. schools, hospitals and transport) close down as there are not enough customers.
• Less innovation and development (lee brain power)

Canada has tried to promote immigration to maintain the fairly high standard of living, but in the previous decades less people are migrating to Canada, than during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

• relaxing immigrant policies and visa requirements to encourage migration
• Pro-natal goverment support to increase the birth rate eg. subsidies and parental leave programmes
• allow pensioners to continue working

China: One Family One Child Policy

Anti-natal population policy

China is world’s most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people in 2014. Representing 20% of the world’s people, China suffers from extreme overpopulation.

China became overpopulated since 1960 because of:

• social/cultural desire to have a son
• economical bonus: men could work in the field
• children considered to be social security
• politics: stronger China against America
• previously poor medical infrastructure- high infant mortality rate
• flood 1959-1962: 20 million died

In 1965 the birth rate had grown to 40 births per 1000 until politicians realised the growing problem and launched the One Family One Child Policy in 1979.

Positive consequences of the policy:

• better education and skilled workforce
• average fertility reduced to 1.7
• low urban poverty

Negative consequences of the policy:

• female foeticide
• forced abortion
• abnormal sex ratio/ imbalanced
• more divorce: desire to have a boy
• lack of working population to support old dependents
• girls abandoned, killed, in orphanage

Exceptions to the policy:

• Han-Chinese allowed a second child
• rural areas
• ethnic minorities

Germany: Pro-natal population policy

In Germany, the fertility rate is well below replacement level, having dropped to 1.38 births per woman in 2012. Birth rates have been falling for many years, and the youth plus the immigrants will be unable to support  Germany’s ageing population.

For this reason, Germany has adopted several measures that attempt to encourage families to have more children:

• paid maternity leave and parental leave
• tax breaks to tax payers that have children
• eliminating fees for kindergarden
• free schooling

  Japan: Population distribution in a densely populated country

With a population of around 130 million (2015), and a population density of 336 people per km² (2015),  Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

Uneven population distribution

Sparsely populated rural areas: very few people live on the mountainous slopes in the centre of Honshu island and the south of Shikoku island, because of:

• Lack of flat land for cultivation
• Thin, infertile and acidic soils
• Extreme climate: long cold winters with heavy snow
• Remoteness and isolation: transport and communication are difficult
• Few jobs available (only in forestry/ primary sector)

Densely populated rural areas : many people live on the flat valleys and gentle slopes of Honshu and Kyushu islands because they:

• provide fertile land for cultivation and thus, have attracted many farmers
• attract commuters who work in the cities through the high standard of living and services such as out-of-town shopping malls and sports facilities.

Densely populated urban areas: many people live in towns and cities along the coast, especially on Honshu island, in the conurbation of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka; because of:

• flat land with mild winters
• good service provision like universities and technologically advanced hospitals and health facilities
• good transport facilities such as the Port of Tokyo to facilitate the import of raw materials and the export of manufactured goods

Canada: A Sparsely populated country

With a population of around 35 million (2015), and a population density of 3.87 people per km² in 2013, Canada is considered a sparsely populated country.

Canada is sparsely populated due to the following reasons:

• many mountainous areas eg. Canadian Rockies close to the west coast
• permafrost in the Northern areas (high latidtudes) so land is too cold for agriculture
• snow and ice make transport difficult, especially in less developed areas (ie. the inner provinces of Canada)

Canada: Population distribution

The population of Canada is clustered in the Southern areas; because, the cold Arctic climate makes cultivation impossible and it is rather unpleasant to live in those cold areas. Also, more people live in Eastern areas, since the West has mountainous areas such as the Canadian Rockies that are too steep to farm on easily and challenging for construction and transport.

Russia: Population decline

Russia has a population growth rate of -0.3%. This has been caused by factors like:

• high death rate of 13 deaths per 1000, particularly due to alcohol-related deaths
• low fertility rate of 1.6 children per woman
• high rates of abortion
• low levels of immigration
• underuse of health facilities, resulting in rising costs
• education cannot be sustained in all areas (particularly sparsely populated)
• resources not fully exploited, leading to lower GDP
• lack of workers may result in economic recession
• pro-natal population policies, eg. financial support for parents who choose to have a second child
• robotisation/development of tertiary sector to prevent lack of workers

Uganda: High population growth rate

Uganda has a population growth rate of more than 3% due to its high birth rate of 44 births per 1000 people per year. This has been caused by factors such as:

• low socio-economic status of women
• low educational levels, especially among females
• early marriage
• low use of contraception due to limited access and poverty
• political statements encouraging more babies as some areas in Uganda have a low population density

Problems of high population growth:

• Health sector faces human and infrastructural shortages
• Primary education could not be sustained in all areas
• Insufficient employment opportunities, especially for poorly educated
• Threatens agricultural modernisation as population pressure increases deforestation, soil erosion and land degration
• Pressure on resources, especially in urban areas

Solutions to reduce population growth:

• Widespread availability of contraception
• Universal access to education, jobs and health care and female emancipation
• Promotion of scientific and technical development (tertiary sector)
• Promotion of new modes of production (modernisation and commercialisation of agriculture)
• Growth with equity/sustainable development

For more information visit: Population growth rate in Uganda

Uganda: Youthful population

In 2014, 48.7% of Uganda’s population were young dependents under the age of 15.

• high fertility rate (many children per woman) and high birth rate
• high infant mortality rate encourages more births so some will survive
• children considered social and economic asset

• few old dependents that have to be supported
• possibly a large workforce in future
• Overpopulation if growth is not regulated, resulting in overcrowding, construction of shanty towns, lower standard of life, increased pollution, depletion of resources and food shortages (which encourage deforestation resulting in soil exhaustion and lower yields), as wells as future unemployment
• Stress on tax payers to support young dependents and finance development of necessary infrastructure

United Kingdom: Ageing population

The percentage of elderly dependents (+65 years) has increased by 3% from 15% in 1980 to 18% in 2014.

• Elderly people can share skills and knowledge to train the younger generation
• Elderly people promote the development of grey economies (such as health care, specialised facilities, other facilities desired by elderly, etc.)

An increase in the percentage of elderly dependents is a strain on the working population as higher taxation is required to support the pensions of the elderly and to fund services such as health care and specialised homes. Government-funded pensions may have to shrink to cover everybody, leaving many people with less to spend (and some in poverty). In contrast, services for younger people , such as schools, are underused . These services may then have to close (eg. Woodly School in North Yorkshire which shut in 2012 due to a lack of students). As a result, some people may be left unemployed. Also, there are not enough economically active people, causing a lack of workforce and making it harder to defend the country.

HIV/AIDS: Botswana

Botswana is a landlocked country, north of South Africa. UNAIDS estimates that 400,000 people in Botwana live with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).

HIV/AIDS is transferred through bodily fluids. In Botswana, this occurs mainly during sexual intercourse or from mother to child during pregnancy. AIDS can also spread via contaminated blood transfusions or contaminated needle use (usually in drug users).

As a LEDC country Botswana is particularly vulnerable to HIV because of:

• poor sex education (people are unaware of the consequences of unprotected sex)
• low availability of contraception: many people have unprotected sex
• low status of women: women can not disapprove of unprotected sex, as they are perceived as child bearers
• low availabilty of medical treatment and testing: many people are unaware that they are infected so the disease spreads easily
• poverty: few people can afford anti-retroviral drugs to control the severity of the symptoms

Consequences of HIV/AIDS:

• High death rate and lower life expectancy, especially in economically active population
• Falling birth rate due to abstinence (fear of becoming infected), so people have less children
• Decreased labour pool reduces agricultural and industrial output, causing food shortages and poverty, thus preventing economic growth
• AIDS education programme: used mass media to reach 500,000 students and teach them about HIV/AIDS
• Offering free condoms to population
• Improvements in HIV testing and anti-retroviral drugs in government clinics

For more information visit: https://www.patana.ac.th/Secondary/Geography/IB/Population/AIDs%20Botswanna.htm

Syria to Germany: International Refugee Migration

Approximately 13 million Syrians are escaping the war between the Assad regime and non-state armed forces, 800,000 of which have come to Germany so far.

Many are fleeing from barrel bombings and shootings that have destroyed their houses and killed family members. Also, the refugees are attempting to avoid political persecution, as the goverment has arrested and tortured civilians who they think could be working against them. Others are emigrating to prevent being abused by radically religious groups such as IS, who have trained child soldiers and organised kidnappings and extrajudicial executions .

Many seek asylum in Germany, because the country provides economic stability as the current unemployment rate is low, and many sectors will be looking for suitable workers as Germany’s population continues to age. Besides, Germany is perceived as a country that protects and promotes human rights, offering food, shelter and language courses to refugees .

Rural Settlement (LEDC): Korodegaga village

Korodegaga village – near Addis Ababa in Ethiopia – consists of nine small hamlets with 1400 people in total.

The area was first settled in th 20th century because of:

• water supply from two rivers
• flat, fertile soil for cultivation
• extensive forests for building and firewood

Services provided include: a grain mill, mosques and schools. Villagers walk to the neighbouring towns of Dera and Bofa to access a local market and shops.

Braunschweig: Settlement size and service provision

Braunschweig is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population of around 250,000 inhabitants. The majority ofinhabitants live in the city of Braunschweig, which has the best provision of services (more than 20 schools, 5 hospitals, and a dense network of public transport, which includes, busses, trains and trams). In contrast, the village of Querum, which is also part of the district of Braunschweig, has a population of around 6000 inhabitants only has one doctor’s surgery, and one primary school, as it does not have the threshold population to support higher-order services.

Rural settlement (MEDC): Hötzum, Lower Saxony, Germany

Hötzum has a population of around 900 people. Its function is mainly residential, with most people working in the nearby cities of Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel.

Map  by: OpenStreetMap und Mitwirkende Source: OpenStreetMap Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 Mapicons by: Nicolas Mollet Source: Maps Icons Collection Licence: CC BY SA 3.0

The area was first known to be settled by farmers in the 11th century and by the 18th century, the village had 4 arable farms, a shepherd and 6 horsefarms.

The area was initially settled because of:

• water supply from the Hötzumerbach and the Feuergraben
• flat, fertile land for arable and pastoral farming
• extensive forests which provided many logfelling opportunities

Currently there are very few services available (only a church, a community hall, a sports field and a volunteer fire brigade), but villagers can access the neighbouring village of Sickte for basic services and the cities of Wolfenbüttel and Braunschweig for all other needs.

Urban settlement: New York

Currently, New York is the largest city in the US, with a population of around 8 million people.

Site and situation:

• at a sheltered, natural harbour formed by Hudson river, which provided safe, deep anchorage and an extensive waterfront for the development of docks
• Hudson river allowed for transport and communication
• rocky ridge on Island of Manhatten allowed for easy defence

CBD’s:

• Downtown Manhatten: Wall Street (finance district of New York)
• Midtown Manhatten: tourist district, including Fifth Avenue (shopping), Broadway (theatre), hotels, Empire State Building, Chrysler and United Nations Buildings

Urban problems:

• Urban sprawl (middle class moves to the outer areas and lower-income families move into the inner city): due to population growth, relocation of businesses to suburbs for cheaper land and better accessibility
• Poverty and unemployment : around 1 million citizens receive welfare support due to unemployment and poor education caused by a decline in the clothing and harbour induestries in the 1980’s
• Urban decay and housing problems
• Racial conflicts due to a large number of immigrants that become trapped in poverty
• Air pollution as there are too many cars that release toxic exhaust fumes
• Traffic congestion as there are too many vehicles on the road and due to bottlenecks linking various New York Islands
• Water pollution from oil spills

Solution schemes:

• Reduction in air pollution by fitting catalytic converters to the exhausts of diesel city busses and developing a biodiesel plant in Brooklyn to distribute biodiesel to filling stations in the city.
• Reducing energy consumption by using more efficient street light and traffic lights, using renewable energy sources (wind, underwater turbines) to power homes and public buildings
• Waste management plan using barges and trains to export 90% of the city’s waste

Employment structure: Netherlands

Employment in the Netherlands is shifting more and more towards a service-based economy, while the proportion of people working in the primary and secondary sectors is at an all-time low.

While just under 7% of the workforce was employed in agriculture in 1970, this number has dipped to just under 2% in 2020, as machines and new technology have replaced the need for manual labour. Employment in industrial manufacturing and production has also fallen, in this case from over 35% to around 15% of the workforce. This comes as the country outsourced much of its manufacturing to China and East-Asia, and focussed more on highly specialist and complex services. Today, the country is home to several world-leading universities including TU Delft and the University of Amsterdam, and boasts many SaaS start-ups and software companies in urban areas like Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The growth of the tertiary sector may also be explained by favourable tax policies that encourage large service-dominated businesses to relocate to the Netherlands, along with a progressively more skilled workforce, as the number of university graduates has increased substantially between 1950 and 2020.

Squatter settlement in Rio de Janiero

Rio de Janiero is the second largest city in Brazil and has a population of 6 million people, of which nearly 17% – 1 million people- are favela-dwellers, living in the slums (called favelas) due to the extremely uneven distribution of wealth.

There are many problems for the shanty town inhabitants:

• Landslides: As the flat land in Rio de Janiero is inhabited by wealthier communties, most favelas are constructed on the mountainous slopes, where landslides are a common occurence (particularly due to excessive deforestation for firewood)
• Housing is made from scrap material which is vulnerable to flooding
• No clean water supply can lead to diseases such as typhoid, cholera or TB
• Sanitation is undeveloped or non-existent, eg. in Rocinha sewage flows down a large channel in the middle of houses. This allows disease to spread and may attract mosquitoes which are responsible for sicknesses such as malaria
• No proper electricity supply leads to dangerous tapping of electricity from the city’s power net
• Illegal activities and high crime rates due to many drug dealers, gangs and murderers

Slum upgrading strategies include :

• Increasing property rights (providing favela residents with titles to their home)
• Improving access to electricity and clean drinking water
• Local trash collection scheme: a bag of trash can be exchanged for a gallon of milk
• To reduce likelidehood of crime and improve education: toyguns can be exchanged for  comic books

Change in land use and resulting conflict: Stuttgart

In the German city of Stuttgart, the rail network is being redesigned as part of the urban development project Stuttgart 21. The construction of new rail tracks means that some of the surrounding land which was previously used for housing and agriculture is now being used for transportation purposes. This has caused significant conflict between proponents and opponents of the projects. Those in favour of the project argue that it aids urban development, as the new transport network with a high-speed railway track improves economic and social mobility. Meanwhile, those opposing the project argue that it damages the environment by contaminating groundwater, destroys historical monuments and devalues private property in the vicinity of the new railway line. Additionally, they point that the project blocks other transport network extensions in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Because of these different perspectives, Stuttgart 21 is so controversial that it has sparked regular, sometimes even violent, protests in the city.

Volcano: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, 2010

Image from: http://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfmvn=372020.

Eyjafjallajökull is a stratovolcano in Iceland, located approximately 125 km SE of the capital Reykjavik. It is found along the Mid-Atlantic ridge, where new earth crust is created.

Lava eruptions in March 2010 were followed by an explosive eruption on April 14th 2010.The lava flows damaged many homes and roads and services were disrupted due to evacuation measures.

Flooding was caused as glacial ice melted and torrents of water were flowing down the slopes of the land. Also, ash covered large plots of agricultural land, damaging the crops.

The massive ash cloud blocked air traffic in large parts of Europe for several days, leaving tourists and business people stranded at their destinations.

Immediate responses included an emergency evacuation of more than 800 people. Longterm responses are the reconstruction of damages houses and roads and research on the effect of ash on air planes.

Earthquake: Haiti, 2010

On the 12th of January 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, the epicentre of the quake being merely 15 km SW of the capital city, Port-au-Prince.

Stress building up along the conservative margin between the North American Plate and the Carribean plate was released by slippage along the fault running parallel to the plate boundary south of Port-au-Prince. The major earthquake was followed by several aftershocks up to a magnitude of 5.0 on the Richter scale.

The earthquake resulted in approximately 230,000 deaths (massive loss of life), destruction of 180,000 homes and around 5,000 schools. It left 19 million cubic metres of debris in Port-au-Prince and many services were badly disrupted or destroyed. A major secondary effect was widespread chlora due to polluted drinking water.

Haiti suffered so much because of the widespread poverty that left more than 80% of the population in poorly constructed, high density concrete buildings. Lack of stable goverment and medical infrastructure limited search and rescue efforts. Furthermore, the earthquake had a shallow focus, resulting in severe ground shaking, and the epicentre was located close to the densely populated capital.

Short-term responses to the earthquake included search and rescue efforts, as well as the the import of food, water and shelter from the USA and Dominican Republic. Longterm responses included reparation of three-quaters of the damaged buildings. Besides, migration was common as people moved away to stay with their families. Also, people received cash or food in exchange for public reconstruction work and the World Bank pledged $US100m to support the reconstruction and recovery.

Tropical storm: Katrina, 2005

Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to hit the United States.

How did Katrina form?

• Levees failed to resist the force of the waves, causing 80% of New Orleans to become flooded
• More than 1000 people lost their lives
• Half a million houses were damaged in the Gulf Coast region
• Services in New Orleans were badly disrupted: no electricity, gas and sewage system for 6 months after the event
• $ 10.5 billion of immediate financial aid for the victims
• In the first two weeks after the storm, the Red Cross had brought 74,000 volunteers who provided shelter to 160,000 evacuees
• International aid from over 50 countries
• Rebuilding levees destroyed by Katrina

Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, 2004

On December 26th 2004, a tsunami occured in the Indian Ocean.

The tsunami was the direct consequence of a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that was caused by tension along the subduction zone of the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates. This rupture triggered massive waves that reached an altitude of up to 30m.

The tsunami resulted in 250,000 deaths, with 170,000 fatalities in Indonesia alone. 13 countries were affected by the powerful waves, and an estimated total of 2 million people have been displaced, as their houses have been destroyed.

Created by Cantus

Short term responses included search and rescue efforts in the local communities, while internationally, people sent donations to help those in need.

An early warning system has been developed to predict future tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.

Coastal problems and opportunities: Wadden Sea Islands

The Wadden Sea provides a large diversity of fish species and other seafood animals, making fishery an important industry for the local communities. Besides, tourism is well established in the area, with around 800,000 visitors annually on the Dutch island of Texel alone.

By Aotearoa (Own work)  CC-BY-SA-3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

However, the area is threatened by storm tides, particularly in fall and winter, which may cause floods that damage the unique ecosystem. Furthermore, the continuous eastward shift of the islands has eroded their westmost regions, endangering settlements such as West-Terschelling, which may submerge in future.

Coastal management strategies to protect the islands include dune grass planting and dune fencing. The newly planted grass traps and hold sand thereby reducing coastal erosion and encouraging the formation of new dunes. This makes the islands less vulnerable against erosion from storm surges.

Coral reef: Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier reef is located along the Pacific shores, where water temperatures are above 20°C. The reef grows in shallow areas (not more than 60 m deep) in the Coral sea, off the Australian coast, east of Cairns. It grows in clear water that is free of sediment so sunlight can pass through.

The Great Barrier reef is threatened by global warming, which increases coral bleaching. Besides, declining water quality (due to agricultural run-off from the rivers of North-Eastern Australia and oil from ships in discarded in the Coral Sea) pollutes the ecosystem. Also, overfishing destroys food chains and disbalances the symbiotic relationships. Furthermore, tourists may destroy parts of the reef when they go diving or reef-walking.

Management strategies:

The Australian government has made the Great Barrier reef a protected area by declaring it a marine park. The GBRMPA (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) is the ogranisation who looks after the reef and protects it from human threats while allowing sustainable development to take place. The Marine Park Authority gives out permits for fishing, diving and more and has boats patrol the area to prevent illegal activity. Tourists are educated about how their trip affects the reef and they are not allowed in certain sensitive areas. Also, fines of up to US$ 1 million can be forced on companies that pollute the fragile ecosystem.

Pollution in the North Sea

The North Sea is polluted by oil spillages from tankers in the Thames estuary washing out their tanks. As a result, oil clogs up the gills of fish, casuing them to die. Spillages also pollute the beaches along the British coast (eg. near Essex), which reduces the number of tourists. Besides pollution occurs through the disposal of untreated sewage from large urban areas such as Rotterdam, possibly possessing a human health risk along the Dutch coast. Also, pollutants from industrial waste in the Rhine river may be washed into the sea.

By Halava CC BY-SA 3.0

A spit: spurn head, holderness coast, uk.

Spurn head  is a sand and shingle ridge that extends from the headland south of Easington. It has been formed along the Holderness coast under the influence of prevailing winds from the North which result in wave refraction. Subsequently, longshore drift transports the coastal sediments, which deposit in the sheltered mouth of the Humber estuary.

Spurn Head, Holderness Coast

Ynyslas Dunes, Wales, UK

The Ynyslas Dunes in Wales have been formed by deposition, which occured as energy of winds blowing from Cardigan Bay was reduced. Westerly onshore winds picked up dry sand from the wide beach at the estuary of the Dovey (Dyfi) river. Obstructions on the beach caused a sheltered area. Maram grass colonised dunes and trapped further sand.

Bangladesh: Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta

The Ganges Delta in Bangladesh is the most populous river delta in the world. Around 30% of its population work in agriculture, as rice cultivation is well developed due to the fertile soils. Also, fishing is very prominent, as the distributaries are colonised by shrimps. However, the Ganges Delta is threatened by floods, especially from heavy rainfall during the monsoon season and icewater runoff from the slopes of the Himalaya.

Image of Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta from NASA

Water supply: colorado river basin.

The Colorado river originates from the Rocky Mountains, passing through 7 states before reaching Mexico. It is estimated that 40 million people rely on water from the 2,300 km long stream for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. Many dams and canals have been built to control this extreme demand; therefore, the Colorado river is one of the most controlled rivers in the world.

By Shannon, CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0

In 1922, the Colorado River Compact was introduced to divide the water supply between the states of the Upper and Lower Basin of the river, with each group being allocated 9.25 trillion litres of water each year. In 1944, a treaty was introduced to guarantee 1.85 trillion litres to Mexico.

Despite all these management agreements, problems over the river’s resources have arisen, because:

• River was commited to deliver 20.35 trillion litres per year, but only brought about 17.25 trillion litres anually
• Evaporation from lakes has remove 2.5 trillion litres, and even less during periods of drought
• Demand for water has increased, due to population growth and more irrigation for farmland.

Environmental problems:

• Alluvium becomes trapped behind dams (eg. Hoover Dam), damaging the delta and wetland ecosystem at the mouth of the Colorado river
• Salinity has increased in the lower basin, altering the ecosystem
• Reduction in the population of fish, shrimps and sea mammals

Resource management strategies:

• Reducing leakage from broken pipes
• Use of grey water in domestic homes
• Domestic conservation
• Improving irrigation (using drip irrigation) or growing crops with a lower demand for water
• Extraction water from ground water supplies
• Desalinisation of water from the Pacific ocean

(Information from: Greenfieldgeography )

China: Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Dam is located near Yichang on the Yangtse River in China. It is approximately 180 m high and 2.3 km wide and has taken almost 17 years to construct.

The dam has protected 10 million people from flooding and its 32 generators provide energy for 60 million people (each generagtor produces as much energy as a small nuclear powerplant), enabling China to reduce its dependency on coal. It also allows shipping above the Three Gorges and has 6-folded the water traffic capacity. Also, the dam has created many jobs.

  Model of the Three Gorges Dam

However, the dam meant that 1 million people had to be moved to accomodate the reservoir and power stations. The Three Gorges Dam also interferes with aquatic life, being a major threat to the White Flag Dolphin, which is already at risk from extinction. Furthermore, the large masses of silt transported by the Yangtse deposit behind the dam, which reduces the storage capacity of the reservoir. Besides, the dam lies on a fault line and could be badly affected by an earthquake.

Central European floods 2013

Extreme flooding in Europe began after heavy rainfall in May and early June 2013. Precipitation at the northern rim of the Alps exceeded 300mm over four days. This, along with an already high soil moisture from the wet spring weather, gave rise to severe flood discharges in the Danube and Elbe rivers. Many dykes failed due to the pressure from the water masses, worsening the situation. Flash flooding was recorded in Warsaw as a result of a heavy thunderstorm.

25 fatalities have been recorded due to the 2013 floods. Thousands of people were evacuated in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. The total devastation amounted to 12billion €, with crop losses acounting for 1billion € worth of damage.  River traffic was blocked for several weeks and many railway lines were closed due to flood damage and landslides.

By Honza Groh (Jagro) (Own work) CC BY-SA 3.0

Short-term responses included search and rescue efforts and emergency evacuations. Members of the Red Cross built shelter camps for displaced residents. Military soldiers established sand bag walls to control the Elbe and Danube rivers and protect buildings in areas such as Dresden and Passau. In some rural regions, levees were destroyed to allow the water to escape onto flood plains and prevent uncontrolled damage downstream.

The governments of Germany, Austria and the Czech Republik are investigating into longterm measures to reduce the aftermath of future floods. Suggestions include reducing construction activities on flood plains and creating spillways to divert part of the flow in case of high discharge. Some dykes will be raised and stabilised to protect particularly vulnerable regions.

2011 East African Drought

The 2011 drought in Ethiopia,Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia was caused by the La Nina phenomenon, an ocean current in the Pacific which increased the intensity of westerly winds in the Indian ocean, pulling moisture away from East Africa and towards Australia and Indonesia.

• Most crops failed and 60% of cattle perished due to a lack of water
• Severe food crisis: lots of people suffer from starvation or malnourishment
• Thousands fled to refugee camps in hope of food aid from other countries, but many people died of starvation or disease en route

India: Thar Desert, Rajastan

The Thar Desert is dry as hot air rises at the equator and cools. The moistureholding capacity decreases; it rains. As the air moves away from the equator by advection, it cools and sinks at the tropics (where the desert is located). The sinking air warms up and its moisture-holding capacity increases, so the area is very dry. With the low humidity, there are few clouds to reflect the sunlight and as there is no evaporative cooling, most of the sunlight warms the ground surface, creating hot temperatures.

Vegetation:

Low precipitation and temperatures of up to 53°C result in scattered vegetation that has adapted to the extreme conditions. For instance, the Ber tree has a rapidly developing taproot system to survive in drought conditions. However, exept for a few trees, the desert is home to thorny bushes and shrubs. These have spiky leaves to reduce rates of evapotranspiration. Xerophilious grass has a small surface area to reduce water loss. Some species als remain dormant during long dry spells.

The Thar Desert is threatened by excessive irrigation which leads to salinization. Therefore plants can not take up water from th soil, as the soil has greater concentrations of solute than the roots. Soil quality is also decreasing as manure is used as an alternative fuel for firewood rather than to sustain nutrient-rich, fertile soils. Furthermore, population pressure results in overcultivation and overgrazing, especially around cities like Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, damaging the natural vegetation. The desert environment is also threatened by tourist attractions such as dune bashing. The toyotarisation disturbs animals, kills vegetation and creates dust stroms. Also, tourists may dump waste in the desert, poisoning flora and fauna.

Tropical Rainforest in Borneo

Borneo has experienced the fastest tropical rainforest clearance in the world. While 94 % of the island’s land was covered by forest in 1950, less than half of it remains today (44.5% in 2010).

The rainforest has been cleared for the following reasons:

• to boost Malaysia’s economy by exporting timber for furniture and paper production
• population pressure : Indonesia’s transmigration programme caused people to move from overcrowded islands as Java to relatively sparsely populated areas as Kalimantan
• to build palm oil plantations
• HEP : forest clearance to provide space for a reservoir in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo)
• coal mining in Kalimantan

By T. R. Shankar Raman (Own work) CC BY-SA 4.0

Effects of clearance:

• atmospheric pollution – burning of forest releases enermous masses of ash and smoke
• global warming due to the release of Co2 from burning forests and reduction in carbon sink (as burnt trees do not absorb CO2 by photosynthesis)
• loss of biodiversity : loss of plant species through deforestation
• destruction of habitat: some species (eg. orang-utans) are unprotected due to lower forest cover
• loss of soil fertiliy : soil degration due to soil erosion and leaching
• Afforestation/reforestation and selective logging
• Promoting rainforests as destinations for ecotourism , enabling the undisturbed environment to create a source of income for local people without it being damaged or destroyed
• World-wide initiatives including debt-for-nature swaps: debt relief for retaining rainforests

Tourism in Lanzarote

With more than 2 million visitors annually,  tourism represents the major pillar of Lanzarote’s economy

• Climate: average water temperature of 20°C, and average air temperature of 21°C, very little rainfall and 8.5 hours of sunshine each day
• Numerous luxury and package hotels on beaches eg. Playa Blanca
• Jameos del Agua: an underground lagoon in a lava tube
• Timanfaya National Park
• El Golfo: an emerald green lake situated at the base of a crater on the west coast of the island
• Cueva de los Verdes
• Cactus Garden by Cesar Manrique
• Since the 1980’s , package holidays have created a source of income to promote the development of basic infrastructures, such as the extension of the airport runway to allow for international flights
• Employment opportunities in tourist industries eg. hotels, gastronomy, transport, tour guides

Disadvantages:

• Import leakage to fulfil tourist demands such as food, because only few types of vegetation can thrive on Lanzarote’s arid, volcanic soils

  Ecotourism in Belize

With 245 000 tourists annually, in 2007, over 25% of all jobs were in tourism, which made up over 18% of Belize’s GDP.

Primary and secondary attractions:

• Mangrove swamps
• Mountain pine forests and tropical rainforests
• Archaeological sites eg. Mayan civilization
• Wildlife reserves eg. Coxcomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary

How tourist demands are managed:

• Belize Tourist board, Ministry of Tourism and private sector
• Community Baboon Sanctuary to preserve forest habitat and howler monkeys: sustainable farming to increase yield and services for tourists

Problems/Threats:

• Waste dumping and financial leakage due to cruise tourism
• Overfishing
• Coral damage and eutrophication of freshwater from fertilizer runoff
• conserve world heritage site of barrier reef
• increase knowledge of country’s ecosystems through training programmes
• reduce concentration of tourists in specific areas
• support planning and development of a buffer zone
• stricter regulations on cruise ships to reduce waste dumping
• persuade cruise tourists to spend more time on land

Maldives: Tourism as a development strategy

The Maldives are located south-west of India in the Indian ocean and consist of more than 1000 islands.

Tourism accounts for 28% of the Maldives’ GDP and more than 60% of its foreign exchange receipts.

Natural attractions:

• sea-sun-sand combination

Man-made attractions:

• luxury resorts and suites eg. Taj Exotica Resort and Spa on South Male Atoll
• Grand Friday Mosque in Male attracts religious tourists
• Water provided by desalination of sea water
• Energy produced by generators
• Waste dumped in landfill sites or sea (this problem is addressed by the compulsory installation of incinerators, bottle crushers and compactors in all resorts)
• Import leakage due to poor agricultural potential and no economic minerals
• External shocks: sea-level rise, tsunamis, terrorism, etc.
• Depletion of natural resources and climate change

How tourism in damaging the natural environment:

On the Maldives, tropical coconut palms are destroyed for building hotels. Consequently, the ecosystem is threatened as food chains are destroyed or disrupted. For example, lizards loose their natural habitat. Animals are also scared away by traffic. Besides, a ferry from Male every 10 minutes pollutes the seas, threatening the corals. The reefs are also destroyed as tourists take samples home and leave litter on the beaches that may kill reef fish. The atmosphere is polluted by the incineration of waste.

• Encourage linkage between tourism and other sectors as construction, manufacturing and transport (multiplier effect)
• Encourage foreign investment in the development of new resorts
• Increase employment
• Encourage solar and wind power

Global warming management: Maldives

The Maldives are located in the Indian Ocean, only 1,5 m above sea level on average, with 80% percent of the land below 1m.

By Giorgio Montersino on Flickr Licence: CC-BY-SA-2.0

Global warming is a substantial threat to the Maldives, as an increase in temperatures leads to the melting of icebergs, causing sea level rise that may submerge the island group.

The Maldivian Government has built a 3m high sea wall that surrounds the island of Male, to protect it from flooding and preserve its beaches. The sea wall was funded by the Japanese government.

Also, the Maldives plan to be a carbon neutral country by 2019. In other words, they try to avoid adding Co2 to the atmosphere, as carbon dioxide is considered to be responsible for global warming. This should be accomplished by encouraging the development of solar and wind energy.

Fuelwood in Mali:

Image from: Flickr by M Poudyal on 6. April 2007

For local people: The large-scale deforestation that is required to  supply for sufficient energy is problematic, as this energy source is likely to run out if not enough trees will be planted. Besides, deforestation requires people to travel farther to collect enough fuelwood. Deforestation also exposes the soil (as trees cannot trap it) so soil erosion is likely to occur. Furthermore, the burning of fuelwood releases toxic gases which may be trapped in the houses, causing breathing problems or even carbon monoxide poisoning.

Environmental: The widespread deforestation has reduced the humidity of the already dry region, as less plants release water by evapotranspiration.  Also, less roots are anchored in the soil, so the soil is more likely to be eroded. Furthermore, soil salinization is increased, as the cut-down trees no longer provide shade for the soil and the hot temperatures-caused by the desert climate of the Sahel- draw water out of the soil. As an increased soil concentration is poisonous to a large variety of plant species, the natural vegetation will be less likely to grow, and crop cultivation may be hampered.

Two other case studies on fuelwood:

http://geography-student.blogspot.de/2012/06/fuelwood-issues-with-usage-possiblities.html

Geothermal energy in Iceland:

Iceland is located along the Mid-Atlantic ridge, a divergent boundary where heat from the core of the Earth rises to the surface. The energy produced from this heat equates to around 30% of Iceland’s electricity production.

Cold water is pumped down to the igneous rock layers, where it is heated by contact with the hot rocks. The hot water is then piped up and the heat energy is converted to electricity.

Positive aspects:

• emission-free
• sustainable and potentially infinite
• 3/4 of the population live near geothermal sources (in the south-west of Iceland, near Reykjavik)

Negative aspects:

• obstruction that consumes land
• visual pollution
• regional limitations
• may release dangerous underground gases

(More information on: http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/geography/iceland-geothermal-energy-case-study.html )

Solar power in India

India is particularly suitable for solar power due its large mass of land and its tropical location. Besides, solar power is considered a successful means to address India’s development problems.

Advantages of solar power:

• safe and pollution-free
• great potential in rural areas that are isolated from the national electricity grids eg. Dharnai village
• can be used effectively for low power uses as central heating

Disadvantages of solar power

• ineffective in high latitude countries and cloudy areas
• high initial capital input
• less effective for high output uses

Future plans:

• establishing an airport that relies solely on solar power in Cochin
• developing 50 solar cities
• creating world’s largest solar power station in Madhya Pradesh

Wind energy in Germany

Around 9% of the energy produced in Germany comes from wind turbines located both on shore and off-shore (in the North Sea and Baltic Sea).

Wind farms have been built in Germany starting from the 1990s, when awareness of Co2 as a contributing factor to global warming increased.

Primarily, the government fostered the production of onshore wind energy, as technical challenges prevented off-shore farms. The onshore farms were recognised as a cheap form of renewable energy, which does not contribute to air pollution, global warming or acid rain. On the other hand, people did not want to live near wind farms, as these were considered a form of visual pollution.

This issue was resolved by the development of off-shore farms, which are also more productive as there is more wind out at sea. However, the required network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the North Sea to the large industrial consumers in southern Germany have not yet been constructed.

Energy Supply in China

China sources most of its energy from non-renewable sources, with coal-powered plants accounting for roughly 65% of the country’s energy supply in 2020, according to data from the International Energy Association . Renewable sources accounted for another 30% of the country’s energy mix. In China, hydropower is the most-widespread source of renewable energy, and the country boasts many dams, including the Three Gorges Dam, which is the largest dam in the world. Wind, nuclear energy and solar power are also becoming more important as the country aims to transition to cleaner and more efficient energy sources, following the president’s call for an energy revolution.

Plantation: Rubber farming in Malaysia

Plantations are large farms producing a single cash crop (monoculture).

• tropical climate (21-28°C,  around 2000mm rainfall)
• Chinese and Indian labour imported to increase labour force
• location: lower mountain slopes forming the backbone of Malay peninsula; near railway lines and main port

• Planting in germination beds
• Tapping 5-7 years after planting to collect latex
• Latex is coagulated using acid
• Raw rubber washed and rolled to remove acid ad moisture
• Rubber is dried and smoked for stabilisation

Extensive commercial farming: Canadian prairies

• deep, fertile Chernozem soils
• large expanse of flat land (nearly 2 million square kilometres) to grow wide variety of cereals such as wheat, oats etc. in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan
• able to use large machinery for harvesting
• below zero temperatures in winter break up soil to allow ease of ploughing
• good railway link to Great Lakes allowing export of cereal crops

Human inputs:

There is a very heavy reliance on machinery for ploughing, planting, spraying the crop and harvesting. A large proportion of expenditure goes toward machinery, chemicals and other equipment. Most of the work can be handled by just a few workers using machines such as combine harvesters and harrows. One or two extra helpers may be hired during planting or harvest time.

from: http://www.geoforcxc.com/economic-activities/wheat-farming-in-canada/

Intensive farming: Rice cultivation in Ganges Valley

• Alluvial (silt) soils
• Large labour force
• Temperatures: >21°C
• Monsoon rainfall and dry spells

• Bufallo manure for fertilising
• Weather conditions such as flooding or drought may threaten rice yields
• Monopoly of land: best farmland is owned by few wealthy people, other land owners struggle to cultivate rice in more difficult conditions, especially as they do not have the technology to increase soil fertility
• Little use of machinery and modern methods
• Food shortages: Overpopulation results in overcultivation on flood plains, leading to soil exhaustion and lower yields

Information from: http://geographyfieldwork.com/RiceFarm.htm

Pastoral farming in New Zealand

New Zealand is well known for its agricultural output from sheep farming and dairy farming.

Sheep farming inputs:

• Sheep were brought to New Zealand in the 1800s by British sailors. Initially, the sheep had few natural enemies, so their numbers increased rapidly.
• The sheep are also well adapted to the mild climate and the rich pasture, particularly on the mountainous slopes of South Island.

• Shearing to obtain wool

Sheep farming outputs:

• Meat: beaf and veel
• Sheep manure for fertilizing

Dairy farming inputs:

• Mild climate with high rates of precipitation
• Alluvial and volcanic soils on the flat planes of New Zealand

Dairy farming processes:

Dairy farming outputs:

Subsistence farming: Shifting cultivation in Amazon Rainforest, Brazil

Shifting cultivation is an agricultural practice in which areas of land are cultivated temporarily and abandoned as they become infertile. This allows the land to revert to its natural vegetation and is a sustainable farming technique. Shifting cultivation is mainly practised by indigineous tribes.

Subsistence farming in Lesotho

Lesotho is a landlocked country that borders South Africa. It relies heavily on subsistence farming, with an estimated 86% of the country’s population growing their own crops and maintaining livestock.

Subsistence farming is common in the lowlands northwest of Maseru, where the terrain is flat and thus suited for the cultivation of crops. In mountainous areas, many farmers also raise livestock to compensate for the lower yields from cultivation on mountain slopes.

Additionally,  subsistence farmers in vast parts of Lesotho raise livestock, which can be sold during drought years when crop yields are low. This provides food security for the farmer’s family.

Food shortages in South Sudan

In South Sudan, nearly 4 million people are severely affected by food shortages.

• Drought: Long-term decline in rainfall in southern Sudan (by 20% since 1970s)
• High population growth (4% in 2013) increases demand for food, so unsustainable farming practices such as overgrazing and overcultivation are used, resulting in land degradation and soil erosion
• Reliance on food imports from neighbouring countries: Uganda, Kenya and Sudan
• Civil war between government and rebel forces disrupts planting and harvesting and insecurity along transport routes has hampered the delivery of food and other humanitarian supplies

Water supply in Puglia, Italy

Puglia is one of the most water-scarce regions in Italy, and has very few fresh streams or natural rivers. Its aquifers are vulnerable to contamination by seawater, and so the area’s inhabitants b uilt a large aqueduct to tap into the fresh drinking water from an underground spring in the Campania region , located more than 160 km away. 

Today, cities in the Puglia region (such as Bari) still receive some of their water for domestic use from this original aqueduct. However, precipitation in the Campania region has become less frequent in recent years, and so less water is draining into the aquifer that feeds the acqueduct.

Therefore, Puglia also gets around 250 million cubic meters of water every year from the neighboring region of Basilicata . The local authorities have even considered piping water in across the Adriatic Sea from Albania, to help the region cope with supply shortages.

Soil erosion in Nepal

25% of Nepalese forest was removed between 1990 and 2005 and this trend continues at a rate of 3% per year.

Causes of land degradation in Nepal:

• Deforestation for fuelwood exposes soil to heavy monsoon rainfalls as there will be less vegetation to protect it, causing it to be washed away by extreme surface runoff. Besides, soil is not held together by tree roots, so it can be eroded by icewater runoff from melting glaciers.
• Soil dries out in areas of low rainfall and strong winds can then remove the loose particles
• Agricultural mismanagemnet: poor farming practises such as overcultivation and overgrazing (which deplete the soil’s nutrients) damage the ground vegetation and result in the compaction of topsoil
• Soil pollution through excessive use of persticides poisons bacteria and fungi and thereby disrupts symbiotic relationships

• Crop rotation prevents depletion of nutrients and replenishes soil fertility
• Contour ploughing rather than ploughing up and down the slopes to prevent rapid run-off, gully formation and loss of soil
• Fuelwood conservation: replacing trees where deforestation has taken place or is going to occur
• Environmental education: restrict tourist visits and demand larger fee for use of heating and cooking facilities; environmental education in schools

Transport risks and benefits: Expansion of Heathrow

Discussions about an expansion of Heathrow Airport, Europe`s busiest airport by passenger traffic, arose in 2006, and still, no final decision has been made, as supporters and opposition have been arguing about the benefits and disadvantages for 10 years.

Benefits of an expansion:

• Enhancing economic growth in the UK: Heathrow functions as a major transport hub for both business travellers and tourists, transporting around 70 million passengers annually
• Benefits for financial services industry in London and other independent firms eg. inflight catering, security services
• Better connectivity to other international cities, as more destinations can be scheduled
• Waiting times would be reduced as the airport operates at a lower capacity
• Construction provides up to 100,000 jobs

Disadvantages of an expansion:

• Increase in emission of greenhouse gases from additional flights
• Community destruction: removal of 4000 houses to make space for a runway
• Increased noise and air pollution in West London due to an increase in flights: roaring airplane engines and their exhaust fumes
• Impact on wildlife

High technology industry: Cambridge Science Park

Cambridge Science Park is a Europe’s largest centre for commercial research and development. It is located near Cambridge in the United Kindom, as Cambridge University provides a large supply of expert labour and allows for the sharing of technology. Besides, a large plot of land (152 acres/61.5 hectares) had been available for a low cost, as the facility is located outside of the urban area around London. Nevertheless, good transport facilities exist, including the M11 motorway link to London for the export of finished products and London Stansted International Airport which allows for worldwide trade.

Manufacturing industry: Pakistan’s Iron and Steel Industry

• flat, cheap land available at Pipri, near Gharo Creek
• near Port Qasim, which has a natural harbour to import raw materials and export steel
• close to market: steel-using industries in Karachi, such as tool making
• energy source from Pipri thermal power station and Karachi nuclear power station
• availability of cheap labour from Karachi
• along a railway: Karachi-Pipri-Kotri and metalled roads
• economic assistance from USSR: technical expertise and capital
• water required for making steel brought from Lake Haleji
• heating of ore to separate iron
• burning coke
• rolling into sheets and cutting into lenghts
• cast iron and pig iron
• gases: sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, hydrogen sulfide
• noise pollution from machinery disturbs wildlife
• visual pollution due to large, ugly factory buildings
• air pollution from burning iron ore, which releases carbon dioxide
• water pollution from contaminated cooling water, scrubber effluent and ships supplying raw materials
• depletion of freshwater supplies due to excessive requirement of water in production
• risk of fire and explosions

MNC: MC Donald’s

MC Donald’s is a company at the forefront of globalisation, with more than 35,000 outlets in 121 countries world wide. Founded in the United States in 1940, the company began as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald. Mc Donald’s employes nearly 2 million people to sell fast food.

• Each new store that is build creates jobs (eg. opening of Mc Donalds at Kennedybrücke in Vienna created 30 new jobs)
• Mc Donalds is involved in youth sports, local charities, and other inspiring events by donating via its charities.
• Salaries vary per country, and are generally low
• Sometimes considered to have poor working conditions

Facebook: A Transnational Corporation and its global links

Facebook is the biggest social network and social media platform in the world, connecting more than 2.8 billion people in the world.

Facebook has close links to businesses all of over the world, as it not only owns the messenger service Whatsapp and the social media platform Instagram, but also offers advertising space through its Facebook Ads service, and allows retailers and people to sell and trade goods in its market place.

In the past, Facebook has also come under fire for data partnerships with other TNCs including, but limited to, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo and Spotify. However, amidst privacy concerns, the company has had to reduce the strength of its global links, and is instead shifting towards a slightly more localised global approach.

Nonetheless, Facebook continues to maintain and develop strong global links through mergers and acquisitions, its headquarter location in Silicon Valley near other high-tech, and software firms, and its relationships with goverments and business networks all around the world.

Nike: A multinational company and its impact on less developed countries

Nike is a global sportswear company headquartered in Oregon in the United States. The company employs around 75.000 people around the world, with an additional 500.000 people working for companies to which Nike subcontracts most of its manufacturing in Eastern Asia.

Benefits for LEDCs:

• Nike factories create new jobs in countries like China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, allowing poorer people to earn a wage. The standard of living for many people improves, increasing the ability to access food and quality housing.
• Nike has invested in and promoted the development of transport infrastructure in the areas near the factories. Better roads make it easier for the population to get around, and this has a positive ripple effect on other economic activity.
• Poor health and safety standards are a major threat to people employed in the factories.
• Short-term contracts and payment below the national living wage also have a devastating impact on the local community. For example, in one Cambodian factory that produced apparel for Nike, several women collapsed after working 10 hour days, six days a week , and they reported feeling hungry and exhausted.
• Natural resources such as oil are being overexploited, as they are required for manufacturing. This has a negative impact on the local environment.
• Factories are often footloose. This means Nike could relocate to another less developed area if the local conditions or government policies are deemed unfavourable – with a devastating impact on employment and the local economy.

You can find out more about Nike and its impact on LEDCs here .

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178 thoughts on “ Case Studies ”

June 6, 2024 at 7:19 am

how can i get this pdf

June 6, 2024 at 9:24 am

Hi, I sent you the PDF

June 20, 2024 at 9:16 pm

could I please have this as a pdf it’s brilliant thanks

June 28, 2024 at 1:46 pm

Sure, sent it your way.

May 29, 2024 at 9:32 am

hi thanks so much for providing this, it’s going to be such a huge help for geo this year do you mind sending a pdf copy 

June 6, 2024 at 9:23 am

Sure, sent you the PDF

May 2, 2024 at 6:48 pm

Could you also please send me the pdf? 🙂

May 1, 2024 at 3:26 pm

Can you send me a PDF file? I really need this urgently, I have my paper 1s tomorrow and I want to print this out to help me!

May 2, 2024 at 11:11 am

Hi Sunny, I’ve sent you the PDF. All the best for your Paper 1 tomorrow.

May 2, 2024 at 4:52 pm

Hi, I will have my paper 1 tomorrow, what topic did you get??

May 1, 2024 at 8:02 am

hi thanks so much for providing this, it’s going to be such a huge help for geo this year do you mind sending a pdf copy 🙂

May 2, 2024 at 11:12 am

Should be on its way 🙂

April 28, 2024 at 12:07 pm

do you have case studies on river formations as well (ex: levees, canyons, v shaped valleys etc) and coast formation (ex: spit, bars, etc)

May 2, 2024 at 11:32 am

Hi ella, There is a case study on the formation of a spit: Spurn Head, Holderness Coast, UK on this page. as well as the Ganges delta. As far as I am aware, you only need case studies on the opportunities presented by a river/area of coast, the associated hazards and their management in the current CIE IGCSE syllabus. Best, Carina

April 28, 2024 at 12:03 pm

thank you. can i please have a pdf. also, how can i memorise all these before the test in 3 days??😭

May 2, 2024 at 11:14 am

Sure, sent it to you. I’m sure you’ll do fine – if you know the core stuff well, just focus on memorising locations/place specific info and I’m sure you’ll do fine. Most examiners don’t bother to fact check what you write anyway, so if in doubt, write what you think you remember and you might still get a point even if you’re somewhat off.

April 24, 2024 at 12:03 pm

Hi can I have to pdf copy of this. Also do you have any tips for memorising the case study

P.S Keep up the fantastic work its much appreciated 🙂

April 24, 2024 at 7:09 pm

Thanks Johnathon, I’m glad you find it helpful. I’ve sent you a PDF.

As for memorising the case studies: If you know the core material well, all you need to really remember is a place-specific reference, or something specific to that location. For example, if you have a case study on flooding, and you know a little bit about the general area where the flood occurred, you can quite easily deduce that houses may have been damaged or destroyed, railway lines and other modes of transport blocked, etc. Then all you’d have to remember is some specific fact related to the flood. What really helped me was having 2-3 specific things I knew about the location already, so I didn’t have to memorise one specific fact and hope that I remember. For example, for the Central European floods I knew (because I saw this on TV at the time) that a dike near the town of Deggendorf broke, and water rose to a record-breaking 8 metres causing the town to flood, while the Austrian stretch of the Danube saw all shipping halted. So having some kind of personal connection to or interest in the location of the case studies really helps.

Apart from that, I would just practice with a lot of past papers, and check my answers against the mark scheme. If you do 1-2 case study questions a day, you become quite good at them quickly.

Best wishes and good luck with the case studies Carina

April 19, 2024 at 12:23 pm

Please can you kindly send a pdf copy of the case studies and notes? Thank you

April 24, 2024 at 6:58 pm

Sent it to you 🙂

April 16, 2024 at 5:10 pm

do you know what the case studies 7 marker questions could be in IGCSE CIE geography 2024 may/june

April 24, 2024 at 7:27 pm

Hi Josiah, I don’t know what will come up, but my guess is something on ageing population, urban land use, coral reefs, energy use in a country, and a specific agricultural system or deforestation. Hope this helps. Best wishes, Carina

March 22, 2024 at 4:54 pm

Hi Carina! i’m new to teaching the course and after the first assessment with my students I realise they are struggling with the case study questions. Would you allow if I share these as notes with my students? If yes, may i request for a pdf, thank you so much.

Like Liked by 1 person

March 23, 2024 at 10:39 am

Hi Nikhat, Sure, feel free to share the notes with your class. I’ve sent you the PDF as well. All the best teaching the course!

March 21, 2024 at 11:27 am

can i have a pdf copy plssss

March 23, 2024 at 10:38 am

Yes, sent it to you.

March 16, 2024 at 11:33 pm

Please can you kindly send a pdf copy of the case studies? Thank you.

March 17, 2024 at 9:50 am

March 15, 2024 at 1:51 am

Hey i like this, thank you. Can i get a pdf copy of this?

March 17, 2024 at 9:51 am

Sure, is on its way 🙂

January 22, 2024 at 2:29 pm

can i have a pdf copy pls

March 17, 2024 at 9:53 am

January 15, 2024 at 11:44 pm

Very helpful notes eyy can l kindly get a PDF of these case studies please l will really appreciate

March 17, 2024 at 9:54 am

Thank you, PDF is on its way.

December 9, 2023 at 5:09 pm

Hi, Do you have case studies for flooding of a river? Thanks.

March 17, 2024 at 9:57 am

Hi Z, yes, just look for the “Central European floods” or “Danube” and “Elbe” on this page. Best, Carina

November 29, 2023 at 7:46 pm

Very useful, thank you! May I have a pdf copy?

March 17, 2024 at 9:55 am

Thanks Paula. PDF is on its way.

November 15, 2023 at 5:32 am

Thank you，it is really helpful. May I have a pdf copy of this?

November 26, 2023 at 9:51 am

Sure, sent you an e-mail

September 28, 2023 at 1:19 am

Hi. Do you have any predictions for 7 mark questions (case study) for October/November IGCSE paper 1?

September 28, 2023 at 10:06 am

Hi Y, You could get case studies on a rapidly growing urban area in a developing country, over- or underpopulation, tropical areas or hot deserts, the risks and management of coastlines, a TNC and its global links and agricultural systems. As always, please take these predictions with a grain of salt, as I have no way of knowing what will be on the exams Best of luch for your revision 🙂 Carina

August 22, 2023 at 5:03 pm

Do yo have an case studies on coasts and the causes of overpopulation and eruption in eyjajjallojokull

September 28, 2023 at 9:50 am

Hi Tanatswa, Yes, you can find the case studies on this page: https://igcsegeography.wordpress.com/revision-materials/case-studies/

August 17, 2023 at 12:01 pm

This is great and i recommend it to my students. So helpful.

June 16, 2023 at 2:22 pm

hi is there a igcse workbook with answers

June 21, 2023 at 5:33 pm

Hi Renee, Some providers such as Hodder Education seem to have IGCSE workbooks and then offer a subscription service to teachers that include answers for those workbooks. But generally the answers are very hard to get as a student – this is one of the reasons why I recommend practising with past papers, as mark schemes are usually published online if you search hard enough 🙂 Best, Carina

June 4, 2023 at 7:16 pm

These are wonderful study notes

May 9, 2023 at 6:38 pm

So useful so detailed

April 24, 2023 at 8:09 am

Hi, Do you have any case studies on urban sprawl? if so please send it.

May 1, 2023 at 10:43 am

Hi J, You can find some information on urban sprawl in Nottingham on this page: https://igcsegeography.wordpress.com/2016/06/06/case-study-answer-series-summer-2008/ Hope this helps. Best, Carina

June 21, 2023 at 4:37 am

Please send me a pdf of these case studies . They are really helpful

June 21, 2023 at 5:23 pm

Hi Gladys, Just sent you an email Best of luck Carina

April 16, 2023 at 12:15 pm

Hi, Any predictions for the IGCSE CIE Paper 1, 2 and 4? Especially for Paper 1; there is so much heavy content!!I have my first exam, paper 1 in about two weeks- Thank you!:)

April 16, 2023 at 12:26 pm

Hey Martina, Did you see my reply from February yet? I would guess that in Paper 1, you’ll see a case study on either energy or development, questions around rivers and earthquakes or volcanoes, and perhaps birth and death rates, and international migration, as well as settlement types or land use. Best, Carina

April 16, 2023 at 12:46 pm

Did not! Just checked! Thank you anyhow for answering again:)! What kind of questions could they ask us in terms of rivers earthquakes or volcanoes?

March 30, 2023 at 11:51 am

Hello. Will this apply for the 2023 October/November IGCSEs?

April 16, 2023 at 11:59 am

Hello Tshepi, These case studies might apply in October 2023, but you’re always best off checking the official syllabus: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/596947-2023-syllabus.pdf Best, Carina

March 7, 2023 at 2:48 pm

hi, do you have any predictions for march 2024 paper1?

April 16, 2023 at 11:57 am

Hey Anvi, It’s a bit early for predictions for March 2024, as the Summer 2023 papers still haven’t been completed. But feel free to ask me again in late Autumn. Best, Carina

March 20, 2024 at 1:01 am

Hey! Do you have any predictions for the march 2024 paper 1 now? I would also love it if you sent me the pdf💓

March 29, 2024 at 3:37 pm

Hi, do you have predictions for P1 May 2024?

April 24, 2024 at 7:21 pm

Hi Hanzo, I have no way of knowing what questions will be on the May 2024 paper, so please do not rely solely on my predictions as you prepare for exams. That said, I would expect population-related questions (e.g. population growth/decline, ageing population), coasts and tropical rainforests/desert environments to come up. You might also have questions about food and energy production or water supply. For case studies, I wouldn’t be surprised if they on urban land use, coral reefs, energy use in a country, and a specific agricultural system or deforestation. But please do take these predictions with a grain of salt. Best wishes for your exams Carina

February 21, 2023 at 9:18 am

Thank you so much for this! It was so so so helpful:) Any predictions for the May/June Exams this year? All of the extended papers(no course work)

February 26, 2023 at 10:19 am

Hi Martina, I don’t know what questions will come up in the May /June 2023 exams, so please take these predictions with a grain of salt. My best guess is that you might see some questions around birth and death rates, international migration, settlement types and/or land use. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something on earthquakes and volcanos, and perhaps rivers and or a case study on coral reefs. You could also have questions around water supply, perhaps with a case study on energy, and tourism or development is likely to come up as well.

January 9, 2023 at 7:45 am

Hi! Do you have any predictions for the May/June 2023 Paper 1? Like, which case studies do you think are likely to come up?

February 26, 2023 at 10:21 am

Hey Livia, sorry for the delay in replying I’ve just made a few predictions – you can find them if you look for my reply to Martina on this page. Best, Carina

July 3, 2022 at 10:04 am

Thanks so much i found this very helpful.

May 30, 2022 at 6:27 pm

Thank you so much, this information has been really helpful to me in my Geography

May 3, 2022 at 10:36 pm

what are your predictions on the may june 2022 paper 1?

May 11, 2022 at 7:45 pm

Hi eisha, You can find my prediction in the comments section of this page: https://igcsegeography.wordpress.com/revision-materials/industrial-systems/ Best, Carina

May 1, 2022 at 5:33 pm

Also, is it really okay if I got stuck in the test and had to invent a place specific reference. I’ve always wondered how they correct the papers given all those student responses on different countries, tho

May 11, 2022 at 7:37 pm

Hi Jana, you’ll probably be fine inventing something if you really do get stuck, as long as it is remotely reasonable. Just keep in mind that examiners can Google stuff, or may even be from your country, so whatever you do invent probably shouldn’t be contradicted by a quick online search 🙂

May 1, 2022 at 5:21 pm

Hi Carina! Love your website! Do you have any tips or recommendations on the May Jun 2022 series for geography?

May 1, 2022 at 11:03 am

Hi, this might be a dumb question but would you recommend memorising all these case studies, or should we only need to know a certain amount, and in certain areas for the exams?

May 11, 2022 at 7:41 pm

Hi Luke, I would recommend learning the core concepts very well and at least memorising a case study for all frequently occuring topics (e.g. 1 volcano, one earthquake, one river with certain features, one coastal area, one country with population change, urban vs. rural settlement, etc.). I would try to memorise especially those case studies that you can’t find an example for in your local area,, as you probably know your city and surrounding area well enough to come up with something reasonable on at least some of the questions in the exam. Best, Carina

April 30, 2022 at 12:11 pm

thanks so much for this, exams are in less than a week and this i just what i needed :)))

May 11, 2022 at 7:43 pm

April 25, 2022 at 5:52 am

Paper 1 is almost a week away and I had very little knowledge on any case studies prior to just a few days ago. This compilation of case studies has been a great help to me, so I’d just like to say thanks!

May 11, 2022 at 7:46 pm

Thanks Ezad, I am glad you found the case studies helpful!

March 28, 2022 at 11:22 am

Dear Carina who compiles this – this is a mother trying to help her 13 years old to review – this is AMAZING resource!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!

May 11, 2022 at 7:49 pm

Thanks Grace, it means a lot to me! Best, Carina

January 23, 2022 at 6:21 pm

Hello, Are the case studies grouped, for example, are all the ones about tourism together? Thank you very much

March 20, 2022 at 9:49 am

Hi salman, the case studies are loosely grouped, so you will find all the case studies related to a particular topic after each other. Best, Carina

November 3, 2021 at 2:18 pm

This is a great resource. well done!

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Coastal Landscape Case Study ( OCR GCSE Geography )

Revision note.

Geography Content Creator

Coastal Case Study - The Dorset Coast

• The geology of the Dorset coast is perfect for both erosional and depositional landforms
• It has bands of sedimentary rock, consisting of soft clay and harder limestone and chalk
• These rocks erode at different rates creating headlands, bays, arches, a long tombolo and more
• This stretch of coastline forms part of the commonly known Jurassic Coast that stretches for 155km from Exmouth in Devon to Poole in Dorset

How has it changed?

Rock Formation along the Jurassic Coast

Erosional landscape 

• Wave erosion opened a crack in the tough limestone headland
• It is unusual as it has formed parallel to (along) the coastline 
• Further erosion has led to a cave which has developed into an arch in the headland
• Softer rocks behind the limestone have been washed away leaving an eroding line of chalk cliffs by mechanical, chemical and biological weathering
• Lying behind this limestone is a band of soft clay, and this has been scooped out (eroded) to form a bay 
• The entrance to the cove is narrow because the harder band of limestone is more resistant to erosion
• The limestone cliffs forming the back wall of the cove are vulnerable to mass movement and sometimes experience small slides and slumps
• This chalk headland has eroded to form caves, arches and a stack (Old Harry)
• Further erosion has resulted in a stump called Old Harry's Wife
• Chemical weathering and erosion have gradually eroded these features
• Biological weathering, through surface vegetation on the headland, is also weakening the rock

Main features along the Dorset Coast, UK

Map showing main features of the Dorset Coast, UK

• The cliffs behind the bays are areas of soft sandstone and clay
• Between the two bays is The Foreland , a headland of harder chalk
• Longshore drift affects the bay carrying material (mainly gravel) from the south to the north of the beach
• Erosion is the dominant process in the bay with the depositional beach losing material year on year

Depositional landscape

• Formed through the process of longshore drift, it joins the Isle of Portland to the mainland
• There is a shallow salt water lagoon called The Fleet Lagoon that separates the beach from the mainland 
• Studland Bay  has four miles of sandy beaches within sheltered waters and backed by sand dunes
• Sand only began to be deposited about 500 yrs. ago
• A freshwater lake has formed in-land called the Little Sea
• This acidity means that the dunes will be colonised by dune heather and not grass
• Make sure you can name four distinctive landforms from your studied example
• The geological time period it dates to
• The type of rock or rocks it is made from
• State if it was formed through erosion or deposition

Impacts of the 2014 Valentine’s Day storm

• On 14 February 2014, a large storm battered the coastline with winds of up to 80mph and storm waves of more than 30ft high
• Roofs were lost from buildings, power cuts, overturned lorries and landslides
• Hundreds of people were evacuated
• Sea defences were breached and huge waves threw rocks from Chesil Beach into the streets behind the seafront
• Portland Beach Road was under 4 feet of water from flooding at Hamm Beach
• Parts of Chesil Beach were lost and the 150-million-year-old Pom Pom Rock collapsed
• The main railway line from Plymouth to Exeter was washed away at Dawlish and was closed for over 2 months
• West Bay cliffs retreated by a few metres after the cliffs collapsed
• Despite the storm, Lyme Regis was sufficiently protected by its coastal defences

Effects of climate change on the impacts

• As global sea temperatures increase, water levels rise through melting ice caps and seawater expansion
• A warmer atmosphere leads to more intense and frequent storms, creating powerful destructive waves
• A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, which will lead to higher levels of precipitation and increased rates of weathering and erosion. This will lead to increased cliff instability leading to increased levels of landslips and falls
• Climate change has the ability to impact the whole of the UK's coastline, particularly those areas where the cliffs are made from softer rock and clay or are lying close to sea level and can, therefore, flood

Coastal management

• Any coastal management aims to protect the environment but mostly people from the impacts of erosion and flooding
• Not all coastal areas can be protected or managed as there are economic constraints
• Soft engineering that works with natural processes
• Hard engineering that works against natural processes

Hard engineering

• Hard engineering involves building some form of sea defence, usually from concrete, wood or rock
• Structures are expensive to build and need to be maintained
• Defences work against the power of the waves 
• Each type of defence has its strengths and weaknesses
• Protecting one area can impact regions further along the coast, which results in faster erosion and flooding
• Hard engineering is used when settlements and expensive installations (power stations etc.) are at risk - the economic benefit is greater than the costs of build

Hard Engineered Defences

Soft engineering

• Soft engineering works with natural processes rather than against them
• Usually cheaper and does not damage the appearance of the coast
• Considered to be a more sustainable approach to coastal protection
• However, they are not as effective as hard engineering methods

Soft Engineered Defences

• There are conflicting views about using a particular type of engineering for coastal defence
• Most coastal managers aim to use a range of methods depending on the value of what is being protected
• This method is known as Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)
• ICMZ aims to use a combination of methods to best reflect all stakeholder needs
• Management of coastal regions is performed by identifying coastal cells
• The risk of erosion and land retreat 
• The risk of flooding
• Identification allows resources to be allocated effectively to reduce the impacts of these risks
• The ' cost-benefit ' is easier to calculate using coastal cells
• Shoreline Management Plans (SMP) set out an approach to managing a coastline from flooding and erosional risk
• The plans aim to reduce the risk to people, settlements, agricultural land and natural environments (salt marshes etc.)
• Long term approach and the most costly
• Build and maintain coastal defences so the current position of the shoreline remains the same
• Hard engineering is the most dominant method used with soft engineering used to support
• Build new defences to extend the existing shoreline
• Involves land reclamation
• Hard and soft engineering is used
• Coastline is allowed to move naturally
• Processes are monitored and directed when and where necessary
• Most natural approach to coastal defence
• Mostly soft engineering with some hard engineering to support
• Cheapest method, but most controversial of the options
• The coast is allowed to erode and retreat landward
• No investment is made in protecting the coastline or defending against flooding, regardless of any previous intervention
• Economic value of the resources that would be protected, e.g. land, homes etc
• Engineering solutions - it might not be possible to 'hold the line' for moving landforms such as spits, or unstable cliffs 
• Cultural and ecological value of land - historic sites and areas of unusual diversity
• Community pressure - local campaigns to protect the region
• Social value of communities - long-standing, historic communities

Jurassic Coast and SMP

• As areas of the Dorset coast are being eroded, properties and infrastructure are at risk
• Landslides and rockfalls put people at risk
• Coastal management strategies along the Dorset coastline to prevent erosion have impacted the landscape and caused changes to the natural environment
• These have reduced the loss of beach material
• However, beaches further along the coast are becoming narrower and subject to more erosion (due to reduced ability to absorb wave energy)
• Timber groynes have been replaced in Poole and Bournemouth in 2021
• They are recurved and reflect waves back out to sea preventing erosion to the base of the cliff
• However, this creates a strong backwash which removes sand from the beach and leads to erosion under the wall
• As natural erosion has been halted, natural beach replenishment has stopped, reducing the overall beach levels 
• To create a wider beach in parts of upper Swanage Bay, sand and shingle were dredged from the sea bed at Poole Harbour in the winter of 2005-6
• This slowed wave energy, which reduced erosion and helped protect properties and the cliffs
• Although successful, the cost was £5 million and needs to be repeated approximately every 20 years

Human activity impacts the landscape

• Industry and tourism affect the landscape along the Jurassic coast
• As the coastline is a major tourist attraction , footpaths are worn down as people repeatedly walk along them
• Vegetation along the chalk cliff tops is trampled and worn away, exposing the soil and rock to weathering and erosion and increasing cliff instability
• Portland and West Chesil Beach are quarried for limestone and used in construction 
• Quarries expose vast areas of rock to weathering and erosion
• Up until the 1960's Chesil Beach's shingle was extracted commercially and also used in construction
• The shingle was removed so quickly, that natural processes couldn't replenish it and the landform was damaged

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Eyjafjallajokull Case Study

What is Eyjafjallajokull?

Eyjafjallajokull is a volcano located in Iceland. The name is a description of the volcano with Eyja meaning island; fjalla meaning mountain; and jokull meaning glacier. You can find out how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull on the BBC website .

Eyjafjallajökull consists of a volcano completely covered by an ice cap. The ice cap covers an area of about 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), feeding many outlet glaciers.

What type of volcano is Eyjafjallajokull?

The mountain itself, a composite (stratovolcano) volcano, stands 1,651 metres (5,417 ft) at its highest point and has a crater 3–4 kilometres (1.9–2.5 mi) in diameter, open to the north.

When did Eyjafjallajokull erupt?

Eyjafjallajokull erupted between March and May 2010.

Why did Eyjafjallajokull erupt?

Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a constructive plate margin separating the North American and Eurasian plates. The two plates move apart due to ridge push along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. As the plates move apart, magma fills the magma chamber below Eyjafjallajokull—several magma chambers combined to produce a significant volume of magma below the volcano. Eyjafjallajokull is located below a glacier.

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 920, 1612 and again from 1821 to 1823 when it caused a glacial lake outburst flood (or jökulhlaup). It erupted three times in 2010—on 20 March, April–May, and June. The March event forced a brief evacuation of around 500 local people. Still, the 14 April eruption was ten to twenty times more powerful and caused substantial disruption to air traffic across Europe. It caused the cancellation of thousands of flights across Europe and to Iceland.

How big was the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull?

The eruption was only three on the volcanic explosivity index (VEI). Around 15 eruptions on this scale usually happen each year in Iceland. However, in this case, a combination of a settled weather pattern with winds blowing towards Europe, very fine ash and a persistent eruption lasting 39 days magnified the impact of a relatively ordinary event. The eruptions in March were mainly lava eruptions. On 14 April, a new phase began, which was much more explosive. Violent eruptions belched huge quantities of ash into the atmosphere.

The eruption of Eyjafjallajokull

What were the impacts of the eruption? (social / economic / environmental – primary and secondary effects)

Primary effects : As a result of the eruption, day turned to night, with the ash blocking the sun. Rescuers wore face masks to prevent them from choking on ash clouds.

Homes and roads were damaged, services were disrupted, crops were destroyed by ash, and roads were washed away. The ash cloud brought European airspace to a standstill during the latter half of April 2010 and cost billions of euros in delays. During the eruption, a no-fly zone was imposed across much of Europe, meaning airlines lost around £130m per day. The price of shares in major airlines dropped between 2.5 and 3.3% during the eruption. However, it should be noted that imports and exports are being impacted across European countries on the trade front, so the net trade position was not affected markedly overall.

Secondary effects : Sporting events were cancelled or affected due to cancelled flights. Fresh food imports stopped, and industries were affected by a lack of imported raw materials. Local water supplies were contaminated with fluoride. Flooding was caused as the glacier melted.

International Effects: The impact was felt as far afield as Kenya, where farmers have laid off 5000 workers after flowers and vegetables were left rotting at airports. Kenya’s flower council says the country lost $1.3m a day in lost shipments to Europe. Kenya exports typically up to 500 tonnes of flowers daily – 97% of which is delivered to Europe. Horticulture earned Kenya 71 billion shillings (£594m) in 2009 and is the country’s top foreign exchange earner. You can read more about this on the Guardian website .

What opportunities did the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull bring?

Despite the problems caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, the eruption brought several benefits. According to the Environmental Transport Association, the  grounding of European flights prevented some 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (according to the Environmental Transport Association).

As passengers looked for other ways to travel than flying, many different transport companies benefited. There was a considerable increase in passenger numbers on Eurostar. It saw a rise of nearly a third, with 50,000 extra passengers travelling on their trains.

Ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano deposited dissolved iron into the North Atlantic, triggering a plankton bloom, driving an increase in biological productivity.

Following the negative publicity of the eruption, the Icelandic government launched a campaign to promote tourism . Inspired by Iceland was established with the strategic intent of depicting the country’s beauty, the friendliness of its people and the fact that it was very much open for business. As a result, tourist numbers increased significantly following the campaign, as shown in the graph below.

Foreign visitor arrivals to Iceland

What was done to reduce the impact of the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull?

In the short term, the area around the volcano was evacuated.

European Red Cross Societies mobilised volunteers, staff and other resources to help people affected directly or indirectly by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier volcano. The European Red Cross provided food for the farming population living in the vicinity of the glacier, as well as counselling and psychosocial support, in particular for traumatised children. Some 700 people were evacuated from the disaster zone three times in the past month. In one instance, people had to flee their homes in the middle of the night to escape from flash floods.

The European Union has developed an integrated structure for air traffic management. As a result, nine Functional Airspace Blocks (FABs) will replace the existing 27 areas. This means following a volcanic eruption in the future, areas of air space may be closed, reducing the risk of closing all European air space.

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Detailed resources for pre-university Geography students

Traffic congestion

By Matt Burdett, 11 May 2020

In this article, we look at traffic congestion patterns, trends and impacts .

• Traffic congestion in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Traffic regularly snarls up into several hours worth of delays. Source: By the author.

Defining traffic congestion

While there is no internationally agreed definition of traffic congestion, most sources agree that there are at least three elements, which refer to the physical effects noticed when there is a lot of traffic ( PWC, n.d. ):

• A breakdown in traffic flow
• The reduction in vehicle speed
• The increase in vehicles in the road space (‘crowding’)

The UK government’s Department for Transport ( 2012 ) recognises that, as well as these physical effects of congestion, there is also a relative judgement of what makes a ‘congested’ road. This relative judgement varies from person to person. A person from a small town in El Salvador might consider a delay of five minutes to be evidence of congestion, while a person from the megacity of Dhaka in Bangladesh will be used to two hour journeys across short distances. This means “congestion can therefore also be defined in terms of the difference between users’ expectations of the road network and how it actually performs” ( Department for Transport [UK], 2012 ).

A further way to measure congestion is to consider ‘journey time reliability’. This is a comparison between the time it usually takes to complete a journey, compared to the variation of that journey time over a period of weeks or months. This helps determine not only if congestion is taking place, but the severity of the congestion.

PWC (n.d.) , 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.

Patterns of traffic congestion in urban areas

Patterns of traffic congestion can be seen spatially or temporally. Spatial patterns relate to the distribution of congestion over a physical space – in this case, where they are in the city. Temporal patterns are repeated over time. Temporal patterns are slightly different to trends, which show an overall increase or decrease over time. A temporal pattern may show a repeated event, such as a morning rush hour, but it doesn’t necessarily grow or shrink over a longer period of time.

Spatial patterns

Spatial patterns of congestion are commonly seen using tools such as Google Maps or Waze (with traffic congestion settings turned on). However, these show the ‘live’ pattern. Geographers are generally interested in the repeated patterns, which tend to show that there are locations of congestion where it is repeated.

These focus points are often junctions between major roads commonly known as bottlenecks. In fact, they are nodal points. A node is a meeting point between two or more links on a network. When traffic meets, it is forced to slow down as the incoming traffic joins existing traffic. This may mean traffic lights, roundabouts or regular junctions, or very large infrastructure such as the on/off-ramps from highways. These are generally designed to slow traffic down, which can help to reduce congestion by improving the flow of traffic through the nodal point.

Temporal patterns

Temporal patterns generally show how traffic congestion increases at certain times of day or the week. A daily pattern is known as a ‘diurnal’ pattern.

In almost every city there are two rush hours, as people travel to work in the morning and back to their home in the afternoon. The morning rush hour is usually denser, as most people begin work at around the same time between 8am and 10am.

The afternoon rush hour is often longer, and there are more vehicles on the road. This is for several reasons. Firstly, there are more people on the road doing non-rush hour travel, such as shopping. Secondly, there are more deliveries due to businesses sending the products they have worked on before the end of the day. Thirdly, the economy is transitioning between the day-time economy (shops, offices, factories, education and so on) into the night-time economy (cinemas, restaurants, bars, theatres) which means more people are moving between more points in the network.

A further consideration is the type of person on the road at each point in the day. During the morning rush-hour, most people are habitual travellers meaning they have a defined route to work. They find the most efficient route and it rarely varies. In the afternoon rush hour, there are more people travelling who don’t do the journey very often so they may use inefficient routes through the urban area.

Trends of traffic congestion in urban areas

Aggregate data is difficult to find, but cities around the world report that traffic congestion is going up.

This may be because of several things:

• Increased urban population
• Growing wealth encourages people to buy cars and move away from more efficient public transportation
• Increasing formal sector employment requires travel to a place of work, rather than working from home
• The size of urban areas is expanding, requiring more transport across the city to get from one place to another

Impacts of traffic congestion

Traffic congestion causes several problems for the urban area. The Department for Transport [UK] ( 2012 ) identified the following major impacts:

• Slower speeds
• Longer journey times
• More queues at bottlenecks
• Less predictable journey times

This all contributes to environmental problems such as air pollution (see the full case study of air pollution in New York City elsewhere on this site), and economic problems caused by the extra costs involved. Urban congestion cost 6.9 billion hours and made urban commuters use an extra 3.1 billion gallons of fuel in the United States alone in 2014 ( Bopp et al., 2018 ).

Solutions to traffic congestion

Cities can do several things to combat traffic congestion. These can be split into ‘supply side’ or ‘demand side’ management. ‘Supply side’ management aims to reduce congestion by increasing the amount of road space for vehicles to use. ‘Demand side’ management aims to reduce congestion by decreasing the amount of traffic at any one time. Some examples of strategies are listed in the table below.

Build better infrastructure

Traffic congestion is a major problem around the world. The worst traffic congestion is in cities which don’t have strong infrastructure (see graph below). This seems to suggest that the solution is to build better infrastructure. This is an example of ‘supply side’ management, i.e. reducing congestion by increasing the supply of roads for traffic to use, and is known as Transportation System Management (TSM).

• Cities with the worst traffic congestion. Source: McCarthy, 2019 .

However, this is a false economy: studies such as the UK’s ‘The Impact of Road Projects in England’ show that when cities focus on building better infrastructure, the amount of traffic simply grows to fill the available space ( Sloman, Hopkinson and Taylor, 2017 ) because the shorter travel time is an incentive for more people to do more journeys. This is known as ‘induced demand’ ( Campaign for Better Transport, n.d. ). Eventually the new, larger road becomes clogged up with traffic too.

Active Traffic and Demand Management

An alternative solution being practiced in many cities is Active Traffic and Demand Management (ATDM). ATDM is an example of ‘demand side’ management: encourage fewer people to use the roads at the same time.

There are very strong links to the development of so-called Smart Cities . Strategies include:

• Real-Time Traveler Information Systems like Waze and Google Maps. Individual travellers can see if the traffic is bad and made a decision not to add to it, or the app itself will direct users away from the congestion.
• Ride-sharing apps to encourage individuals to share vehicles if they’re going in the same direction.
• Road pricing, whereby sensors in the car are triggered and add a charge for the use of roads that are congested.

Bopp et al., 2018. Benefits and Risks of Bicycling. In Bicycling for Transportation: An Evidence-Base for Communities, Pages 21-44. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128126424000027 Accessed 8 May 2020.

Campaign for Better Transport, n.d. New roads create new traffic. https://bettertransport.org.uk/roads-nowhere/induced-traffic Accessed 8 May 2020.

Department for Transport [United Kingdom], 2012. An introduction to the Department for Transport’s congestion statistics. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/51125/An_introduction_into_the_Department_for_Transport_s_congestion_statistics.pdf Accessed 22 February 2020.

McCarthy, 2019. The World’s Worst Cities For Traffic Congestion [Infographic]. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/06/05/the-worlds-worst-cities-for-traffic-congestion-infographic/#f3279c312bcf Accessed 8 May 2020.

PWC, n.d. Mobility insights: tackling congestion. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/industrial-products/library/mobility-insights-tackling-congestion.html Accessed 22 February 2020.

Sloman, Hopkinson and Taylor, 2017. The Impact of Road Projects in England. Available at https://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/the-impact-of-road-projects-in-england/ Accessed 8 May 2020.

Traffic congestion: Learning activities

• Briefly define ‘traffic congestion’. [1]
• Identify three metrics that could be used to measure traffic congestion. [2]
• Outline the typical spatial pattern of congestion in an urban area. [2]
• Explain the pattern you described in (3). [2]
• Describe the diurnal variation in traffic congestion in a typical city, starting from 12 midnight and continuing to the following 12 midnight. [3]
• Explain the diurnal variation you described in (5). [2+2]
• Describe and explain the impacts of traffic congestion. [2+2]
• For your nearest city, identify, describe and justify what the most effective traffic congestion management plan would include: supply or demand side management? [10]

Other tasks

Look at Google Maps , Waze or a similar mapping app and turn on the traffic heat map. Briefly look for the points of congestion in your nearest city and identify:

• The general distribution (e.g. central / outskirts)
• Whether congestion is focused on nodal points in a network
• Whether this congestion is linked to the development of bigger roads e.g. highways
• Suggest reasons for the distribution of current traffic congestion
• Suggest whether this distribution is likely to be the same in six, twelve and eighteen hours from now.

Going further

This free-to-access article provides a wealth of information about the links between congestion and transport networks. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146516305750

© Matthew Burdett, 2020. All rights reserved.

All secondary material on this site is clearly referenced and may be subject to copyright restrictions by the original authors. All original material on this page is subject to copyright.

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