SPRAWLED CITY
LESSON 20
1
URBAN GEOGRAPHY
2
Archaeologists have found that the houses in
Indus River cities, such as Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa, were a uniform size: each house had
access to a sewer system, and palaces were
absent from the cultural landscape. Derive a
theory as to why these conditions were present
in these cities that had both a leadership class
and a surplus of agricultural goods.
KEY QUESTION:
3
Where are Cities
Located and Why?
Site and Situation
4
Site
Situation
* absolute location
of a city
* relative location of
a city
* a city’s static
location, often
chosen for trade,
defense, or
religion.
* a city’s place in
the region and the
world around it.
RANK-SIZE
RULE:
5
in a model urban hierarchy, the population of the city or
town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the
hierarchy.
For example:
largest city = 12 million
2nd largest = 6 million
3rd largest = 4 million
4th largest = 3 million
6
PRIMATE CITY
The leading city of a country. The city is disproportionately larger than
the rest of the cities in the country.
For example: London, UK
Mexico City, Mexico
Paris, France
* the rank-size rule does not work for a
country with a primate city
7
CENTRAL
PLACE THEORY
WALTER CHRISTALLER developed a model to predict how
and where central places in the urban hierarchy
(hamlets, villages, towns, and cities) would be
functionally and spatially distributed.
Assumed:

surface is flat with no physical barriers

soil fertility is the same everywhere

population and purchasing power are evenly distributed

region has uniform transportation network

from any given place, a good or service could be sold in all
directions out to a certain distance
KEY QUESTION:
8
How are cities
organized, and how
do they function?
9
Urban
Morphology
The layout of a city,
its physical form
an structure.
Berlin, Germany
With wall (above)
And without wall (right)
What does the urban
morphology of the city tell
us about the city?
10
Powerful social and
cultural forces shape
the character of a
city and create the
cultural landscape
of the city.
Global Periphery and
Semiperiphery
- Sharp Contrast
Between Rich
And Poor
- Often Lack
Zoning Laws Or
Enforcement Of
Zoning
Laws
11
12
Making Cities in the Global
Core
 Redlining – financial institutions
refusing to lend money in certain
neighborhoods.
 Blockbusting – realtors purposefully
sell a home at a low price to an
African American and then solicit
white residents to sell their homes
and low prices, to generate “white
flight.”
Making Cities In The Global Core
13
 Gentrification – individuals buy up and rehabilitate
houses, raising the housing value in the neighborhood
and changing the neighborhood.
 Commercialization – city governments transform a
central city to attract residents and tourists. The newly
commercialized downtowns often are a stark contrast
to the rest of the central city.
Tear-downs
– houses that new owners buy with the
14
intention of tearing it down to build a much larger home.
McMansions – large homes, often built to the outer limits of
the lot. They are called McMansions because of their super
size and their similar look.
Hinsdale, Illinois (25% of houses have been torn down in last 20 years).
URBAN SPRAWL
15
Unrestricted
growth of
housing,
commercial
developments
, and roads
over large
expanses of
land, with
little concern
for urban
planning.
Henderson,
Nevada
16
New Urbanism
 Development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create
walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs.
 some are concerned over privatization of public spaces
 some are concerned that they do nothing to bread down
the social conditions that create social ills of the cities
 some believe they work against urban sprawl
GATED COMMUNITIES
Who are gated communities for?
How do the goals/purposes of gated communities differ
across the world?
17
18
ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS
European City
eg. Muslim neighborhoods in
Paris
Cities of the Periphery and
Semiperiphery
eg. Mumbai, India
MUMBAI, INDIA
19
20
Using the city you sketched in the last
“Thinking Geographically” question,
consider the concepts and processes
introduced in this section of the
chapter and explain how people and
institutions created this city and the
model you sketched.
KEY QUESTION:
WHAT ROLE DO CITIES
PLAY IN GLOBALIZATION?
21
World Cities
22
Cities that function at the global scale,
beyond the reach of the state borders,
functioning as the service centers of the
world economy.
23
SPACES OF CONSUMPTION
The transformation of the city into an
entertainment district, where major
corporations encourage the
consumption of their goods and
services.
For example: Berlin, Germany
New York City
24
TIMES SQUARE,
NEW YORK CITY
25
Thinking through the challenges to
the state presented in Chapter 8,
predict whether and under what
circumstances world cities could
replace states as the basic and most
powerful form of political organization
in the world.