City-Rural Interdependence

The city and its countryside

A city and the countryside around it are not separate worlds. Leeds and the rural areas of Yorkshire around it depend on each other every single day. This module looks at that interdependence, both ways, and at what happens to rural villages when city workers move in: the challenges and the opportunities of a changing countryside.

Urban-rural words

Five ideas run through this topic:

The city needs the countryside

Leeds gets much of its drinking water from reservoirs in the Pennine hills nearby. This is an example of what?

• The city depending on rural areas for a resource it cannot produce itself
• Counter-urbanisation, as people move to the hills
• Nothing important, since cities are self-sufficient
• Rural decline caused by the city

A two-way street

Interdependence runs in both directions between Leeds and rural Yorkshire.

Match each link to what it provides

How the city leans on the country

Select the TWO ways a city like Leeds depends on the rural areas around it.

• It draws its water supply from upland reservoirs
• It relies on nearby farmland to grow food
• It collects all of its taxes from village residents
• It refuses to trade with the countryside at all

Moving out to the villages

Counter-urbanisation is the movement of people out of the city into the countryside, usually while keeping a city job and commuting back in. Around Leeds, families move to villages for more space, quiet and a perceived better quality of life, the rural idyll. Faster trains and home working make it easier. But their arrival changes the village, for better and for worse.

The village that changes

When wealthy commuters move into a Yorkshire village, local young people often struggle to stay. Why?

• Newcomers push up house prices, so locals on lower wages are priced out
• The commuters take all of the local farming jobs
• There is no effect on local people at all
• Newcomers force the village shop to close immediately

Two sides of change

Counter-urbanisation and city links bring rural areas both problems and benefits.

Plan the village's future

You advise a parish council in a Yorkshire village near Leeds where many new commuters have moved in. Take three decisions.

• Local young people cannot afford to buy homes in the village. What could the council support?
• The last village bus service is close to being cut. Why does this matter most for some residents?
• The council wants to bring income in without harming the village. What is a sustainable option?

How a village changes

Put the stages of how counter-urbanisation can change a village into a sensible order.

• Wealthier commuters move out from the city into the village
• Demand for houses rises as the village becomes desirable
• House prices rise beyond what local workers can afford
• Priced-out young people leave to find homes elsewhere
• The population left behind grows older on average

Put it together

A city and its countryside show _____: they rely on each other. The city takes _____ from upland reservoirs and food from nearby farms, while villagers commute into the city for _____. When people move out of the city to live rurally, this is called _____. One problem it brings is that rising house _____ squeeze out local young people.

Explain the interdependence

Using Leeds and the rural areas of Yorkshire around it, explain how a city and its surrounding countryside depend on each other, and describe one challenge this brings for rural areas.

• Give two ways the city depends on rural areas, for example water and food
• Give two ways rural areas depend on the city, for example jobs and services
• Name the process when people move from the city to live in villages
• Explain one challenge it causes, such as rising house prices
• Refer to Leeds and Yorkshire throughout, not to cities in general