URBAN GEOGRAPHY
Chapter 9
KEY QUESTION:
When and Why did People
Start Living in Cities?
CITIES
• City – a conglomeration of people and
buildings clustered together to serve as a
center of politics, culture, and economics.
URBAN:
The buildup of the central city and the suburban
realm – the city and the surrounding environs
connected to the city.
SHENZHEN, CHINA
The Modern
Process of
Urbanization –
a rural area
can become
urbanized
quite quickly
in the modern
world
SHENZHEN, CHINA
Shenzhen changed from a fishing village to major metropolitan
area in 25 years. All of this land was duck ponds and rice
paddies 25 years ago
THE FIRST URBAN
REVOLUTION
AGRICULTURAL
VILLAGES
• Before urbanization, people often clustered
in agricultural villages –
a relatively small, egalitarian village,
where most of the population was
involved in agriculture. About 10,000
years ago, people began living in
agricultural villages
The First Urban Revolution
Two components enable the
formation of cities:
- Early Cultural And Historical Urban Hearths
-
Mesopotamia
Nile River Valley
Indus River Valley
Huang He and Wei River Valleys
Meso-America
1. an agricultural surplus
2. social stratification (a leadership class)
FIVE HEARTHS OF
URBANIZATION
In each of these hearths, an agricultural surplus and
social stratification created the conditions necessary
for cities to form and be maintained.
FIVE HEARTHS OF
URBANIZATION
•
•
•
•
•
Mesopotamia, 3500 BCE
Nile River Valley, 3200 BCE
Indus River Valley, 2200 BCE
Huang He and Wei River Valleys, 1500 BCE
Mesoamerica, 200 BCE
INDUS RIVER VALLEY
Harappa and MohenjoDaro were two of the
first cities of the Indus
River Valley.
- intricately planned
- houses equal in size
- no palaces
- no monuments
HUANG HE AND WEI RIVER
VALLEYS
The Chinese
purposefully planned
their cities.
- centered on a
vertical structure
- inner wall built
around center
- temples and
palaces for the
leadership class
Terracotta Warriors guarding the tomb of the Chinese Emperor
Qin Xi Huang
MESOAMERICA
Mayan and Aztec Civilizations
Many ancient cities were theocratic centers where ruler
were
deemed to have divine authority and were god-kings.
MESOAMERICA
Between 300
and 900 CE,
Altun Ha, Belize
served as a
thriving trade
and distribution
center for the
Caribbean
merchant
canoe traffic.
Diffusion of Urbanization
The Greek Cities
by 500 BCE, Greeks were highly urbanized.
- Urbanization diffused from Mesopotamia to
Mediteranean about 3500 years ago
– Network of more than 500 cities and towns
– On the mainland and on islands
– Each city had an acropolis (highpoint of the city)
and an agora (public space)
– Had a global rather than regional impact
– Diffused to Roman Empire which diffused through
Western Europe
ATHENS, GREECE
The Agora
The Acropolis
DIFFUSION OF
URBANIZATION
The Roman Cities:
a system of cities and small towns, linked
together with hundreds of miles of roads
and sea routes.
– Sites of Roman cities were typically for trade
– A Roman city’s Forum combined the
Acropolis and Agora into one space.
– Roman cities had extreme wealth and extreme
poverty (between 1/3 and 2/3s of empire’s
population was enslaved)
ROMAN EMPIRE
The Roman Forum
Aqueducts in
Nimes, France
During the mercantile era, the cities that thrived were
embellished by wealthy merchant families, who built ornate
mansions, patronized the arts, participated in city governments,
and supported the reconstruction of city centers.
Genoa,
Italy
THE SECOND URBAN
REVOLUTION
The Second Urban Revolution
A large scale movement of people to cities to
work in manufacturing. Made possible by:
1. second agricultural revolution that
improved food production and created a
larger surplus
2. industrialization, which encouraged
growth of cities near industrial resources
Industrialized Regions Of Europe, 1914
During the second half
of the 20th century…
Nature of
manufacturing changed
and locations changed,
too. Many factories have
been abandoned,
creating “rust belts” out
of once-thriving
industrial districts.
Duisburg, Germany
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:
Where are Cities
Located and Why?
Site and Situation
Site
* absolute location
of a city
* a city’s static
location, often
chosen for trade,
defense, or
religion.
Situation
* relative location of
a city
* a city’s place in the
region and the
world around it.
Trade area
Trade area – an adjacent
region within which a city’s
influence is dominant.
Green Country, Oklahoma
RANK-SIZE RULE:
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
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
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
HEXAGONAL HINTERLANDS
C = city
T = town
V = village
H = hamlet
Sketch a map of your city or town
and the cities or towns nearby.
Make a list of goods and services
available in each of these towns.
Do the ideas about central places
presented in this section of the
chapter apply to your region?
KEY QUESTION:
How are cities organized,
and how do they function?
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?
Functional
Zonation
The division of the city
into certain regions
(zones) for certain
purposes
(functions).
Cairo, Egypt
Central city (above)
Housing projects (right)
What does the functional
zonation of the city tell us
about the city?
ZONES OF THE CITY
• Central business district (CBD)
• Central City (the CBD + older housing
zones)
• Suburb (outlying, functionally uniform
zone outside of the central city)
MODELING THE NORTH AMERICAN
CITY
• Concentric zone model (Ernest
Burgess)
• Sector model (Homer Hoyt)
• Multiple Nuclei Model
(Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman)
Three Classical Models of Urban
Structure
EDGE CITIES
Suburban
downtowns, often
located near key
freeway
intersections, often
with:
- office complexes
- shopping centers
- hotels
- restaurants
- entertainment
facilities
- sports complexes
URBAN REALMS MODEL
Each realm is a
separate
economic,
social and
political entity
that is linked
together to form
a larger metro
framework.
MODELING THE CITIES OF THE
GLOBAL PERIPHERY AND
SEMIPERIPHERY
• Latin American City (Griffin-Ford
model)
• African City (de Blij model)
• Southeast Asian City (McGee model)
Latin
American
City
(Griffin-Ford
Model)
Disamenity Sector – Very Poorest Parts Of The
City
Eg. The Favelas Of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
THE
AFRICAN
CITY
(De Blij
Model)
SOUTHEAS
T ASIAN
CITY
(McGee
Model)
Employing the concepts defined in
this section of the chapter, draw a
model of the city with which you are
most familiar. Label each section of
the city accordingly. After reading
through the models described in this
section, determine which model best
corresponds to the model you drew
and hypothesize why it is so.
Key Question:
How do People Make Cities?
Powerful social and
cultural forces shape
the character of a
city and create the
cultural landscape of
the city.
Making Cities in the Global
Periphery and
Semiperiphery
- Sharp Contrast
Between Rich
And Poor
- Often Lack
Zoning Laws Or
Enforcement Of
Zoning Laws
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
• 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
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
Unrestricted
growth of
housing,
commercial
developments
, and roads
over large
expanses of
land, with
little concern
for urban
planning.
Henderson,
Nevada
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
Celebration,
Florida
CELEBRATION, FLORIDA
GATED COMMUNITIES
Who are gated communities for?
How do the goals/purposes of gated
communities differ across the world?
ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS
• European City
– eg. Muslim neighborhoods in Paris
• Cities of the Periphery and Semiperiphery
– eg. Mumbai, India
MUMBAI, INDIA
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?
World Cities
Cities that function at the global scale,
beyond the reach of the state borders,
functioning as the service centers of the
world economy.
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
TIMES SQUARE,
NEW YORK CITY
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.