IGCSE Geography / Urban environments

Greenfield versus brownfield

Edexcel International GCSE Geography (4GE1), chapter 6: Urban environments, specification point 6.3a. Part of the full course.

Read the revision notes · IGCSE Geography past papers

Greenfield sites have never been built on, while brownfield sites have been used before. Knowing the difference helps you compare where new homes should go, weighing cost, residents’ needs and environmental effects.

More lessons in Urban environments

• Urbanisation around the world
• Suburbanisation and counter-urbanisation
• What drives urbanisation
• The rise of megacities
• The problems of rapid urbanisation
• Urban land-use zones
• Why land use is arranged that way
• Urban challenges in developed cities
• Case study: urban challenges in Hong Kong
• Squatter settlements
• Informal work, pollution and quality of life in the city
• Development on the rural-urban fringe
• Making urban living sustainable
• Case study: Masdar City
• Case study: Curitiba
• Who manages urban challenges
• Urban fieldwork: collecting the data
• Urban fieldwork: results, conclusions and evaluation