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S5 Geography Urban Land Use, Paper 4: density, plot ratio and the sustainable city
S5 Geography Urban Land Use, Paper 4: density, plot ratio and the sustainable city
Paper 4 starts from bid rent and density, then covers plot ratio, urban sprawl, flat numbers and the housing share of land, ending with an error item on industrial location.
Focus Density is population over area, plot ratio is floor area over site area, floor area over flat size gives flat numbers, and comparisons divide the gap by the base figure.
01 Paper details (check answers afterwards)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Questions | 10 |
| Suggested time | 25 |
| Difficulty mix | Foundation 4 · Intermediate 3 · Challenge 2 · Error redo 1 |
| Chapter | Chapter: S5 Geography: Urban Land Use |
| Level | S5 |
02 Questions (10 items)
- FoundationWhich use has the steepest bid rent curve and can afford the highest rent in the city centre?
- FoundationA district has 720 000 people over 24 square kilometres. What is its population density?
- FoundationWhat is plot ratio?
- FoundationWhat are the features of urban sprawl?
- IntermediateA site of 3500 square metres has a plot ratio of 6.4 and a flat averages 56 square metres. What floor area and how many flats?
- IntermediateA worker travels 22 km a day for 230 working days. What is the yearly commuting distance?
- IntermediateA city of 85 square kilometres has 34 square kilometres of housing land. What share is residential?
- ChallengeDistrict A has 27 500 people per square kilometre and district B 22 000. How much denser is A?
- ChallengeA plot ratio is raised from 6 to 9 on a site that held 900 flats. If the average flat size is unchanged, how many flats fit now?
- Error redoError: a student says industry should sit in the city centre for easy transport. What is correct?
03 Answers and one-line notes
| # | Answer | One-line note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Commercial and retail use, forming the core business district | Business is most sensitive to accessibility, so footfall lifts turnover and it bids highest for the centre. |
| 2 | 30 000 people per square kilometre | Density is population over area, and 720 000 divided by 24 is 30 000. |
| 3 | Total floor area divided by site area | A plot ratio of 6 allows six times the site area in floor space and is the main tool for controlling density. |
| 4 | Low density outward growth, dependence on private cars, and loss of farmland and countryside | Sprawl raises travel distance, infrastructure cost and emissions, so green belts and density zoning are used to limit it. |
| 5 | 22 400 square metres, giving 400 flats | Three thousand five hundred times 6.4 is 22 400 square metres, and dividing by 56 gives 400 flats. |
| 6 | 5060 km | Twenty two times 230 is 5060, and long commutes are a major source of traffic pressure and emissions. |
| 7 | 40 per cent | Thirty four over eighty five times 100 is 40 per cent. |
| 8 | 25 per cent denser | The gap is 5500, and 5500 over 22 000 is 0.25, so A is a quarter denser. |
| 9 | 1350 flats | Floor area scales with plot ratio, and 9 over 6 is 1.5, so 900 times 1.5 is 1350. |
| 10 | Industry sits on the urban fringe or in new towns near trunk roads and freight rail, where land is cheaper and conflicts with housing are fewer | Central land is expensive and crowded, so industrial noise, lorries and pollution would clash directly with housing. |
04 What to do after marking
- After marking, redo only the wrong items and write down which step went wrong (formula, unit, or misread number).
- Repeat the same item two days later; move to the next paper only when both attempts are correct.
- Parents only need the answer and note columns; there is no need to explain every item.
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Questions and answers are written originally by the TutorZone team and are not taken from any school, publisher or examination authority paper. Every value is checked by computer.
