A CHANGING WORLD • • The notions

Definitions of key notions & vocabulary
Transitions
• The :

Transitions
• The demographic transition: shift from a high to a low natality and mortality. Before & after the DT, population growth is small -or negative, whereas during the DT population growth is high (population boom).
• The urban transition: shift from a mostly rural to a mainly urban population.
• The economic transition: change from a farming (primary sector) then to a manufacturing (secondary sector) and now to a service (tertiary sector)-driven economy which today aims at more sustainability using digital innovation (quaternary sector), called “new economy”.
• The energy transition: progressively giving up fossil fuel and use clean, renewable energies.
• The environmental transition: transformations to remedy environmental change and limit its impact.
• The tourist transition: the democratisation of tourism and its increased sustainability.

Development
• globalisation: : massive economic & human flows interconnecting the world. Current stage: digital and financial globalisation boosting high-end ICT, financial & business services.
• digital or I(C)T: : information (& communication) technology.
• development: economic growth (GDP): producing goods & services => improving income, standard of living + human development (HDI): sharing the income from economic growth => better quality of life
• gross domestic product (GDP): : the value of the goods and services produced or used, measures wealth or the standard of living, that is to say material comfort.
• human development index (HDI): measures the standard of living and the quality of life, that is to say social & environmental well-being.
• a developed country: with a high income (GDP), and HDI (income, health, education).
• a developing country: with a medium or low income and HDI.
• an emerging country: with a strong economic growth not yet equally shared with all the population. The most powerful emerging countries are the BRICSAM : Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa & Mexico.
• sustainable development: shared economic growth + social welfare (access to basic -water, power, sanitation- and public services -healthcare, education) + environmental balance (good ecosystem management).
• unsustainable development: economic crisis + social inequality + environmental damage.
• poverty: when income is too low to meet basic needs, such as housing, food, clothing.
• family planning: also known as birth control or contraception.
• a fragmented city: with a divide between high/middle-income groups (gated communities) areas and deprived neighbourhoods. The opposite of an inclusive city.

Mobility
• mobility, migration: movement of people from one place to settle, permanently or temporarily in a new location. Migration may be forced (displaced people, climate refugees) or not (skilled/unskilled migrant workers).
• brain drain: when a country attracts a foreign highly educated, skilled population.
• multicultural society: cosmopolitan society, with many different ethnic communities living side by side.
• push factor: negative reason why people want to emigrate, to leave their home country/their village.
• pull factor: positive reason why people want to immigrate, are attracted to a host country/ a city.
• rural-urban migration: inflow of rural population to cities where they live in degraded housing (slums).
• green or ecotourism: natural tourism that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people.
• sustainable tourism: supporting environmental conservation, social development, and local economies.

Environment
• environment: the natural world or the area that you live, work, or spend time in.
• assets & constraints (of an environment): strengths and weaknesses, advantages & drawbacks.
• resources: natural elements needed, transformed and used by people. Pressure on resources is due to unsustainable practices (overuse or pollution) ? their conservation (by protecting, saving or recycling them).
• risk: exposure to a hazard ; natural (drought, flooding) or anthropic (pollution, deforestation, overuse).
• climate change: extreme weather patterns (heat wave, storm surge) due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.