WHERE EUROPE’S LARGEST CITIES ARE LOCATED

 Preview of Main Ideas

Europe, although small in land area, is home to a very large human population. Presently there are over 500,000,000 residents living on this crowded continent. Most of these people live in large metropolitan areas surrounding a core city. Each of these cities had its start centuries ago and for a variety of reasons has grown into the huge urban area that it is today. The purpose of this lesson is to study the factors that are responsible for the initial location of a city and its resulting growth. Students by creating a map and making observations about the physical features in the area will formulate a list of reasons for the locations of the cities.

Connection with the Curriculum

This activity is designed to be used in a geography class when studying population patterns and distribution.

Teaching Level: Grades 7-12.

Objectives Classification Outline

Objective #1: Students will understand geographic factors that contribute to the location and growth of cities.

Essential Element: The World in Spatial Terms.

Standard #3: The geographically informed person knows and understands how to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface.

Knowledge Statement #: How spatial processes shape patterns of spatial organization.

Skill Set #4: Analyzing Geographic Information.

Skill #1: Interpret information obtained from maps, aerial photographs, satellite-produced images, and geographic information systems.

Themes: Location, Place and Human-Environment Interaction.

1. Blank political outline map of Europe.
2. Atlas.
3. List of Europe’s Largest Metropolitan Areas.

Opening the Lesson

Ask the students to identify some of the larger European cities with which they are familiar. Discuss with students the concept of urbanization and the fact that Europe is home to many of the world’s largest cities.

1. Distribute the blank political outline map of Europe along with the list of the Europe’s Largest Metropolitan Areas. Using an atlas students should locate these 20 large metropolitan areas and place them on the map.
2. Students should make some observations about the location of the selected metropolitan areas looking for possible patterns. They should then speculate about factors that might be responsible for the location of the cities. Possible factors might include: location on waterways useful for transportation and land suitable for farming along with many other possibilities.
3. Using the physical maps in their atlases, students should look for physical features in the vicinity surrounding the metropolitan areas. The various physical features that are found in the area should be recorded. This should be done for each of the 20 metropolitan areas.
4. After studying each of the 20 metropolitan areas and recording the physical features found at each location students should look for as many common characteristics as they can find. These common characteristics can be discussed as likely reasons for the founding of most cities whether they are large or small.
5. Discuss the earlier speculations concerning the locations. Were the student’s reasons for locating cities the same as those that were identified in the study?

Concluding the Lesson

Have the students analyze their own hometown. Which of the reasons identified for the location of European cities would apply for their own city?

Extending the Lesson

In subsequent units on other world regions, have students study the locations of major cities to determine how well the generalizations derived in the study of Europe apply.

Assessing Student Learning

Provide students with a map of a hypothetical unsettled continent with physical features drawn in and ask them to predict where major cities will develop and to list the generalization that supports their prediction.

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