Cities and Urban Geography
IV. Unit Six: The Urbanizing World
A. Civilization and Urbanization
1. Urbanization turned societies into specialized and functional states. Began in the
Fertile Cresent.
2. Ancient Greeks got concepts of urban life from Mesopotamia and Minoa. Highly
urbanized for their times.
3. Romans combined local traditons with Greek buildings. They connected urban
centers with land and water routes through roads and canals and sailing on Mediterranian
4. These concepts spread to western Europe in cities like London, Paris and Amsterdam
5. Cities evolve in stages:
a. A central market or Trader’s Mercantile
b. A manufacturing center or Factory Manufacture
c. A place to live or Suburbanized Modern
B. Urbanization and Location
1. Location of urban centers affects what kind of industry can be done in that city.
2. Cite of some urban centers might have worked in the past, but not now.
3. Urban dwellers are numerous in North America, Japan, and Australia. Growing in
sub-Saharan Africa, places like Nigeria and South African have large urban areas
4. Fastest growing cities are in south and east Asia.
5. Even with bad living conditions, cities attract new people.
C. Urban Pattern and Structure
1. In the US, the urban system evolved in five stages.
2. Every urban center has an economic base:
a. Basic- Goods producing
b. Non-basic- Service
3. Central Place Theory explains why little urban places are close to each other and
larger ones are far apart.
4. Urban structure models show how forces affecting the shape of urban centers has
changed.
Services and Urban Patterns
A Services are any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those that provide it.
Examples:
1. Transportation and commerce
Product services such as banking
Retail and wholesale
2.
Personal and social such as schools
3.
Public services such as government
B.
Services also must consider site and situation:
1.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION are usually considered the 3 most important
factors in retail
2.
Must define a market area first to determine a location:
a). Maximum distance a customer is willing to travel for a service is called range
b). Threshold is minimum number of people needed to support business
3. Gravity model says that the potential use of a good or service at a location is directly related to the
population and inversely related to the distance people must travel.
4. Central Place Theory
a). Very important!!
b). Developed by Walter Christaller in 1930s based on his studies of southern Germany
c). Adapted to USA by Brian Berry, et al. in 1950s
d). Theory applies most clearly to Great Plains area of USA which has few physical
barriers
e). Size of cities is determined by geographic location
f). The largest city in a region is at the center of the region
g). Hexagons can be drawn around the central part of a city which define the market area or
hinterland
h). Surrounding the largest city and its hinterland are smaller settlements known as towns
(which also have hinterlands); towns are surrounded by villages (and hinterlands); villages are surrounded
by hamlets (and hinterlands)
i). People who live near edges of the hexagon-shaped hinterlands may go to other
markets
j). Theory implies that once a large city has established its marketplace, it will impede the
growth of all surrounding cities (smaller cities can’t compete)
5. Optimal location within a market:
a). After determining the range and threshold, optimal location is usually the one that minimizes
the distance to the service for the largest number of people.
1). In a linear market such as a strip mall – median point
2). Non-linear – more difficult (see page 420)
C.
Settlements
1.
Most people live in settlements for cultural and economic reasons:
a). Cultural reasons include nurturing, sense of community, and protection
b). Economic reasons are obvious, but originally probably began as a place where people could trade goods
2.
Two basic types of settlements: rural and urban:
a). Rural settlements evolved as centers for agriculture
b). Urban settlements evolved as centers for manufacturing, warehousing, trade, and services; oldest urban
centers thought to have been in Mesopotamia, Indus valley, and Middle and South America
3.
Growth of urban centers:
a). Particularly since the industrial revolution, urban centers have grown
b). Explosive growth of large cities and geographic distribution:
1). 1950s – 21 of world’s 30 largest cities in core countries
2). 1980 – 19 of world’s 30 largest cities in semi- and peripheral countries
3). 2020 (projected!) – 25 of world’s 30 largest cities in semi- and peripheral countries
c). Megacity – population of 10 million or more ( See São Paulo article for problems in megacities in
LDCs)
4.
Global system of cities
a). Key cities in this system are places where decisions are made concerning movement of information and
capital
b). Four levels of these cities:
1). World cities – centers of information, banking, law, and insurance – e.g. – London
2). Regional command and control centers – headquarters of education, major corporations,
medical, etc. – e.g. – Atlanta
3). Specialized product/service centers – R&D related to specific industries and services – e.g. –
Raleigh/Durham, NC
4). Dependent centers – provides relatively unskilled jobs (resorts, manufacturing, military,
mining, and industrial) and depends on economic health of larger cities – e.g. – Charleston, West VA.
D.
Cities – structure and problems:
E.
Three models of cities:
1.
Concentric zone model
a. Developed by E.W. Burgess in 1923 – city grows outward from central business district (CBD)
2. Sector model
a. Developed by Homer Hoyt in 1939 – city grows in wedges around a CBD
3.
Multiple nuclei model
a. Developed by Harris and Ullman in 1945 – cities develop in sectors around nodes such as a port,
business center, university, etc. and each node attracts certain businesses (look at Denver)
F.
Central business districts – contain offices and certain types of tertiary activities:
1. Shops with high thresholds – i.e. stores with expensive merchandise
2. Shops with high ranges – i.e. stores with expensive merchandise such as jewelry
3. Shops that serve office workers
G.
Structure of central business districts:
Usually compact – land costs are high (cost of land in Tokyo: $1 million/acre) – so build
up
H. Problems in CBDs:
1.
Commute
2.
Cost of parking
3.
Higher taxes
4.
Inner-city housing is usually either very expensive or very low quality
5.
May have high crime rate
6.
May have homeless problem – e.g. Boulder Mall; 300,000 people in Calcutta, India sleep,
bathe, and eat on traffic islands and sidewalks
7.
City may be segregated
8.
Fiscal problems:
a). Low income people pay little taxes yet require government services, so city can:
1). Raise taxes
2). Reduce services
3). Ask for state and federal funds
I. Suburban areas – problems and structure:
1. People like space, so move out of cities
2. As suburbs get crowded, people continue to move out and get URBAN SPRAWL:
a.
Urban sprawl wastes land and energy!
b.
National Geographic magazine featured the Front Range of Colorado as an example
of urban sprawl (see article)
c.
95% of people in US suburbs use cars to commute
d.
US highway system and urban sprawl and dependent on one another
e.
Malls have taken retail business from downtown:
1). Closer to population centers
2). Usually lower taxes and costs
3). Free parking
4). Malls are designed to keep customers happy!
a). At ends of mall are “generator” (pedestrian traffic) or “anchor” (economic anchor) stores such as large
department stores or grocery stores.
1). These stores are the main reason most go to malls, but once there, encourage people to walk through the
mall.
2). For example, if you want to go to department store A to shop, you may also want to compare items/prices
at department store B which is at the other end of the mall, so you must walk through the mall
3). Stores in the middle of malls are usually stores that depend on impulse buying such as food courts
b). Mall window displays are scaled so that although you appear slightly larger than “life” as
depicted in the display
c). Department stores in malls are designed so that you can get in easily, but get lost trying to get
out (so that you see as many of the displays inside the store as possible)
1.
Urbanization
I. Concepts of Urbanization
A. Definition of an Urban Area –
B. Commonalities and Characteristics of Urbanization
II. Origin and Evolution of Cities
A. Creation Theories
B. Function and Location
C. Diffusion of Urbanization
D. Models of Modern Cities – partially explained in notes but mostly from lecture and pictures
1. Land Use Theory
2. Concentric Zone Theory
3. Sector Model
4. Multiple Nuclei Model
III. Function of Cities
A. Define Urban Function- Offering Services
B. Classification by Service Offerings (instead of by size)
1. Hamlet (with services)
2. Town
3. City
4. Metropolis
5. Megalopolis (megacity)
C. Hinterland (De Blij's term) = Market Area (Rubenstein's Term) = Surrounding Service Area
1. Economic Reach (De Blij)
2. Centrality (De Blij)
3. Range (Rubenstein)
4. Threshold (Rubenstein)
D. Comparative Advantage of Regions
E. World Systems Theory
F. Gravity Model
G. Central Place Theory
IV. Built Environment and Social Space
A. Central Business District
B. Suburbanization
C. Urban Realms
V. Response to Urban Growth: Case Studies in Growth and Response
A. Mexico City (Latin American City) Larry Ford Model
B.
C.
D.
E.
Shanghai (Asian)
Paris and London (European)
African City
Moscow (A "ringed" city example)
Significant Ideas about Urbanization
Cities have been an enduring part of human settlement patterns since ancient times.
describes the evolution of cities as focal points of political states in the Indus Valley, China,
Southwest Asia, Meso-America, Greece, and Rome. Cities developed at different times in
different cultural hearths.
Cities have evolved in stages which are linked to dominant modes of transportation, technology, and
economic systems.
In the United States, the system (connected network) of cities evolved through five stages of development
extending over 200 years. Each stage was marked and determined by prevailing modes of transportation
and industry. Chapter 10 explains these stages.
Some cities reflect the essence of the culture at whose focus it lies. These dominant cities are
described in the Law of the Primate City
Site and situation strongly influence the growth and prosperity of an urban area.
A city's relative location affects its linkages and economic domination over a large and productive
hinterland and ensure its well-being. A city's site plays a role in its origin and early survival.
There is a relationship between urban growth and economic development.
The cities in the world which are growing most rapidly are located in the developing world. Cities in the
developed world are growing at much slower rates. When the economic base of a city is strong, it grows;
when it is weak, the city stagnates. The character of cities reflect what people do for a living, that is, the
city's primary functions. Orlando is different than Pittsburgh. The difference lies in the functions each city
fulfill. See pp 421 on....
World urbanization is not evenly distributed.
Western Europe, North America, Japan, and Australia are highly urbanized (84% of all Texans live in
cities). However, urbanization is gaining rapidly elsewhere as a condition of economic development. The
world's least urbanized realm is Africa; large numbers of people are moving from rural to urban areas.
Cities are growing together to form giant urban agglomerations or megalopolises.
Read Chapter 10 to find examples of megacities in different regions of the world, notably North America,
Western Europe, Japan, South and East Asia.
Cities serve important functions in different societies.
Cities are places of incredible creativity, cultural creation, excitement, and innovation.
Central Place Theory helps to explain why small urban places like villages lie close together, while
larger cities lie far apart.
Cities are arranged in hierarchies. There are many small cities; very few large cities. The locations of these
cities follow a regular pattern, a pattern disturbed by physical barriers, resource distributions, and other
factors. But by and large, cities are arranged in space in hexagonal regions. See pp. 419-20.
Cities show regularity in the arrangement of places within the city.
Cities are spatially organized to perform their functions. Three models of urban structure are illustrated and
described in Chapter 11. Models of urban structure reveal how the forces that shape the internal layout of
cities have changed, transforming the single center city of old into the now common multiple nuclei or
poly-centric metropolis.
Cities vary from region to region in the world.
Chapter 11 provides details on the differences and similarities between and among cities in North America,
Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.