Urban Land Models
AP Human Geography
Russellville High School
What do we always say about
models?
This is a model
 Is this what real
women look like?
 It’s the same way
with models in
geography…
 Geography models
are simply
representations of
the built
environment

What do we always say about
models?
Most importantly – they are just models
 Models only represent patterns in space
 The landscape does NOT look exactly
like the model
 Models are thus representations of the
landscape to help better understand
patterns

Three
Classic Urban
Models
Other Urban Models
Burgess Concentric Zone Model
http://www.lgfl.net/lgfl/leas/barnet/accounts/migration/web/Land%20Use/documents/burgess-re-done.jpg
Characteristics of Concentric Zone
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Burgess






Burgess studied 1920s
Chicago to make this
model
5 concentric zones
Burgess suggested that
immigrants lived in inner
zones which caused
affluent residents to move
farther out
Invasion and Succession
Concentric Zone’s
weakness is that it does
not allow for change in
the city
Concentric Zone does not
allow for physical
geographic barriers
Or, how about this?
Pg. 411 Rubenstein
Applying the Models
Look at the map (figure 13-7) of Dallas on
Page 413 of Rubenstein for Concentric
Zone
 Look at the map (figure 13-8) of Dallas on
Page 413 of Rubenstein for Sector Model
 Look at the map (figure 13-9) of Dallas on
Page 414 of Rubenstein for Multiple
Nuclei
 Compare with Dallas map on Page 422

Does this really work on the landscape?
Hoyt Sector Model
Hoyt Sector Model






Late 1930s
Answered the drawbacks of
Burgess Model
Hoyt said growth created
pie-shaped urban structure
Hoyt said his pie-shaped
zones could reach from the
Core (CBD) to the edge of
the city (e.g. low rent sector
3 from CBD to outskirt of
city)
Sector Model says that the
CBD is not as important as
Burgess indicated
Sectors were developed
along transport routes (e.g.
highways, RRs, etc.)
Or, how about this?
Pg. 411 Rubenstein
Harris & Ullman – Multiple Nuclei
http://cronodon.com/PlanetTech/Cities_Structure.html
Multiple Nuclei





1940s
Harris & Ullman
hypothesized the CBD
was further losing its
dominance
CBD no longer the
nucleus of the modern
city, thus emergence of
‘nuclei’
Reflects decentralization
and then re-nucleation of
urban functions
Nuclei are disconnected
and do not necessarily
rely on each other
Or, how about this?
Pg. 412 Rubenstein
Let’s look at all three now
www.csiss.org
Urban Realms Model
www.csiss.org
Hartshorn and
Mueller
 1980s
 Modeled after cities
like Atlanta and Los
Angeles
 Further
metamorphosis of
multiple nuclei

World City Models
Latin American City Model
http://lewishistoricalsociety.com/wiki2011/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=96
World City Models
Southeast Asian City Model
http://lewishistoricalsociety.com/wiki2011/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=90
World City Models
African City Model
Favela in Rio de Janiero
http://getmobetter.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/the-real-rio/
Slums, Squatter Settlements in
Nairobi, Kenya
http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/nairobis-slums
Urban Issues – Segregation – Where
are Cubs and White Sox fans?
http://www.thechicago77.com/2009/01/chicago-is-americas-most-segregated-city/
CITYSCAPES –
What are they?
Chicago
Seattle
St. Louis
Shanghai
London
New York City
Paris
Athens
Urban Terms









Rank-Size Rule
Bedroom
Communities
Sense of Place
In-fill or In-filling
Covenants
Zoning
NIMBY
Revitalization
Gentrification









DINK
Commodification
Blockbusting
Redlining
Other Side of the
Tracks
Tenements/Row
Houses/Brownstones
White Flight
Edge Cities
Megalopolis
Another way to keep “those
people” out
Zoning
 Transportation geography – creating
highways, rails as buffers between racial
areas
 Suburbs – property values
 Creation of parks to block development
 Deerfield, IL case study

Let’s look at all three now