Reusing – Lengthening the useful life of an item by repeatedly using it but without processing it

She is repeatedly using (reusing) CPR in her job and it lengthens the life of the people she saves.

Reusing is taking old items that might otherwise be thrown away and finding a new use for them, without any reprocessing, thereby getting the most use out of existing items.

Reusing an item can be as simple as refilling a water bottle at home instead of buying a new bottle of water, or saving old toothbrushes to scrub hard-to-clean spaces like grouting between tiles.

The doorstep delivery of milk is a well-known example of the repeated reuse of bottles.

Rural-Urban Fringe – A zone of transition between the built-up area and the countryside, where there is often competition for land use

It is a zone of mixed land uses, from out-of-town shopping centres and golf courses to farmland and motorways.

Rural means relating to the countryside.

Urban means relating to the city.

The following helps you remember the meaning of fringe:

Remember, when you get your fringe cut it's only the front outside edge that gets removed.

So, rural-urban fringe is the countryside-city edge, the place where the edge of the city meets the edge of the countryside and where each competes for space.

There is growing interest in how the full environmental and social potential of rural-urban fringes can be unlocked.

A number of organisations have made proposals for maintaining and developing these areas sustainably so that they become assets rather than poorly planned urban sprawl.

Urban sprawl is the unrestricted growth of housing and commercial development which results in increased road traffic.

Sanitation – Measures designed to protect public health, especially the provision of clean water and the disposal of sewage and waste

I got my sanity back and an ovation (sanitation) from my neighbours when I got rid of my rubbish and compost of poo and waste.

Basic sanitation is access to facilities for the safe disposal of human waste (faeces and urine), as well as having the ability to maintain hygienic conditions. This is achieved through services such as garbage collection, industrial/hazardous waste management, and wastewater treatment and disposal.

The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal (MDG) was to halve the proportion of people in the world without sustainable access to basic sanitation by 2015. It was not achieved.

Now, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is for everyone to have “adequate and equitable” sanitation by 2030.

Social Deprivation – The degree to which an individual or an area is deprived of services, decent housing, adequate income and local employment

(Pronounced soh-shuhl dep-ruh-vey-shuhn)

So, shall dependant people rise up out of the nation (social deprivation) or will they forever be stuck in an area deprived of basic needs?

Social deprivation is the extent to which a person, or a community, lacks what they really need to have a decent life, including work, money, housing, and services.

Social deprivation can be measured using indicators such as life expectancy, level of education and income. For instance, the life expectancy and average income of people in some areas of Northern England are lower than for people in the more affluent areas of the South East.

Causes of social deprivation can include unemployment, low wages, insufficient welfare payments and rising living costs.

Social Opportunities – Chances for people to improve their quality of life, for instance, access to healthcare and education

"So shall the opportunities (social opportunities) be better here than where I am from – better education, better healthcare?"

The most basic social opportunities are access to education and to healthcare facilities. These facilities have to be within a reasonable distance and need to be free or affordable.

Social opportunities also extend to the amount of interaction between people and groups. A lack of social interaction can have a serious effect on individuals' development and life chances.

Where people live can have an important bearing on their social opportunities and life outcomes. Living in an area that is poorly supported by services and infrastructure is likely to mean a distinct lack of opportunity.

Squatter Settlement – An area of poor quality housing lacking in amenities such as water supply, sewerage and electricity, which often develops spontaneously and illegally in a city

I squatted right here and then decided to settle here forever, I knew it was meant (squatter settlement) for me, but the area was lacking quite a few facilities.

Squatter settlements are usually built on the edges of cities in the world's poorest countries. Some are very basic and built from the cheapest materials, or materials that have been abandoned or found on waste sites. 

However, some squatter settlements – which are also referred to as shanty towns – have existed for many years and have been improved with more advanced building work and the introduction electricity supplies and other services. In some cities they have become permanent features.

sustainable Urban Living – Measures including the use of renewable resources, energy efficiency and use of public transport to ensure minimal damage to the environment

Sustainability = meeting current needs without damaging the ability to meet future needs

Urban = relating to the city

So, one example of sustainable urban living is:

Use public transport because it uses fewer resources for the same number of people.

Other examples include:

As an example, Copenhagen in Denmark is often ranked as one of the greenest cities on the planet.

Among many innovations, it has created an energy-efficient district heating system that connects to nearly every household.

It has a highly integrated transport system and is building what’s known as super cycle highways, which have led to 45% of the city’s residents commuting by bike every day.

The city set a goal to become carbon neutral by 2025.

Traffic Congestion – Occurs when there is too great a volume of traffic for roads to cope with, so traffic jams form and traffic slows to a crawl

We all know what traffic congestion is, but what are the consequences? 

Traffic jams can occur anywhere for a variety of reasons: for instance, an accident on a motorway, or roadworks that restrict traffic flow.

In urban areas, however, traffic jams are a regular occurrence due to the sheer volume of traffic at certain times.

One of the major drivers of traffic congestion and delays is the concentration of economic activity in and around major cities, which means heavy traffic as people travel to and from work, as well as large numbers of delivery vehicles.

Economic growth and social development increase mobility in urban areas and lead to increased use of private cars.

Urban Greening – The process of increasing and preserving open space, such as public parks and gardens, in urban areas

Urban = city living.

So urban greening is city greening. How do we make cities greener?

See below:

Green spaces are considered to be essential to people's quality of life and, in developed countries at least, there is a move towards increasing the amount and quality of green spaces within cities.

This is being achieved by various means including:

• Creating rooftop green spaces
• Using canals and rivers as breeding sites for birds
• Ensuring that new building projects include green spaces
• Planting many more trees

Urban greening has been shown to help combat air and noise pollution; soak up rainwater that may otherwise create flooding; create a habitat for local wildlife; and lift morale in the people who see it.

Urban Regeneration – The revival of all parts of the built-up area by either installing modern facilities in old buildings (known as renewal) or redeveloping (i.e. demolishing existing buildings and starting again)

We know that urban means relating to the town or city.

The city (urban) realised they could generate for the nation (urban regeneration) more income if they redeveloped old properties.

Urban regeneration means the reconstruction of built-up areas, especially where there is evidence of urban decay.

Urban regeneration began in the late 19th century and went through a phase of considerable acceleration as industry declined in the late 20th century. It is something that nearly every country tackles continuously.

The purpose of regeneration is to deliver a long-lasting solution in the form of a sustainable new community.

This involves looking at the needs and challenges of a location and its economy, and consulting with everyone concerned to examine all the issues.

The result should be a scheme that delivers economically while meeting the needs of the local community.

Urbanisation – The process by which an increasing percentage of a country's population comes to live in towns and cities. Rapid urbanisation is a feature of many LIC's and NEE's

We know that urban means town or city.

Urban (city) areas rise within the nation (urbanisation) and you can see that they grow over time.

Urbanisation means an increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas compared with rural areas. It happens when the chances of getting a job in rural areas reduce, and people have to move to cities, where there are usually more jobs, in order to survive.

For instance, when machinery takes over agricultural work, the result is often movement of people from countryside to city.

Urbanisation occurs mainly in developing countries but was experienced in developed countries in the past, for instance during the Industrial Revolution.

The process of urbanisation can bring many problems, including a shortage of housing, increased pressure on urban services, and the unauthorised construction of squatter settlements, or shanty towns.

Urban Sprawl – The unplanned growth of urban areas into the surrounding countryside

We know that urban means relating to the city.

The city spread and crawled (urban sprawl) into the countryside.

Problems caused by urban sprawl include

• Air pollution resulting from dependency on cars
• Water pollution caused in part by increases in impervious surfaces
• Loss or disruption of environmentally sensitive areas (for example, wetlands and wildlife corridors)
• Reductions in open space
• Increased flood risks
• Overall reductions in quality of life

Many governments have now moved towards better control and management of rural-urban fringe areas (where towns and cities meet the surrounding countryside). Policies are aimed at unlocking the environmental and social potential of these areas.

Birth Rate – The number of births in a year per 1000 of the total population

At birth the baby's weight (birth rate) was just 1.0kg, or 1000 grammes (per thousand population). But the doctors were certain she would be up to normal weight quite soon.

The birth rate along with the mortality and migration rates are used to calculate population growth.

Average global birth rates:

Commonwealth – A Voluntary association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states, which were mostly territories of the former British empire

Member states have no legal obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Common Wealth, no, but common language, law and democracy, yes.

To remember that there are 53 member states notice that all the people above were wearing the holy rosary beads.

And there are 53 Hail Mary beads on the typical rosary used by most Catholics.

NOTE: The Commonwealth countries are not dominated by the catholic religion: this is used only as a mnemonic or aid to memory.

Or if you use our Mammoth Memory Number System, 53 is lamb. So think of a lamb wearing rosary beads.

About 2.4 billion people – nearly a third of the world’s population – live in Commonwealth countries.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 independent countries, including advanced and developing nations.

The aim of the Commonwealth is for member countries to work together to promote prosperity, democracy and peace, to amplify the voice of small states and protect the environment.

Some regard the Commonwealth as the modern manifestation of the British Empire and, indeed, most of the countries that belong to the Commonwealth were at one time or another under British rule.

However, membership of the Commonwealth is voluntary and countries that were not part of the Empire are now able to join. To do so, they must meet certain criteria, including compliance with Commonwealth values, principles and priorities.

Death Rate – The number of deaths in a year per 1000 of the total population

Death by a heavy weight (death rate) of one tonne or 1000kg (per 1000).

NOTE: Dying by a one tonne weight is to remind you that death rate is:

Number of deaths per 1000 people per year

The death rate (or mortality rate as it is also known), along with birth rate and migration rates, are used to calculate population growth.

Death rates can also provide governments with information on the leading causes of death.

According to the World Health Organisation, the ten leading causes of death globally in 2016 for both sexes and all ages, per 100,000 population were:

Deindustrialisation – The decline of the country's traditional manufacturing industry due to exhaustion of raw materials, loss of markets and competition from NEE's

Deletion of industries that were making products for the nation (deindustrialisation) had been occurring for a while in some countries. They couldn't compete with newly-emerging economies (NEE's).

To take the UK as an example, for many years the amount of manufacturing taking place has been reducing. At the same time, there has been an increase in the tertiary (services) and quaternary (knowledge-based) sectors.

The situation is not unique to the UK: there has been a global shift of manufacturing to emerging and developing countries, where wages are lower, working hours are longer, and trade unions may be banned.

The UK has entered a post-industrial era. This is when traditional industries have declined and new job opportunities in non-manufacturing industries, such as IT, have taken their place.

Demographic Transition Model – A model showing how populations should change over time in terms of their birth rates, death rates and population size

Above we demonstrate graphically the transition of a beautiful model (demographic transition model) from birth (birth rate) to how popular (population size) she became up to her death (death rate) at only 36.

This reminds you that a demographic transition model is a graph showing the birth rate, death rate and population size over time, as below:

A demographic transition model shows how the population of a country changes as the country develops over time.

The model is divided into several stages:

Stage 1: Birth rate and death rate are high – low natural increase, low total population

Stage 2: Birth rate is high, death rate is falling – high natural increase (population growth)

Stage 3: Falling birth rate, low death rate – high natural increase (population growth)

Stage 4: Birth rate and death rate are low – low natural increase, high total population

A demographic transition model does not take into account migration.

Studying how populations change helps governments in their forward planning for services like childcare, education and care of the elderly. 

Development – The progress of a country in terms of economic growth, the use of technology and human welfare

To develop a country is meant (development) to improve life expectancy and literacy, and increase wages.

Social, economic and political indicators are used to measure development in countries throughout the world.

Measuring a country's development is far from straightforward. For instance, a country might score high in one measure but low in another, or one group or area might have better literacy than others.

Also, a country may be economically successful overall, but the wealth may not be shared out equally.

The United Nations uses a composite indicator called HDI (Human Development Index) which includes several important measures, such as

• GNP (gross national product) per capita (per person)
• number of years' schooling
• life expectancy

The measures range from 0 to 1. An HDI between 0.8 and 1 is high and between 0.6 and 0.4 is low.

Generally, countries that are more economically developed are in the northern hemisphere, and most of the less economically developed countries are in the southern hemisphere. However, there are exceptions such as Australia and New Zealand.

The Brandt Line is an imaginary division that divides all of the countries in the world into the rich north and poor south.

Development Gap – The difference in standards of living and wellbeing between the world's richest (HIC's) and poorest (LIC's) countries

To understand this mnemonic, see HIC's and LIC's.

There developed a gap which meant (development gap) there was a difference between the boy eating the ice cream and the girl who couldn't afford an ice cream.

Many experts believe the gap between the richest and poorest countries is getting wider. Reducing the development gap would result in an increase in the standard of living for many millions of people.

Ways of reducing the development gap include:

• Greater financial investment in poorer countries by richer ones.
• Aid to poorer countries aimed at sustainable development.
• Fairtrade – guaranteeing producers in poorer countries a fair price for their produce and products.
• Debt relief – many poorer countries have loans from richer ones, and owe large amounts of money as a result. Reducing debts or making them easier to pay back releases income for spending on development.
• Microfinance loans: small loans with reasonable interest rates to help particular businesses or schemes.

European Union – A union of European countries formed to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its member states

You rope in to the union (European Union) as many countries as you can to join in free trade and cooperation.

The EU has developed an internal single market (for exports and imports between member states) through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member countries.

EU policies are designed to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the single market. Agreements also cover legislation in justice and home affairs and common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development.

Passport controls have been abolished for travel within what is known as the Schengen Area. This is a large area of Europe covered by 26 countries. The name “Schengen” comes from the small town in Luxembourg where the agreement to abolish passport controls was signed.

Nineteen EU member states use a common currency – the euro.

The UK – which never adopted the euro – officially left the European Union on January 31, 2020, following a national referendum in 2016 in which just over 50 percent voted to leave. A new trade deal between the UK and the EU was agreed nearly a year later.