Chapter 14
Urbanization
Urbanization
The Nature of Modern Cities
The Industrial City:
  Density
  Central business district
The Postindustrial City:
  Move from Secondary to Tertiary Production
  Easier Communication and Transportation
  Urban Sprawl and Edge Cities
Edge cities are suburban centers that now
have an existence largely separate from the
cities that spawned them
Urbanization
Urbanization is the process of concentrating
populations in cities.
Suburbs are communities (primarily residential)
that develop outside of cities.
1850 – 2% world population lived in cities with
100,000 or more people.
Today – 25% world population…and 33% of US
population lives in cities larger than 100,000.
Suburbanization – growth of suburbs
Urbanization
Urbanization in the United States
  A metropolitan statistical area is a county
that has a city of 50,000 or more in it plus
associated neighboring counties.
  A nonmetropolitan statistical area is a
county that has no major city in it and is not
closely tied to such a city.
Urbanization
U.S. Urban Patterns
  Country to City
  1790 5% of Americans lived in the city
  Today over 79% of Americans live in the city
  City to City
  As Americans look for work and better paying jobs they
move from one city to another
  Within City
  Gentrification – the process of middle class people moving
into rundown areas of the city, displacing the poor as they
buy and restore homes
  City to Suburbs
  Over half of all Americans live in the suburbs
Urbanization
Theories of Urban Growth and
Decline
Structural functional theory
  urban development is seen as evolutionary
and functional. Efficient for distributing goods
and services.
Conflict perspective
  finds nothing natural in urban growth and
decline. Competing economic and political
forces lead to growth or decline of cities.
Urbanization
Theories of Urban Growth
Concentric Zone Model (Ernest Burgess, 1925)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Central Business District
Transitional Zone – rooming housing and deterioriating
housing, characterized by poverty, disease and crime
Thrifty workers have moved here to escape zone 2 but still
live within close proximity to work
Expensive apartments, residential hotels, single-family
homes, and exclusive areas for the rich
Suburbs and satellite cities that have grown up around
transportation centers
The Sector Model (Homer Hoyt, 1939, 1971)

Zones do not complete exact circles around the city center
Urbanization
Theories of Urban Growth
The Multiple Nuclei Model (Chauncey Harris and
Edward Ullman 1945,1970)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Central Business District
Wholesale and light manufacturing
Low-class residential
Medium-class residential
High-class residential
Heavy manufacturing
Outlying business district
Residential suburb
Industrial suburb
Commuters’ zone
Urbanization
Theories of Urban Growth
The Peripheral Model (Chauncey Harris 1997)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Central City
Suburban residential areas
Circumferential highway
Radial high way
Shopping mall
Industrial district
Office park
Service center
Airport complex
Combined employment and shopping center
Urbanization
Urbanization in the Less-Developed
World
  Problems: fast paced growth; inadequate
infrastructure (roads, schools, sewers)
  Differs from developed world:
1. high rate of births over deaths
2. many cities are primarily government,
trade, and administrative centers – offer
few working-class jobs. Unskilled
become part of informal economy of
artisans, peddlers, and beggars
Place of Residence and Social
Relationships
Urban Living
Theoretical Views – earlier theorists viewed the
greater size, heterogeneity, and density of urban
living as leading to a breakdown of the
normative and moral fabric of everyday life.
Today, theorists believe that individuals
experience the city as a mosaic of small worlds
that are manageable and knowable.
Place of Residence and Social
Relationships
Urban Living
Realities of Urban Living:
1. Social networks – no evidence that urban people
are disproportionately lonely, alienated or estranged.
2. Neighborhood integration – physical proximity is no
longer a primary basis of intimacy – family and friends
remain intimates.
3. Quality of life – cities are exciting and convenient.
They also have liabilities of noise, crime, and higher
cost of living. Many opt for suburbs and small towns.
Suburban Living
  Suburbs are intensely car dependent.
  As suburbs have grown, so have traffic jams and long
commutes.
Small Towns and Rural Living
  In desirable rural
areas, good-paying
jobs are scarce and
housing expensive.
  Many rural families
live in inexpensive
manufactured
homes.
Connections: Social Policy
Many urban planners and activists are
redesigning suburbs to reduce social
isolation and alienation.
  New suburbs are being designed with bike paths,
parks, and front porches.
  Some towns widen sidewalks and encourage
downtown restaurants to add street-side tables.
  Others encourage builders to place stores on the first
floor of downtown buildings with apartments above.
  Through these actions, planners and activists hope
to bring a sense of community to suburbs.