Chapter 12: Urban Form and Governance
ⅠLearning Objectives
By reading this chapter you will be able to:
1. Explain the variety of ways in which cities are spatially organized and how this
differs by region or history.
2. Understand the various uses of cities, and the participants involved in making
decisions about these uses.
3. Describe why official planning processes came about and the factors involved in
planning processes.
4. Explain the Marxist and postmodern perspectives on a city and how these led to
new forms of analysis regarding cities.
5. Discuss how cities are governed, including the political bodies involved,
constraints on city governance, and the participants of governance.
ⅡChapter Summary
The spatial organization within a city, and a city’s governance, are both of interest to
contemporary human geographers. Just as the size and relationships between cities are
rapidly changing, so are the distribution of services and functions within a city.
How a city is spatially organized and used varies widely. However, urban land uses
are defined by similar types of actors and participants: governments, landowners,
architects, developers, and homeowners are some examples. Another commonality
amongst cities is that population density decreases with increasing distance from the city
centre. Some early models of the internal structures of cities were the concentric zone
model, the sector model, and the multiple nuclei model, all of which attempted to explain
land use in terms of business districts, residential neighbourhoods varying by income,
manufacturing and industry, and suburbs. More recent models take into account
deindustrialization and increased service sector functions.
Cities are also found to vary within different continents and geographic regions. For
instance, Latin American cities were initially established by Europeans during colonial
times and are generally centred on a plaza, with zones for industrial, agricultural, or
administrative activities. African cities tend to vary much more than Latin American cities,
due to a mixture of indigenous, Islamic, colonial, and European influences. Meanwhile,
Asian cities tend to have an internal structure which reflects distance and direction and
tend to be either indigenous or colonial.
Marxist and postmodern thinkers have critiqued the various modes of study of the
design of cities, pointing out that they are predominantly based on economic locations,
rather than taking into account social justice, human decision making, or the idea that
spatial modes of analysis are not value-free. Hence, Marxists and postmodernists
brought their own interpretations to the urban experience. Postmodern study
emphasizes global–local linkages and the recognition that cities are altering in
fundamental ways. Postmodernists emphasize that divisions within cities reflect power
relationships, as well as ethnic, religious, and gender differences.
Governance of cities arose primarily out of the development of social problems
related to housing and disease. How urban centres are governed varies widely, but
governance reflects relationships between all levels of government, as well as
relationships with local businesses and service providers. Usually at the core of these
relationships are planners, politicians, and urban residents and voters. Contemporary
cities are difficult to govern due to the fragmentation of interests within a city, financial
constraints, and the rapid spatial growth outwards of most cities. Hence, many conflicts
between various groups—based on identity, income class, or professional
affiliation—arise in cities.
These various interests are seen to be represented, or not represented, within
planning exercises and dominant planning styles. Initial planning exercises were to
implement infrastructure to manage public health issues, although planning now takes
on a variety of different models, from modernist approaches like those of Le Corbusier,
to New Urbanism movements to reduce personal vehicle traffic. Urban planners use
zoning laws and practices to regulate land uses, while addressing resident concerns, the
image of a city, a city’s cultural capital, the accessibility and mobility of residents,
environmental and health concerns, and even issues of social justice.
Many contemporary cities are spreading outwards as the processes of
suburbanization and urban sprawl are increasing the size of cities. These processes
reorganize the cities’ uses and determine where various groups of people live. Edge
cities are also emerging as a new urban form—urban centres on highway interchanges
which offer service-related jobs. In fact, most fast-growing regions are dominated by
edge cities. Overall, urban sprawl and edge cities are making it difficult to determine
previously clear boundaries between cities, as well as those between cities and rural
areas.
Ⅲ、the key points of the text
Globalization processes are today prompting the rise of new urban areas and influencing the location of
many urban activities, typically encouraging new urban development outside of traditional urban areas in
suburban or even more distant places.
Discussions of urban areas and the urban way of life are conceptually diverse, reflecting a wide range of
economic and social theories inspired by positivism, Marxism, humanism, feminism, and postmodernism.
The focus is on two related trends, one involving population spread beyond city areas and the other
involving dispersal of urban functions away from established city centres and towards suburbs, fringe
locations, and even rural areas.
Explaining Location inside the City
Land use changes or the process by which rural land becomes urban may involve many participants:
governments, rural landowners, speculators, architects, developers, builders, subcontractors, real estate
agents, urban homeowners, and various financial and legal consultants. It is essential to recognize that,
although most of these participants stand to benefit in one way or another from a change in land use, their
motives vary widely.
Zones, Sectors, and Nuclei
Concentric zone model
The concentric zone model proposed a primary business district at the centre and a transitional zone of
original industries and older houses. The third, fourth, and fifth zones are entirely residential and become
richer with increasing distance.
Sector model
The sector model of urban land use assumes that the internal structure is largely decided by the location of
routes that radiate outwards. It is an improvement on the concentric zone model because it incorporates
distance and direction.
Multiple nuclei model
The multiple nuclei model adds another variable: the presence of many discrete centres within the urban
area, all of which vary according to city size and level of development.
All three models applied to North American settlement, but they failed to deal with the causes of locations
and the internal structure of cities.
Revising the Classic Models
White revised the classic models to better reflect the changes affecting the internal structure of the city.
His model had seven components: the core or heart of a city, a second stagnant zone, a third zone of
lower-class housing, a fourth zone of relatively distinct middle-class neighbourhoods, the fifth zone of
scattered elite areas within a middle-class area, a sixth zone of institution and business centres within a
middle-class area, and a seventh zone of peripheral areas.
Modelling the Latin American City
Latin American cities were centred on a plaza with both modern and traditional components and a
commercial spine focused on a major avenue. High-quality residences are adjacent to plaza and run from
the centre to a suburban mall. An industrial sector culminates in a suburban industrial park and a
perimeter road that connects the outer regions of the city. In general, residential quality declines with
increasing distance from the centre.
The zone of maturity is high quality residential, with areas of gentrification. The zone of in situ accretion
is a mixed and changing residential zone. There are sectors of very low-quality housing (labelled as
disamenity) and also an outer zone of squatter settlement.
Modelling the African City
Seven types of African cities were noted by O’Connor (1983): Indigenous; Islamic; Colonial; European;
Dual; Hybrid; and Apartheid.
Modelling the Asian City
Southwest Asian and North Africa cities display a dominant Islamic influence, with a central mosque and
bazaar with an irregular street pattern. In South Asia there are two principal city types—indigenous and
colonial. Colonial cities in South Asia are coastal and are usually in strategic political or economic
locations.
Rethinking the City
The model formulations have some significant limitations. Most notably, they are essentially positivist
with roots in the neo-classical economics tradition
Three important criticisms are that they tend to ignore human decision-making in favour of the economic
operator concept; they claim to be value free, but in effect they legitimize the capitalist status quo; and
they lack substantial consideration of social justice issues.
A political economy perspective
The neo-classical assumption of the economic operator is rejected. Instead, the imperative of
accumulating capital is seen as the basic motivation for human behaviour.
The paradigmatic city
For much of the twentieth century the paradigmatic city was Chicago. Much of urban geographic research
was based on the Chicago School. More recently, however, it has been claimed that Los Angeles is now
the paradigmatic city.
The shift from industrial to post-industrial reflects the changing face of capitalism from competitive
through organized to disorganized forms. Urban theorists are focusing attention less on the emerging
post-industrial and postmodern city.
Postmodern urban theory
Contemporary cities in the more developed world typically reflect twentieth-century growth and planning
practices, industrialization, and modernity in general. More specifically, the new Los Angeles School is
distinguished from the Chicago School in three ways:
 The idea of a central core is replaced by urban peripheries that organize the much changed and
weakened core.

Change in the city no longer relates to individual-centred agency but rather to global and
corporate-dominated connectivity.

A linear and evolutionist paradigm is replaced by a non-linear and chaotic process.
These new ideas require revised concepts of ‘world city’, ‘dual city’, ‘hybrid city’, and ‘cybercity’.
Today’s urban landscapes include such new landscapes as gated communities, designed to exclude
disadvantaged.
Governing the City
By 1850 social problems, especially relating to housing provision and disease, were evident in many
industrializing European and North American cities, and these problems encouraged the beginnings of
formal urban governance intended to manage the city more efficiently and fairly.
The role played by local urban governments cannot easily be separated from both the number of levels of
government and the larger national political ideology.
Urban Government
Funds for activities are raised largely through property taxes and income from other levels of government.
Local governments regulate activities of the private sector through land-use zoning and building controls
and resolve differences of opinion between conflicting local interests.
How Are Cities Really Governed?
In principle there are three key groups involved in urban politics: professional planners, politicians, and
citizens of the city.
Pluralism
Pluralism views urban politics as proceeding in a relatively orderly and equitable manner. Politicians
make decisions following representation by interested groups.
Structural logic
In a capitalist economy the accumulation of capital takes precedence over social goals. Business elites are
in a commanding position to influence urban politics, perhaps through the city budget.
Regulation concepts
Urban politics change in response to changes in the capitalist mode of production.
Urban regimes
Urban politics is often dominated by one particular regime—an informal but stable coalition— that works
with some particular goal in mind. Relatively homogeneous communities favour maintaining the status
quo.
Identity politics
Emerging instead are numerous fluid identities related especially to place, local community,
multiculturalism, sexuality, gender, opposition to dominant groups, and popular culture
Planning the City
Why Plan?
Cities are unplanned—in the sense that, every day, business people are making decisions about where to
invest capital, for example, about where to locate a new activity such as a bowling alley or a video store.
Cities are also planned. They are planned as one part of larger urban policies designed to manage the city,
for example, to ensure the provision of essential services such as a sewage system, a water supply, and
transportation networks.
We might say that urban planning provides for the broad outlines of the city, serving as a template that is
moulded into a particular and ever-changing urban landscape by the everyday actions of those who
participate in the life of the city.
The politics of planning
There is often sharp disagreement between people with different political perspectives, especially
concerning the relative roles of government interference on the one hand and the operation of the free
market on the other. The fundamental principle underlying all planning activity is that cities cannot be
allowed to develop without some controls being imposed by the appropriate level(s) of government.
Origins
Until recently, most cities grew in an unregulated and uncontrolled manner. However, some cities had
their core areas planned, displaying central squares or geometric patterns.
Improving the Industrial City
Modern urban planning developed from the need for essential improvements. Planned urban open spaces,
designed by Olmstead and Calvert Vaux in 1857—Central Park in New York—are indicative of new
views on remodelling urban landscapes.
Model industrial villages
Various planners designed cities based upon a hybrid of good practices and landscapes in the past and
new views based upon the changing economies in urban places. Planning changed as the industrial base
of cities changed (seen today with information technology).
Planning Cities and Suburbs
Beautiful cities
The City Beautiful movement was inspired by a prototype city at the 1893 Chicago Exposition.
The movement aroused much interest in other countries, including Canada, where city beautification
groups arose around the country.
Garden cities
In 1898, Howard introduced the concept of garden city: a planned and spacious city. There is a concentric
pattern of land use, wide streets, low-density housing, public open spaces, and a green belt.
Cities of towers
Le Corbusier advocated open spaces in planned cities. He also proposed that the most logical city design
would include organized spatial structure and residences located according to social class.
Wright’s urban designs were never fulfilled, but his influence on architectural style has been substantial.
New Urbanism
Developed in response to the predominant residential trend of twentieth-century urbanism, which, as
described later in this chapter, is the spread of suburbs on the outskirts of a city.
The intent of the New Urbanism is not simply to plan the city, but also to advocate and sell a particular
image of what urban life ought to be.
The Image of the City
Five types of features were identified as being key to the image of a city: paths (routes), edges
(boundaries between perceived districts), districts, nodes (key points), and landmarks (distinctive physical
objects). Urban landscapes can be interpreted as physical representations of cultural identities.
Planning in Practice
Pragmatic activity intended to influence the form of the city and make the city a more liveable
environment. This activity is undertaken in the context of legislation that sets parameters for what can and
cannot be done and usually involves public participation. Zoning regulations are used to ensure that urban
land is used for appropriate purposes.
Zoning
Zoning is one of the major tools of urban planning as it functions to regulate land use; it has a major
impact on the social and economic geography of the city. Criticism of this tool is that it leads to
inflexibility and perhaps, for some critics, to a boring urban landscape
The inner city as cultural capital
Many cities have initiated a process of planned redevelopment of city centres focusing on cultural capital
such as historic preservation and promotion of arts and crafts activities. This type of planning is not
limited to more developed countries. The European Union initiated a competition in 1985 to select an
annual City of Culture.
Moving Around the City
To function effectively, a city must allow people, goods, and information to move around without
significant constraints. Commuting is a significant feature of urban transportation.
When some portion of a city transport network is unavailable, lives and activities can be seriously
disrupted.
Accessibility and Mobility
Accessibility refers to the number of activity sites or opportunities within a certain distance of a particular
location. Mobility refers to the ability to move from one location to other.
Role of Information Technologies
Changing information technologies
Many activities and the movement of people have changed drastically because of the ability to move ideas
and services electronically—even to the point where some people do not need to come into an urban area
to work.
Impacts
The structure and location of businesses and services has changed. Movement of services and goods can
now be done faster and in smaller units, thus affecting things like transportation networks and the
movement of consumers.
Urban Transportation Planning
There are ongoing questions about the role of the city planners in the access to automobiles versus public
transit. Issues arise such as what, if any, new projects for networks should proceed.
Who pays for the transportation networks has become an even more significant issue; many
people do not use the system as much, while others may be seen as ‘over using’ it.
Questions of social and environmental justice
Employment often depends upon access to high quality networks. Costs for the poor can be
proportionally higher than the better off. The question of environmental impacts of transportation is now a
very high-level priority.
Urban Transportation and Land Use
Distance or closeness to a network affects land use and land value. Changes in types of transportation are
affecting decisions about the planning and land use—fewer cars and more public transit will have an
effect on land value and land use.
Spreading Outward
New cities beyond the traditional core are developing as economies change.
Suburbanization
Suburbanization is a form of decentralization and proceeded apace during the twentieth century.
A characteristic landscape feature was a single-family house on a large lot. A symbiotic relationship
existed between suburban growth and related sprawl and the automobile.
Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is common where land is available, planning regulations are weak, and people with high
levels of mobility are wealthy enough to afford large homes. Conurbations form when several expanding
cities merge.
Post-Suburbia
Post-suburbia involves both the movement of people and activities to locations beyond the suburbs and
changes in existing suburbs.
Edge cities
Garreau (1988) described the emergence of new urban centres, often centred on a highway interchange in
a rural area. Edge cities are sometimes accompanied by a corresponding weakening central city area, or
they may occur around a continuing viable downtown that serves as one command centre in the global
economy.
Edge cities in context
A new landscape of distinct and often separate urban realms has appeared in conjunction with a major
shift in population and employment. Edge cities are landscapes of excess and of want, of prestigious
designer homes and of trailer parks, home not only to the rich and powerful, but also to marginalized
social and ethnic groups such as new immigrants.
Ⅳ、Study Questions
1. Discuss the assumptions, key concepts, and principles of Christaller’s theory.
2. Describe the three classical concepts that are used to explain the growth of an urban area.
3. What are the five types of industrial location? Give suitable examples.
4. Write an account of global cities.
Short Answer Questions
1. Describe how zoning is one of the major tools used by planners.
Answer: Zoning has a major impact on the social and economic uses of space in a
city. Typically, there are various classifications of zones in a city, with several classes
of residential and industrial zones. These labels are used to make sure that
incompatible land uses are not located adjacent to each other.
2. What are the main differences between the concentric zone and the multiple nuclei
models of the city?
Answer: The concentric zone model focuses on the impacts of distance between
various uses of land in a city. The multiple nuclei model focuses on distances,
direction, and multiple centres. Hence, the concentric zone model tends to be
represented by concentric circles, and the multiple nuclei model has several discrete
centres, which may not be symmetrical or based on regular forms.
3. What are the three major criticisms that Marxist and postmodern geographers point
out about the classic models of the city?
Answer: Marxist and postmodern geographers point out that the classic models of the
city tend to ignore human decision making in favour of economic operators. Another
criticism is that the positivist classic models claim to be value-free. Finally, they also
criticize the lack of attention paid to social justice by the classic models.
4. What are the five challenges to governing a city?
Answer: There are many challenges to governing a city. One challenge is that local
governments may have uneasy relationships with other levels of government.
Further, the available tax base acts as a fundamental constraint, and if the economy
is not generating enough income, the tax base suffers. Also, as most cities are
growing outwards spatially, this can lead to conflicts with other local governments
over space and the provision of services. Further, there tends to be a variety of
interests held by residents of the city, making it difficult to make decisions which
please everyone. Finally, influential public interest groups can direct urban policy
decisions to favour their cause—sometimes to the detriment of other issues.
5. What are the impacts of information technology on cities?
Answer: Information technology directly affects many service-based businesses
found in urban centres. Increased information technology is affecting worker
relationships, allowing some to perform duties from home or in other regions, thereby
affecting the types of jobs in a city centre.
Research Questions
1. Planning is one of the ways that particular values are imposed on landscapes.
Describe the planning processes where you live—identify how your area is designed
spatially, which land uses it is occupied by, and how this reflects which values are
most important in the city.
2. What has been the value of Marxist and postmodern thought on analyzing cities?
How has this altered the way we view cities and how they are planned?
3. Describe the rise of the New Urbanism model of planning. What was this model a
reaction to? Has it been implemented successfully and should it become a dominant
form of planning?
4. What was Le Corbusier’s vision of a city? Describe where it has been implemented,
whether or not it achieved its original goals, and its degree of success in other
factors.
5. Historically, how has the Chicago school influenced planning theory and practice?
Links of Interest
The Canadian Institute of Planners
http://www.cip-icu.ca/web/la/en/default.asp
Spacing Magazine
http://spacing.ca/
New Urbanism
http://www.newurbanism.org/
Fondation Le Corbusier
http://www.fondationlecorbusier.fr/
Gated Communities USA
http://www.gatedcommunitiesusa.com/