That Blue Square Thing

Unit - LIC Cities

WARNING! These pages are now very old. Although I’ve updated the a little, the content really applies to an old version of any geography syllabus currently active in the UK.
I've kept them here because there might be something useful for someone and the general marking principles aren't all that different. But be aware that it's old and a bit out of date

This is an example of an old GCSE unit. There's an exam question below (with a markscheme) that is still worth a look, as well as a revision sheet that might just be useful and a set of long questions that could be helpful still.

The challenge of managing LIC cities (and ones in Newly Emerging Countries (NEEs) is still relevant. As always in gengraphy, it's about trade-offs, management and finding pragmatic solutions.

PDF IconNIC/LEE city revision sheet

This is a 20 mark exam-style question. The marks start small and build towards case study questions at the end - just like the real thing.

Note: we used to call LICs LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) and NEEs NIC (Newly Industrialised...). These resources are so old then still use those terms sometimes.

LIC City exam question

This is a 20 mark exam-style question. The marks start small and build towards case study questions at the end.

You want to aim to take around 25 minutes to do this question. Make sure your answers to the simple questions are accurate and that you develop the longer answers to explain points properly - don't leave things vague. Remember that 2 or 3 well developed points are better than 10 simple points. As always, try and use case studies to back up your answers.

A using the markscheme is provided.

Study figure 1, a photograph of a shanty town area in an LIC city.

Image of favela in Ascuncion, Paraguay
Photo by Fiona Cooper, reproduced under Creative Commons licencewiki link from her Flickr photostreamwiki link.
a) Describe the housing in the area shown in the photograph
(3 marks)
b) Give two problems, other than poor housing, caused by the rapid growth of LIC cities.
(2 marks)
c) Describe one or more schemes that could be used to reduce problems caused by the rapid growth of LIC cities.
(6 marks)
d) Explain why people in LICs are moving from rural areas to urban areas.
(9 marks)

Mark your work yourself using the markscheme provided.