Arthur Getis, Judith Getis, &
Jerome D. Fellmann

Chapter 11

Overview
 The Functions of Urban Areas
 The Location of Urban Settlements
 Systems of Urban Settlements
 Inside the City
 Suburbanization in the U.S.
 Central City Change
 World Urban Diversity

The Functions of Urban Areas
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Retailing
Wholesaling
Manufacturing
Business Services
Entertainment
Political & Official
Administration
Military Defense Needs
Social & Religious
Service
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Public Services
Education
Transportation &
Communications
Meeting Places
Recreation
Visitor Services
Residential Areas

The Location of Urban
Settlements
 Site
 Break-in-bulk locations
 River crossings, head-of-navigation locations, railheads
 Situation

The Economic Base
 Basic sector
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Workers engaged in “export” activities
 Nonbasic sector
 Support the urban area, but do not bring in outside money
 Basic/nonbasic ratio
 Multiplier effect

Systems of Urban Settlements
 The Urban Hierarchy
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Rank-Size Rule
Primate cities
World cities
Urban influence zones
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Towns in Agricultural Areas
 Central Place Theory
Network cities

Central Place Theory
 Walter Christaller
 A model for helping to explain town interdependence
 Threshold & range
 A hierarchy exists of numerous small towns offering basic goods and services and fewer large towns offering a wider range of goods

Inside the City
 Competitive bidding for land determines much of the land use within the city
 In general, population density & land values decrease as distance from the CBD increases
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Peak-value intersections
Population densities tend to show a hollow center

Models of Urban Land
Structure
 Concentric Zone Model
 Sector Model
 Multiple-Nuclei Model

Social Areas of Cities
 City residents, especially in larger, more complex cities, will often segregate themselves based on:
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Social status
Family status
Ethnicity

Institutional Controls
 Local & national governments pass laws to control urban life
 Zoning and other nonmarket controls

Suburbanization in the U.S.
 Metropolitanization & suburbanization after
WWII
 Housing developments served as a pull factor to the suburbs
 Industries followed the trend
 Suburbs began to rival the power of the central city
 Edge Cities

Central City Change
 Constricted central cities
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Suburbanization reduced the economic base of the central city and isolated its residents
Immigration & gentrification have revived many urban areas
 Expanding central cities
 Cities have expanded automobile linkages to keep the suburbs within the sphere of the central city

World Urban Diversity
 U.S. & Canadian cities
 West European cities
 East European cities
 Cities in the Developing World
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Latin America
Asia
 Africa