There are several models geographer’s use to attempt to account
for their layouts.
Using your map of Houston, plot the location of business
districts, industry, and residential housing.
Modeling the North American city
1. Central business district
(itself broken into theatre,
financial, retail, etc.
Ernest Burgess’s Concentric Zone Model
2. Zone of transition:
residential deterioration and
encroachment by business.
Includes light manufacturing
“villages” like Fairfield and
Cole’s Crossing
3. Closely spaced but
adequate homes for blue
collar workers.
Density gradient
1
Age increases
2
3 4
5
6
4. Zone of better middle
class residences
5. Suburban residences.
Depicts a dynamic city in
which over time each zone
encroaches on the next
zone in the ring.
Based on the observation that home value increased with distance from the CBD
Concentric Zone is the oldest of the models. It was developed before
the advent of mass car ownership.
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Homer Hoyt’s Sector Model
1: Central Business District
2: Factories, industry, transition zone
3: Middle class residential
4: Low class residential
5: High Class Residential
As areas developed and grew, the expanded in
a “corridor.”
Factories,
Industries,
Transition zone
Middle Class
residential
Low class
residential
High class
residential
Development follows transportation routes.
Low class residential
Harris and Ulman – Multiple Nuclei Model
1: Central Business District
2. Light Manufacturing
3. Low Class Residential
4. Middle Class Residential
5. High Class Residential
6. Heavy Manufacturing
7. Outlying Business District
8. Residential Suburb
9. Industrial Suburb
9
Multiple Nuclei Model is based on the assumption that the Central
Business District is losing its dominant position as the nucleus of a city.
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The “new” suburbs like CyFair, Spring, Sugarland,
Woodlands.
Because the long
commute often
became untenable,
smaller businesses
moved their
locations to the
suburbs.
Periphery or Edge City Model
1: Central Business District
2. Suburban Residential
3. Shopping Mall
This model is often called the “tenement of the
information age” because they are made up of
many high density
townhomes and
apartments for those
who work nearby.
4. Industrial district
5. Office Park
6. Service Center
7. Airport Complex
8. Shopping and Employment Center
In a modern city the density gradient has fewer
people downtown so there is a “density gap.”
This model is often
called the “tenement
of the information
age” because they are
made up of many high
density townhomes
and apartments for
those who work
nearby.
Galleria
Willowbrook
CBD
Ship Channel
Woodlands
Office park
and
employmenet
Airport
Complex
Baybrook Mall
Beltway office park
Edge City
Models of city structure around the world
European cities have a high
degree of residential,
commercial, and indisturial
zoning.
A major difference
comes in the form of
intermixed building
zoning. There may
be a commercial
establishment on the
ground floor and
apartments above.
Unlike the United States where we tend to tear down old buildings and replace
them with new building, in European cities they try to preserve historic
buildings.
As a result of the cities being much older, the streets are in a “dendritc”
pattern, or, they look like the roots of a tree. They go everywhere.
On problem this
creates is that it is
difficult for a stranger
to navigate some
cities.
The streets in the older
sections of town were
not built for car traffic
and are too narrow for
two cars in many
cases.
The urban structure of European cities is a reverse of
what we find in American cities.
The
wealthier
people
live in the
downtow
n areas.
In most
cases the
urban core is
devoid of
skyscrapers.
The urban poor and the high rise buildings are found in
the suburbs.
Before the age
of elevators
wealthier
people lived on
the ground
level, the higher
up, the poorer.
With elevators,
the wealthy
moved ‘up.”
In order to
limit urban
sprawl, they
have created
“greenbelts”
between the
cities.
Latin American cities (and most colonial citites) integrate their past with the
present.
The design and layout of the
city was developed hundreds
of years ago.
Many of the zones in the
city radiate from a central
core in a “spine” formatin.
Cities are laid out with
the cbd as the”hub.”
Travel from one area to
another requries
moving through the
hub.
Note 4: high income residences
3: Industrial district
1: commercial business district
7: squatter districts
Latin American cities are often ringed by slums. These
are the people from the countryside that came to the city
to find work.
LDC cities have a
growing population
rate due to two
factors:
Brazilian cities have slums called “favelas” that literally are built up the side of a
hill.
These are crime ridden, drug infested areas that the police often
avoid.
Economic develoment has
made many Asian cities
prosperous.
Most are built on the coast and
are built for trade with the ports
playing an important role in
their develoment.
These cities often have
special economic zones that
provide inexpensive access to
markets.
Note how growth extends
out from the port.
In only fifty years,
Singapore has
become a ped,
spurred on by their
location and export
markets.
Because many
have only bloomed
in the recent past,
they are “new”
cities with a
growing
infrastructure.
Islamic citeis are found in the Middle East and parts of Indonesia.
The focal point of these
cities is a Mosque.
The focal point of the cities
is religion itself.
Streets are
characterized as
narrow and crooked.
One of the most recognizable Muslim cities in the world is?
African cities are the fastest growing urban regions in the world.
The focus of the city is the
colonial core.
Citeis show both a colonial cbd
and a traditional cbd.
African cities suffer from poor infratstructre and lack adequate transporation
systems.
The market or bazaar is the
center of importance for many
people.
Many market places can
take up city blocks.
This is part of the informal
economy.