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GEOG1131: Population, Migration & Human Settlement
Tuesday November 17, 2015
Classic Urban Models
Dr. Kevon Rhiney
Department of Geography & Geology
University of the West Indies
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Classic Urban Models
› Concentric
Zone
› Sector Model
› Multiple Nuclei
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General aims
› Define,
explain and discuss the various
models of the internal structure of cities
› Relate urban land use to key
geographic concepts
› Understand
how land uses are shaped
by land values
› Appreciate the interrelationship b/w the
social and physical elements of the city
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The Concentric Zone Model
› Burgess’s
study of
Chicago in the 1920s
› Chicago School
›  Brought
all the concepts
together
› Logical
Positivism
1886-1966
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Underlying Processes in the
Concentric Zone Model
›  Based
on plant ecology
›  Invasion,
competition, domination and
succession
›  When
applied to groups of people living
in urban areas these are called ‘urban
ecological processes’
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The Concentric Zone Model
›  Essentially
an
application of von
Thunen’s model of
agricultural land use
›  The
pattern of growth of
a city can be
understood in terms of
six concentric zones
lying beyond the
immediate confines of
the urban area.
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› Zone
›  The
1: The Central Business District
centre of commerce, transport, and
social and civil life.
›  Largest concentration of department stores,
retail business, office buildings, banks, hotels,
theatres, museums etc.
›  Most accessible point of the city
›  Land is intensively used; most expensive sites
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› Zone
2: The Wholesale Zone
›  Fringe
of CBD
›  Dominated by wholesale activities
›  Truck and railroad depots
›  Cheaper land rents; less intense use of space
›  Less traffic
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› Zone
3: Zone in Transition/working
class housing
›  Residential
deterioration
›  Characterised by slum settlements
›  First-generation immigrants
›  Business and retail interspersed with lowincome housing
›  Businesses are attracted to this zone due
to the demand for their goods and the
supply of cheap labour
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› Zone
4: Middle Class Housing
›  Consists
primarily of the residences of
individual workers who have escaped the
blight in the transition zone
›  Second-generation immigrants and
families
›  Small yard spaces
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Zones 5 and 6: High Class Housing /
Commuter Zone
›  Single-family
units
›  Larger land spaces
›  High-income apartment buildings
›  Suburbs; satellite towns
›  Correlation between socio-economic status and
distance from city centre.
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Criticisms of Concentric Model
› Too
simplistic and limited in historical and
cultural applications; limited
applicability elsewhere
› Based only on American cities
› A product of its time
The Sector Model
› Formulated
by
Homer Hoyt
› Also a Logical
Positivists
1962
The Sector Model
› The
model is essentially complementary to
that of Burgess rather than being mutually
exclusive
› However, Burgess was a sociologist while
Hoyt was an economist
› Hoyt
was more concerned with examining
how the housing market operated in order
to advise the American government on
housing policy
The Sector Model
›  Primarily
concern with the location of high-rent
neighbourhoods
›  Nevertheless, the model has implications for
other housing types
›  Used
rental value as an indicator for housing
quality
›  Hoyt demonstrated how residential land uses
tend to be arranged in the form of sectors
radiating outward from the city centre along
transportation routes.
Conclusions reached by Hoyt
›  The
High-rental areas are located on one side
of the city; often in peripheral locations, but
may at times extend continuously from the
city centre
›  High-rent
areas often take the form of
wedges, extending in certain areas sectors
along radial lines outward from the city centre
to the periphery
Conclusions reached by Hoyt
› Middle-range
residential areas tend to be
located on either side of the highest rental
areas
› There
are some cities in which large areas of
middle-range neighbourhoods are found on
the periphery of low-rent residential areas,
as well as on both sides of high-rental areas
› All
cities have low-rent areas and these are
frequently found opposite the location of
high-rent areas and usually in the more
central locations
The Multiple Nuclei Model
› Developed
in 1945 by Harris and Ullman
› Critic of the concentric zone and the
sector models
Argument:
›  In
most cities, land uses are not built around a
single centre, but around several discrete
nuclei
›  In
some cities these nuclei have existed from
the very origin of the city; in others, they have
developed as the growth of the city
stimulated migration and specialization
¨  The
following can be noted with respect to the
multiple nuclei model:
¤  The
heavy manufacturing/industrial areas are
located on the outskirts of the city
¤  The
minor nuclei include cultural centres, parks,
outlying business districts and small industrial
centres. A university may be the nucleus for a
semi-independent community.
¤  The
existence of suburbs is characteristic of most
large American cities.
¤  The
larger and older a city, the more numerous
and specialised its nuclei
Factors explaining the rise of separate nuclei:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Certain activities require specialised facilities.
Certain related activities cluster together
because they profit from cohesion (e.g.
greater economies of scale)
Certain activities are detrimental to each
other; incompatible land uses e.g. heavy
manufacturing and high-class residential
development.
Certain activities are unable to afford the high
rents of the most desirable sites.
Concluding thoughts
› Think
about which one of these models best
relates to the towns and cities with which
you are familiar
› In
most cases, elements of more than one
model may be evident; particularly since
the models are not mutually exclusive.