Lesson 3: Factors & Processes Shaping Urban Patterns
Explaining the processes that produced a pattern, not just the pattern itself.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
Natural/physical factors (topography, coastlines, volcanic fields) and cultural/human processes (economic land values, transport infrastructure, zoning, historical settlement).
Map the bid-rent curve (land value vs distance from CBD), analyse how volcanic cones created green belt enclaves, and explain suburban sprawl.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Economic & Physical Factors Shaping Cities
Video Clip: Why are people moving to cities? Migration patterns and urban pull factors (Runtime: 11m 14s).
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
Why are high-density high-rise apartments concentrated in city centres while low-density housing dominates distant suburbs?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Heads up — this clip is global in scope, built around a Guangzhou, China case study. It does not mention Auckland, SH1/SH16 or the Waitematā/Manukau Harbours. Watch it for the general pull factors; the Auckland-specific factor analysis happens in the activity below.
- Watch for: how “urban” gets defined differently from country to country — by population size, density, infrastructure, or the work people do.
- Watch for: the Guangzhou case study of rapid urbanisation, and how colonial history and Central Place Theory shaped which cities grew largest.
- Watch for: why the video calls urbanisation a largely one-way shift once it happens.
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Connect physical topography (maunga and moana) with traditional Māori pā site selection and subsequent colonial urban layout.
Immediate Task: Complete Section 3 of your Geography Portfolio: Bid-Rent Curve Calculations & Factor Impact Analysis.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Same House, Two Suburbs, Different Price
An identical three-bedroom house costs more in one suburb than another. Two minutes: list every reason you can think of.
Now sort your list into two columns — physical (something about the land itself) and human (something people, money or rules did). That split is today's lesson, and most students find their human column is much longer than they expected.
📖 Activity 1: Plot the Bid-Rent Curve, Then Break It
Plot it (13 min). Using the land value data, plot value against distance from the CBD along a single transect. Draw your line of best fit. That line is the bid-rent curve, and on its own it is a description.
Break it (12 min). Mark every point sitting well above or below your line. For each, name the factor doing it — a volcanic cone reserve, a motorway junction, a coastal outlook, a zoning rule. The outliers are where the geography actually lives.
📝 Activity 2: Level 2 Geography Portfolio Task & Merit/Excellence Scaffolding (20 mins)
Portfolio Section 3. Submit: (1) your bid-rent graph with every outlier labelled by cause; (2) two physical and two human factors, each attached to a named Auckland location as evidence; (3) an explanation of one place where a physical factor and a human factor pull in opposite directions, and which one is currently winning.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
NCEA Level 2 Alignment: Direct preparation for Level 2 Geography (Demonstrate geographic understanding of an urban pattern). Emphasise integrating specific case study evidence and annotated map sketches for Merit/Excellence grades.