IGCSE Geography / Development and human welfare

Case studies: top-down projects in Nigeria and the UK

Edexcel International GCSE Geography (4GE1), chapter 9: Development and human welfare, specification point 9.3c. Part of the full course.

Read the revision notes · IGCSE Geography past papers

Top-down development is planned by a national government, often on a large scale. Nigeria’s railways and the UK’s HS2 show that it can deliver major projects, but funding problems, rising costs and limited local say can leave people and places without the benefits.

More lessons in Development and human welfare

• What development and human welfare mean
• What contributes to development
• Measuring development: GDP per capita
• Measuring development: the Human Development Index
• Measuring inequality and corruption
• The global pattern of development
• Why development is uneven
• The impacts of uneven development
• Case study: Italy, a divided country
• Demographic data and development
• Population structure and development
• International aid
• Agreements between governments
• Different views on closing the development gap
• Top-down and bottom-up development
• Case studies: bottom-up projects in Kenya and South Africa