Chapter 9:
Urban Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Field Note:
Ghosts of Detroit?
“The semicircular shaped Grand
Circus Park in Detroit, Michigan is
divided by several streets, making
it look like the hub and spokes of a
bicycle wheel from above. The
grouping of buildings along Grand
Circus Park (Fig 9.1) reflects the
rise, fall, and revitalization of the
central business district (CBD) in
Detroit. The central business
district is a concentration of
business and commerce in the
city’s downtown…Abandoned highrise buildings called the ghosts
of Detroit are joined by empty
single-family homes to account for
10,000 abandoned buildings in the
city.”
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Key Question 9.1
9.1 When and why did people
start living in cities?
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When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
• urban: the built-up space of the central city
and suburbs
• includes the city and surrounding environs
connected to the city
• is distinctively nonrural and
nonagricultural
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
• A city is an agglomeration of people and
buildings clustered together to serve as a
center of politics, culture, and economics.
Concept caching:
Kansas City, MO
© Barbara Weightman
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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Before urbanization, people often clustered
in agricultural villages –
 a relatively small, egalitarian village, where most
of the population was involved in agriculture
(mostly subsistence).
 about 10,000 years ago, people began living in
agricultural villages
Two components enable the
formation of cities:
1.
an agricultural surplus (irrigation &
large scale farming)
2.
social stratification
(a leadership class that controlled
resources)
When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
The Hearths of Urbanization
• The innovation of the city is called the first
urban revolution, and it occurred
independently in six separate hearths, a
case of independent invention.
• The six urban hearths are tied closely to
agriculture.
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In each of these hearths, an agricultural surplus and social stratification created
the conditions necessary for cities to form and be maintained.
When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
The Hearths of Urbanization
The Six Hearths of Urbanization
1. Mesopotamia, 3500 B.C.E.
2. Nile River Valley, 3200 B.C.E.
3. Indus River Valley, 2200 B.C.E.
4. Huang He Valley, 1500 B.C.E.
5. Mesoamerica, 1100 B.C.E.
6. Peru, 900 B.C.E.
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When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
The Role of the Ancient City in
Society
• served as economic nodes
• were the chief marketplaces
• were the anchors of culture and society,
the focal points of power, authority, and
change
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When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
Diffusion of Urbanization
• populations in Mesopotamia grew with
the steady food supply and a sedentary
lifestyle
• people migrated out from the hearth,
diffusing their knowledge of agriculture
and urbanization
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social inequality reflected in varying sizes of
homes
 walled villages
 palaces
 priest-king class
 levied taxes & collected tributes from harvest
 temples and shrines at centers of towns

 built on artificial mounds often over 100 ft high



mud walled homes for regular class
leadership class held slaves
no waste disposal or sanitation
 disease was rampant, which kept the population small

link between urbanization and irrigation
 power concentrated in the hands of people who
controlled the irrigation systems


no walled cities = singular control
great pyramids, tombs, & sphinx were built
by slaves
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were
two of the first cities of the Indus
River Valley.
- intricately planned
- houses equal in size
- no palaces
- no monuments
-leadership class but no
variation in houses
-all homes had access to
infrastructure, including
drains & stone lined
wells
-thick walls
-significant trade over
long distances (coins)
The Chinese purposefully
planned their cities.
- centered on a
vertical structure
- inner wall built
around center
- temples and
palaces for the
leadership class
placed inside the inner
wall
-rulers demonstrated
their power by building
elaborate structures,
like the Great Wall of
China
Terracotta Warriors guarding the tomb of the Chinese Emperor Qin Xi Huang
Mayan and Aztec Civilizations
many ancient cities were theocratic centers where rulers were
deemed to have divine authority and were god-kings
Between 300 and
900 CE, Altun Ha,
Belize served as a
thriving trade and
distribution
center for the
Caribbean
merchant canoe
traffic.
When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
Greek Cities
• Greece is described as a secondary hearth of
urbanization because the Greek city form and
function diffused around the world centuries later
through European colonialism.
• Urbanization diffused from Greece to the Roman
Empire.
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The Greek Cities
by 500 BCE, Greeks were highly urbanized.
 network of more than 500 cities and towns
▪ connected to trade routes  diffusion of urbanization
▪ influenced Roman cities
 on the mainland and on islands
 poor sanitation, compact housing
 each city had an acropolis and an agora
▪ acropolis- highpoint of a city where most impressive
structures were built
▪ agora- public space (focus of commercial activity)
the agora
the acropolis
Roman Cities
• When the Romans succeeded the Greeks (and
Etruscans) as rulers of the region, their empire
incorporated not only the Mediterranean shores but
also a large part of interior Europe and North Africa.
• The site of a city is its absolute location, often
chosen for its advantages in trade or defense, or as
a center for religious practice.
• The situation of a city is based on its role in the
larger, surrounding context:
• A city’s situation changes with times.
• Ex.: Rome becoming the center of the Roman
Catholic Church.
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The Roman Cities
a system of cities and small towns, linked
together with hundreds of miles of roads and
sea routes. (transportation network)
 sites of Roman cities were typically for trade




▪ also considered defensibility and religion
a Roman city’s Forum combined the acropolis and agora into one
space. (focal point of public life)
Roman cities had extreme wealth and extreme poverty (between
1/3 and 2/3s of empire’s population was enslaved)
used Greek rectangular grid pattern
most cities had arenas
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When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
Roman Cities
• urban morphology: a city’s layout; its physical
form and structure.
• Whenever possible, Romans adopted the way the
Greeks planned their colonial cities; in a
rectangular, grid pattern.
• functional zonation reveals how different areas or
segments of a city serve different purposes or
functions within the city.
• Ex.: the forum
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Field Note
“There can be few spaces of greater
significance to the development of
Western civilization than the Roman
Forum. This was the nerve center of a
vast empire that transformed the face
of western Europe, Southwest Asia,
and North Africa. It was also the
place where the decisions were made
that carried forward Greek ideas
about governance, art, urban design,
and technology. The very organization
of space found in the Roman Forum
is still with us: rectilinear street
patterns; distinct buildings for
legislative, executive, and judicial
functions; and public spaces adorned
with statues and fountains.”
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Urban Growth After Greece and Rome
• During Europe’s Middle Ages, urbanization
continued vigorously outside of Europe.
• In West Africa, trading cities developed along the
southern margin of the Sahara.
• The Americas also experienced significant urban
growth, especially within Mayan and Aztec empires.
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Site and Situation during European
Exploration
•
•
•
The relative importance of the interior trade routes
changed when European maritime exploration and
overseas colonization ushered in an era of oceanic,
worldwide trade.
The situation of cities like Paris and Xian changed
from being crucial to an interior trading route to
being left out of oceanic trade.
After European exploration took off during the
1400s, the dominance of interior cities declined.
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Site and Situation during European
Exploration
• Coastal cities remained crucial after exploration led
to colonialism.
• The trade networks European powers commanded
(including the slave trade) brought unprecedented
riches to Europe’s burgeoning medieval cities, such
as Amsterdam (the Netherlands), London
(England), Lisbon (Portugal), Liverpool (England),
and Seville (Spain)
• As a result, cities that thrived during mercantilism
took on similar properties.
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Field Note
“The contemporary landscape of Genoa stands as a reminder of the city’s historic
importance. Long before Europe became divided up into states, a number of cities in
northern Italy freed themselves from the strictures of feudalism and began to function
autonomously. Genoa and Venice were two of these, and they became the foci of
significant Mediterranean maritime trading empires. In the process, they also became
magnificent, wealthy cities. Although most buildings in Genoa’s urban core date from
a more recent era, the layout of streets and public squares harkens back to the city’s
imperial days. Is it a surprise that the city gave birth to one of the most famous
explorers of all time: Christopher Columbus?”
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
A Second Agricultural Revolution
• During the late 17th century and into the
18th century, Europeans invented a series
of important improvements in agriculture.
• The second agricultural revolution also
improved organization of production, market
collaboration, and storage capacities.
• Many industrial cities grew from small
villages or along canal and river routes.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
A Second Urban Revolution
• Around 1800, Western Europe was still
overwhelmingly rural. As thousands
migrated to the cities with industrialization,
cities had to adapt to the mushrooming
population, the proliferation of factories and
supply facilities, the expansion of transport
systems, and the construction of tenements
for the growing labor force.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
When industrialization
diffused from Great
Britain to the European
mainland, the places
most ready for
industrialization had
undergone their own
second agricultural
revolution, had surplus
capital from
mercantilism and
colonialism, and were
located near coal fields.
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When and Why Did People Start
Living in Cities?
The Chaotic Industrial City
• With industrialization, cities became
unregulated jumbles of activity.
• Living conditions were dreadful for workers in
cities, and working conditions were shocking.
• The soot-covered cities of the British Midlands
were deemed the “black towns.”
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The Chaotic
Industrial City
• In mid-1800s, as Karl
Marx and Frederick Engels
encouraged “workers of
the world” to unite,
conditions in European
manufacturing cities
gradually improved.
• During the second half of
the twentieth century, the
nature of manufacturing
changed, as did its
location.
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EVOLUTION OF US URBAN SYSTEM
Five Epochs of Metropolitan Evolution – John Borchert
1.
The Sail-Wagon Epoch (1790-1830): primitive overland and
waterway circulation - leading cities northeastern ports heavily
oriented to European overseas trade - Hinterlands barely accessible.
2.
The Iron Horse Epoch (1830-1870): dominated by steam-powered
railroad, provided nation-wide transportation system, New York
primate city by 1850
3.
The Steel-Rail Epoch (1870-1920): full establishment of national
metropolitan system, increasing scale of manufacturing, rise of steel
and automobile industries, steel rails
Five Epochs of Metropolitan Evolution – (cont.)
4. The Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch (1920-1970): maturation of
national urban hierarchy, key elements were airplane and
automobile, expansion of white-collar services jobs, growing
pull of amenities (pleasant environments) stimulating
urbanization of the suburbs
5. The Satellite-Electronics-Jet Propulsion Epoch (1970- ): newest
advances in information management, computer
technologies,
global communications, and intercontinental
travel; favors
globally-oriented metropolises.
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 a major metropolitan area in just
25 years. 25 years ago, all of this land was duck ponds and rice paddies.
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.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Key Question 9.2
9.2 Where are cities
located, and why?
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Where Are Cities Located,
and Why?
• Urban geographers discovered that every
city and town has a trade area, an
adjacent region within which its influence
is dominant.
Concept Caching:
Mount Vesuvius arise frequently in
• Three key components
urban geography: population, trade area,
and distance.
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Rank and Size in the Urban Matrix
• The rank-size rule holds that in a model urban
hierarchy, the population of a city or town will be
inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy.
– If the largest city has 12 M people, the second largest will have 6 M (or ½);
the third city will have 4 million (1/3 of 12)
• German Felix Auerbach, linguist George Zipf.
• Random growth (chance) and economies of scale
(efficiency) explain why the rank-size rule works
where it does.
• The rank-size rule does not apply in all countries,
especially countries with one dominant city.
• Mark Jefferson: A primate city is “a country’s
leading city, always disproportionately large and
exceptionally expressive of national capacity and
feeling.”
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Positive effects of a primate city
within a country
• Lots of economic opportunities
• Large market (pop.) for goods and services
• Ability to offer high-end goods and services
(including education) because of larger threshold
population
• Advantages of centralized transportation and
communication network
• Global trade opportunities; primate cities can
compete on a global scale and attract foreign
investment
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Negative effects of primate city on a
country
• Unequal distribution of investments deters national economic
development
• Unequal economic and/or resource development
• Unequal distribution of wealth and/or power
• Transportation network (hub and spoke) prevents equal accessibility to all
regions
• Impact of centrifugal forces and difficulties of political cohesion on
economic development
• Brain drain – migration and unequal distribution of education,
entrepreneurship, opportunities
• Disproportionate effect of disaster in the primate city on the entire
country
• Negative externalities, e.g., unsustainable urban
growth/slums/environmental impacts if these are related to economic
development, e.g., burden on national economy to cope with problems
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Central Place Theory
Central place theory: Walter Christaller, The Central
Places in Southern Germany (1933), had five
assumptions:
1. The surface of the ideal region would be flat and
have no physical barriers.
2. Soil fertility would be the same everywhere
3. Population and purchasing power would be evenly
distributed.
4. The region would have a uniform transportation
network to permit direct travel from each
settlement to the other.
5. From any given place, a good or service could be
sold in all directions out to a certain distance.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Central Place
Theory
• Each central place has
a surrounding
complementary region,
an exclusive trade area
within which the town
has a monopoly on the
sale of certain goods.
Hexagonal
Hinterlands
• Christaller chose
perfectly fitted hexagonal
regions as the shape of
each trade area.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Central Place Theory
Activity
Central Place
Hexagons
Threshold, Range, Multiplier Effects
http://wn.com/central_place_theory
Christaller looked at the arrangement of urban place
and functions. He started trying to model what he saw.
Ok, pour out your crackers onto your paper towel and
start hypothesizing as Christaller did.
http://myfundi.co.za/e/Settlements_II:_Rural_settlements&usg
Arrangement and Spacing of Urban
Places
• circular shapes resulted in unserved
or overlapped areas
• hexagons had no gaps or overlaps
• this suggests an inverse relationship
of higher order and lower order
settlements (towns and cities)
• theoretically, settlements will be
equidistant from each other
• in other words, big towns/cities are
farther apart from each other
• Why?
Definitions we need to know
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
hamlet, village, town, city, metropolis, megalopolis
population threshold - # of people
market threshold – amount of $ in the place/area
range or range of sale
functional hierarchies
low order goods
high order goods
complementary region- exclusive hinterland within which the
town has a monopoly on the sale of a certain good(s)
rank-size rule
basic sector
non-basic sector
multiplier effect
Assumptions of Central Place Theory
• isotropic plane – no variation (e.g., flat with no barriers to impede
movement
• even population distribution
• rational behavior by consumers – assume that people will minimize the
distance they travel to obtain a good or service
• that is, Consumers visit the nearest central places that provide the
function which they demand
• perfect competition and all sellers are trying to maximize their profits
• consumers have similar purchasing power and demand for goods and
services
• transportation costs are equal in all directions
• no provider of goods or services is able to earn excess profit(each
supplier has a monopoly over a hinterland)
• central places vary in size - small village to a conurbation
• is part of a link in an urban hierarchy
Application of Threshold and Range
using Christaller’s Model
• low order goods have a low range and low threshold
– fewer people needed to support it and thus shorter
distances traveled to obtain it
• Where are low order goods/services?
• higher ranges and higher threshold goods are sold in
larger towns/cities – people will travel longer
distances to obtain these goods/services
• Examples?
• How about a ski resort in DFW?
• Is there the threshold (market or population) for it?
Limitations to CPT
• large areas of flat land are not common
• many forms of transport – costs of each are
not necessarily proportional
• people and wealth not evenly distributed
• purchasing power of people differs
• perfect competition is not realistic – there are
rich and poor
Christaller’s Model Review:
1. Urban places are ranked in an orderly hierarchy.
One is moved? Everything will shift to balance
2. Real world has no absolutes, but Locational
Theory does seem to work
3. Places of same size with same number of
functions would be spaced same distance apart
4. Large cities are spaced farther apart from each
other than towns or villages
So, let’s diagram with the model
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_S
tates_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas
Guest Field Note:
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
“Many trade areas in the United
States are named, and their
names typically coincide with
the vernacular region, the region
people perceive themselves as
living in. In promoting a trade
area, companies often adopt,
name, or shape the name of the
vernacular region. In Oklahoma,
the label Green Country refers
to the northeastern quarter of
the state, the trade area served
by Tulsa.”
Credit: Brad Bays, Oklahoma State
University
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Where Are Cities Located,
and Why?
Central Places Today
• New factors, forces, and conditions not
anticipated by Christaller’s models and
theories make them less relevant today.
• Ex.: The Sun Belt phenomenon: the
movement of millions of Americans from
northern and northeastern states to the
south and southwest.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
• primate cities – a country’s largest city that is
always disproportionately large and
exceptionally expressive of national capacity
and feeling; next largest city is much smaller
and much less influential
• rank-size rule – in a model urban hierarchy,
the population of a city or town will be
inversely proportional to its rank in the
hierarchy. If the largest city
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Key Question 9.3
9.3 How are cities organized,
and how do they function?
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How Are Cities Organized, and
How Do They Function?
Models of the City
• functional zonation: the division of the city
into certain regions (zones) for certain
purposes (functions)
• Globalization has created common cultural
landscapes in the financial districts of many
world cities.
• Regional models of cities help us understand
the processes that forged cities in the first
place and understand the impact of modern
linkages and influences now changing cities.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Functional Zones
• A zone is typically preceded by a descriptor that
conveys the purpose of that area of the city.
• Most models define the key economic zone of the
city as the central business district (CBD).
• The central city describes the urban area that is
not suburban. In effect, central city refers to the
older city as opposed to the newer suburbs.
• A suburb is an outlying, functionally uniform part
of an urban area, and is often (but not always)
adjacent to the central city.
• suburbanization is the process by which lands
that were previously outside of the urban
environment become urbanized, as people and
businesses from the city move to these spaces.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Functional Zones
• P.O. Muller: Contemporary Suburban
America (1981):
• Found suburban cities ready to compete
with the central city for leading urban
economic activities.
• In addition to expanding residential zones,
the process of suburbanization rapidly
creates distinct urban regions complete with
industrial, commercial, and educational
components.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Six processes at work in the city



concentration — differential distribution of population
and economic activities in a city, and the manner in
which they have focused on the center of the city
decentralization — the location of activity away from
the central city
segregation — the sorting out of population groups
according to conscious preferences for associating
with one group or another through bias and prejudice
Six processes at work in the city




specialization — similar to segregation only refers to
the economic sector
invasion — traditionally, a process through which a
new activity or social group enters an area
succession — a new use or social group gradually
replaces the former occupants
The following models were constructed to examine
single cities and do not necessarily apply to
metropolitan coalescences so common in today’s
world.
Modeling the North American City
• Concentric zone model: resulted from sociologist
Ernest Burgess’s study of Chicago in the 1920s.
Burgess’s model divides the city into five concentric
zones, defined by their function:
1. CBD is itself subdivided into several subdistricts.
2. Zone of transition is characterized by residential
deterioration and encroachment by business and
light manufacturing.
3. Zone 3 is a ring of closely spaced but adequate
homes occupied by the blue-collar labor force.
4. Zone 4 consists of middle-class residences.
5. Zone 5 is the suburban ring.
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Concentric zone model


Developed in 1925 by Ernest W. Burgess
A model with five zones.
Concentric zone model

A model with five zones.
–
Zone 1



the central business district (CBD)
distinct pattern of income levels out to the commuters’
zone
extension of trolley lines had a lot to do with this pattern
Concentric zone model

A model with five zones.
–
Zone 2




characterized by mixed pattern of industrial and
residential land use
rooming houses, small apartments, and tenements
attract the lowest income segment
often includes slums and skid rows, many ethnic ghettos
began here
usually called the transition zone
Concentric zone model

A model with five zones.
– Zone 3





the “workingmen’s quarters”
solid blue-collar, located close to factories of zones 1
and 2
more stable than the transition zone around the CBD
often characterized by ethnic neighborhoods — blocks
of immigrants who broke free from the ghettos
spreading outward because of pressure from transition
zone and because blue-collar workers demanded better
housing
Concentric zone model

A model with five zones.
–
Zone 4



middle class area of “better housing”
established city dwellers, many of whom moved outward
with the first streetcar network
commute to work in the CBD
Concentric zone model

A model with five zones.
–
Zone 5




consists of higher-income families clustered together in
older suburbs
located either on the farthest extension of the trolley or
commuter railroad lines
spacious lots and large houses
from here the rich pressed outward to avoid congestion
and social heterogeneity caused by expansion of zone 4
Concentric zone model

Theory represented the American city in a
new stage of development
–
–
before the 1870s, cities such as New York had
mixed neighborhoods where merchants’ stores
and sweatshop factories were intermingled with
mansions and hovels
rich and poor, immigrant and native-born, rubbed
shoulders in the same neighborhoods
Concentric zone model

In Chicago, Burgess’s home town, the great
fire of 1871 leveled the core
–
–
–
–
the result of rebuilding was a more explicit social
patterning
Chicago became a segregated city with a
concentric pattern
this was the city Burgess used for his model
the actual map of the residential area does not
exactly match his simplified concentric zones
Concentric zone model

critics of the model
–
–
–
pointed out that even though portions of each
zone did exist, rarely were they linked to totally
surround the city
Burgess countered there were distinct barriers,
such as old industrial centers, preventing the
completion of the arc
others felt Burgess, as a sociologist,
overemphasized residential patterns and did not
give proper credit to other land uses
Modeling the North American City
• Homer Hoyt: Sector model
• The city grows outward from the center, so
a low-rent area could extend all the way
from the CBD to the city’s outer edge,
creating zones that are shaped like a piece
of pie.
• The pie-shaped pieces describe the highrent residential, intermediate rent
residential, low-rent residential, education
and recreation, transportation, and
industrial sectors.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sector model



Homer Hoyt, an economist, presented his
sector model in 1939.
maintained high-rent districts were
instrumental in shaping land-use structure of
the city
because these areas were reinforced by
transportation routes, the pattern of their
development was one of sectors or wedges
Sector model

Hoyt suggested high-rent sector would expand
according to four factors
–
–
–
–
moves from its point of origin near the CBD, along
established routes of travel, toward another nucleus of highrent buildings
will progress toward high ground or along waterfronts, when
these areas are not used for industry
will move along the route of fastest transportation
will move toward open space
Sector model

as high-rent sectors develop, areas between them
are filled in
–
–
–


middle-rent areas move directly next to them, drawing on
their prestige
low-rent areas fill remaining areas
moving away from major routes of travel, rents go from high
to low
there are distinct patterns in today’s cities that echo
Hoyt’s model
he had the advantage of writing later than Burgess
— in the age of the automobile
Sector model

Today, major transportation arteries are
generally freeways.
–
–
–
–
surrounding areas are often low-rent districts
contrary to Hoyt’s theory
freeways were imposed on existing urban pattern
often built through low-rent areas where land was
cheaper and political opposition was less
Multiple nuclei model



suggested by Chauncey Harris and Edward
Ullman in 1945
maintained a city developed with equal
intensity around various points
the CBD was not the sole generator of
change
Multiple nuclei model

equal weight must be given to:
–
–
–
an old community on city outskirts around which
new suburbs clustered
an industrial district that grew from an original
waterfront location
low-income area that began because of some
social stigma attached to site
Multiple nuclei model




more than any other model takes into account the
varied factors of decentralization in the structure of
the North American city
many criticize the concentric zone and sector
theories as being rather deterministic because they
emphasize one single factor
multiple nuclei theory encompasses a larger
spectrum of economic and social possibilities
most urban scholars feel Harris and Ullman
succeeded in trying to integrate the disparate
element of culture into workable model
Multiple nuclei model

rooted their model in four geographic principles
–
certain activities require highly specialized facilities


–
–
–
accessible transportation for a factory
large areas of open land for a housing tract
certain activities cluster because they profit from mutual
association
certain activities repel each other and will not be found in
the same area
certain activities could not make a profit if they paid the high
rent of the most desirable locations
Modeling the North American City
• Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman:
multiple nuclei model
• This model recognizes that the CBD was
losing its dominant position as the single
nucleus of the urban area.
• Edge cities: Suburban downtowns developed
mainly around big regional shopping centers;
they attracted industrial parks, office
complexes, hotels, restaurants, entertainment facilities, and sports stadiums.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Figure 9.23
Tysons Corner, Virginia. In the suburbs of Washington, D.C., on
Interstate 495 (the Beltway), Tysons Corner has developed as a
major edge city, with offices, retail, and commercial services.
© Rob Crandall/The Image Works.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Modeling the Cities of the Global
Periphery and Semiperiphery
Primate cities in
developing countries are
called megacities when
the city has a large
population, a vast
territorial extent, rapid
in-migration, and a
strained, inadequate
infrastructure.
Concept Caching:
Mumbai, India
© Harm de Blij
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The South American City
• Griffin-Ford model
• South American cities blend traditional
elements of South American culture with
globalization forces that are reshaping the
urban scene, combining radial sectors
and concentric zones.
• The thriving CBD anchors the model.
• Shantytowns are unplanned groups of
crude dwellings and shelters made of
scrap wood, iron, and pieces of cardboard
that develop around cities.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Latin American model



more complex because of influence of local
cultures on urban development
difficult to group cities of the developing
world into one or two comprehensive models
Latin American model is shown in next slide
Latin American model


generalized scheme both sensitive to local cultures
and articulates pervasive influence of international
forces, both Western and non-Western
in contrast to today’s cities in the U.S., the CBDs of
Latin American cities are vibrant, dynamic, and
increasingly specialized
–
–
a reliance on public transit that serves the central city
existence of a large and relatively affluent population
closest to CBD
Latin American model


outside the CBD, the dominant component is a
commercial spine surrounded by
the elite residential sector
–
–
–
–
these two zones are interrelated and called the spine/sector
essentially an extension of the CBD down a major
boulevard
here are the city’s important amenities — parks, theaters,
restaurants, and even golf courses
strict zoning and land controls ensure continuation of these
activities, protecting elite from incursions by low-income
squatters
Latin American model

inner-city zone of maturity
–
–
–
less prestigious collection of traditional colonial
homes and upgraded self-built homes
homes occupied by people unable to participate
in the spine/sector
area of upward mobility
Latin American model

zone of accretion
–
–
–
–
–
diverse collection of housing types, sizes, and
quality
transition between zone of maturity and next zone
area of ongoing construction and change
some neighborhoods have city-provided utilities
other blocks must rely on water and butane
delivery trucks for essential services
Latin American model
zone of peripheral squatter settlements
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
where most recent migrants are found
fringe contrasts with affluent and comfortable suburbs that
ring North American cities
houses often built from scavenged materials
gives the appearance of a refugee camp
surrounded by landscape bare of vegetation that was cut for
fuel and building materials
streets unpaved, open trenches carry wastes, residents
carry water from long distances, electricity is often “pirated”
residents who work have a long commute
many are transformed through time into permanent
neighborhoods
Field Note
“February 1, 2003. A long-held hope came true today: thanks to a
Brazilian intermediary I was allowed to enter and spend a day in two of
Rio de Janeiro’s hillslope favelas, an eight-hour walk through one into
the other. Here live millions of the city’s poor, in areas often ruled by
drug lords and their gangs, with minimal or no public services, amid
squalor and stench, in discomfort and danger.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The African City
• The imprint of European colonialism can still be
seen in many African cities.
• During colonialism, Europeans laid out prominent
urban centers.
• The centers of South Africa’s major cities
(Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban) remain
essentially western.
• Studies of African cities indicate that the central
city often consists of not one but three CBDs: a
remnant of the colonial CBD, an informal and
sometimes periodic market zone, and a transitional
business center where commerce is conducted.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Southeast Asian City
Figure 9.27
Model of the Large
Southeast Asian City. A
model of land use in the
medium-sized Southeast
Asian city includes sectors
and zones within each
sector. Adapted with
permission from: T. G.
McGee, The Southeast
Asian City, London: Bell,
1967, p. 128.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Each realm is a separate
economic, social and
political entity that is
linked together to
form a larger metro
framework.
Feminist critiques



models assume only one person is a wage worker —
the male head
ignore dual-income families and households headed
by single women
women contend with a larger array of factors in
making locational decisions
–
–

distances to child care and school facilities
other important services important for different members of
a family
traditional models that assume a spatial separation
of workplace and home are no longer appropriate
Feminist critiques

results of a study of activity patterns of working parents
–
–
–
women living in a city have access to wider array of employment
opportunities
better able to combine domestic and wage labor than women in
suburbs
many middle class women choose a gentrified inner-city location
to live


–
hope this area will offer amenities of suburbs—good schools and
safety
accommodate their activity patterns
other research has shown some businesses locate offices in
suburbs because they rely on labor of highly educated, middle
class women spatially constrained by domestic work
Feminist critiques


most criticisms of above models focus or
their inability to account for all the
complexities of urban forms
all three models assume urban patterns are
shaped by economic trade-offs between:
–
–
desire to live in suburban neighborhood
appropriate to one’s economic status
need to live close to the city center for
employment opportunities
Feminist critiques


most women seek employment closer to home than
men even those without small children
criticism of models by women
–
–
–
–
most families require two real wage earners
models tend to reflect an urban structure that isolates
women who do not participate in the urban labor market
raises problems of timing and organization for those who
combine waged and domestic labor
created by men who shared certain assumptions about how
cities operate, and represent a partial view of urban life
Feminist critiques

other theories incorporated alternative perspective of
female scholars
–
–

studies using mostly female students, focused on “race,”
ethnicity, class, and housing in Chicago
emphasized role of landlords in shaping discrimination in
the housing market
study by urban historian Raymond Mohl
–
–
follows the making of black ghettos in Miami between 1940
and 1960
reveals role of public policy decisions, landlordism, and
discrimination
apartheid and post-apartheid city


apartheid —state-sanctioned policies of
segregating “races”
intended effects of these policies on urban
form are delineated in next slide
apartheid and post-apartheid city

important components of the apartheid state
–
–
policies of economic and political discrimination were
formalized under National Party rule after 1948
government passed two major pieces of legislation in 1950


first was the Population Registration Act — mandated
classification of population into discrete racial groups: white,
black, and colored
second called the Group Areas Act — goal was to divide cities
into sections that could be inhabited only by members of one
population group
apartheid and post-apartheid city

important components of the apartheid state
–
government passed two major pieces of
legislation in 1950

effects of the two acts
–
downtowns were restricted to whites
– areas for non-whites were peripheral, restricted, and often
without urban services—transportation or shopping
– large numbers of non-whites were displaced with little or
no compensation
– buffer zones were created between residential to curtail
contact
apartheid and post-apartheid city





model apartheid city most closely resembles the
sector model
cities were artificially divided into discrete areas
non-white populations suffered the consequences
notorious example — Sophiatown in Johannesburg
remains to be seen what form the post-apartheid city
will take
Soviet and post-Soviet city

cities were shaped by the Bolshevik
revolution of 1917
–
–

socialist principles called for the nationalization of
all resources
economics would no longer dictate land-use—
allocation planners would
new ideals had profound effect on urban
form of Soviet cities
The Soviet and post-Soviet city

Soviet policies attempted to create a more equitable
arrangement of land uses
–
–
–
–
–
relative absence of residential segregation according to
socioeconomic status
equitable housing facilities for most citizens
relatively equal accessibility to sites for distribution of
consumer items
cultural amenities located and priced to be accessible to as
many people as possible
adequate and accessible public transportation
The Soviet and post-Soviet city

The situation outlined above was less than ideal.
–
–


By the 1970s and 1980s many Soviets realized their
standards of living were well below those in the west.
A centralized planning system was not successful.
In the late 1980s economic restructuring introduced
perestroyka.
The post-Soviet city
–
–
market forces are again the dominant force in shaping
urban land uses
pace and scale of urban change are unprecedented
The Soviet and post-Soviet city

privatization of the housing market —example of
Moscow
–
–
–
–
–
private housing grew from 9.3 percent in 1990 to 49.6
percent in 1994
does not mean better housing for all people
many people cannot afford the high prices
apartments are particularly expensive in the center of
Moscow
most people have no choice but to live in communal
apartments from the old Soviet system
The Soviet and post-Soviet city

cities are taking on the look of western cities
–
–
–
–

downtowns now have most expensive land
increasingly dominated by retailing outlets of familiar
Western companies
tall office buildings housing financial activities are replacing
industrial buildings
processes akin to gentrification are taking place in city
centers displacing residents to peripheral portions of the
cities
The outcome of the new changes is not certain and
will be continued to be studied.
Culture Regions





urban culture regions
cultural diffusion in the city
the cultural ecology of the city
cultural integration and models of the city
urban landscapes
Themes in cityscape study

landscape dynamics
–
because North Americans are a restless people,
settlements are cauldrons of change



–
downtown activities creeping into residential areas
deteriorated farmland on city outskirts
older buildings demolished for new
when visual clues are mapped and analyzed, they
offer evidence for current of change
Themes in cityscape study

Equally interesting is to note where change
in not occurring.
–
an unchanging landscape conveys an important
message




part of the city is stagnant because it is removed from
those forces effecting change in other parts
conscious attempt by local residents to inhibit change
preserve open space by resisting suburban
development
preserving a historical landmark
Landscape Dynamics:
Alexandria, Virginia
Landscape Dynamics:
Alexandria, Virginia



Cities grow through
intensification of already
urbanized areas and by
extensification into rural
areas.
This new development is on
agricultural land near
Washington, DC.
Many farmers on urban
peripheries, lured by rising
land prices, ultimately sell to
developers.
Landscape Dynamics:
Alexandria, Virginia


As a mixture of open land
and urban structures, this is
a good example of leapfrog,
or checkerboard
development.
Moreover, the houses are
being sold as “Gentlemen
Farms,” a landscape of the
elite.
Themes in cityscape study

The city as palimpsest
–
–
Because city landscapes change, they offer a field for
uncovering remnants of the past
palimpsest



an old parchment used over and over for written messages
before a new message could be written, the old was erased,
but rarely were all previous characters and words completely
obliterated
the mosaic of old and new is called a palimpsest — used by
geographers to describe visual mixture of old and new in
cultural landscapes
City as palimpsest: Singapore
City as palimpsest: Singapore

Like many cities,
Singapore’s landscape is
one of historic artifacts
amidst the contemporary
fabric. This is the core of old
Singapore, as developed by
the British after 1819.
Strategically situated on the
Straits of Melaka, the city
functioned as an important
entreport in Southeast Asia
attracting a population of
Chinese, Indians, Malays,
and Europeans.
City as Palimpsest: Singapore

Trade offices, shophouses, and
godowns (warehouses) lined
the Singapore river and
commercial activity choked the
area. After Singapore became
independent in 1963-1965, the
combination of rapid population
growth and aging infrastructure
called for a renewal plan. Old
housing stock and godowns
were razed to be replaced by
modern public housing, malls
and office buildings.
City as Palimpsest: Singapore

In the 1980s, people realized
that they were destroying the
character of the city and efforts
were made to preserve and
restore some of old Singapore.
Waterfront shophouses have
been “boutiqued” into clubs and
restaurants. Here, remnants of
the past stand in the shadow of
the symbols fo the future: The
Bank of the People’s Republic
of China (left) and the Telecom
building.
Themes in cityscape study

symbolic cityscapes
–
landscapes contain more than literal messages about
economic functions


–
–
loaded with figurative or metaphorical meaning
subjectivized emotion, memories, and content essential to the
social fabric
to some, skyscrapers are more than high-rise buildings
historic landscapes help people define themselves in time


establish social continuity with the past
codify a forgotten, yet sometimes idealized, past
Themes in cityscape study

D.W. Minig maintains there are three highly
symbolized townscapes in the United States
–
–
–


the New England village
Main Street of Middle America
California Suburbia
each is based upon an actual landscape of a
particular region
each has influenced the shaping of the American
scene over broader areas
Themes in cityscape study

Cultural landscape is important vehicle for constructing and
maintaining social and ethnic distinctions.
–
–

conspicuous consumption is a major means for conveying social
identity
elite landscapes are created through large-lot zoning, imitation
country estates, and detailed ornamental iconography
cultural geographers are interested in how townscapes and
landmarks take on symbolic significance
–
–
–
question whether idealizations are based on some sort of reality or
fabricated from diverse predilections
interested in how to assess the impact of symbolic landscapes
messages inherent in loaded landscapes determine how we treat
our environment-bow it is managed, changed, or protected
Pigeon Problems: Rome, Italy
Pigeon Problems: Rome, Italy

Pigeons, starlings, and
sparrows thrive in urban
environments. Feral
pigeons, descended from
rock doves, favoring cliffface roosts, like to nest in
similar building niches.
Accumulated droppings
raise serious problems.
They corrode stonework,
particularly limestone, and
many historic buildings and
statues have been
irreparably damaged.
Pigeon Problems: Rome, Italy

Fouled pavements are
slippery and hazardous to
pedestrians. Pigeon
excreta, feathers and
detritus can block gutters
and drains providing a
potential health hazard. In
many cities today, people
are discouraged from
feeding pigeons and
renovated buildings are
fitted with spiked rails to
discourage roosting.
Themes in cityscape study

perception of the city
–
–
Social scientists assume if we know what people
see and react to in the city we can design and
create a more humane urban environment.
Kevin Lynch, an urban designer, assumed all
residents have a mental map of the city.



figured out ways people could convey their mental map
to others
What do people react favorably or negatively to?
What do they block out?
Themes in cityscape study

perception of the city
–
On the basis of interviews, Lynch suggested five
important elements in mental maps of cities:





pathways — threads that hold our maps together
edges — tend to define the extremes of our urban vision
nodes — any place where important pathways come
together
districts — small areas with a common identity
landmarks — reference points that stand out because of
shape, height, color, or historic importance.
Themes in cityscape study

Lynch saw some parts of the cities were more legible
than others.
–
–

legibility comes when urban landscape offers clear
pathways, nodes, district, edges, and landmarks
less legible parts of the city do not offer such precise
landscape
Lynch found some cities more legible than others.
–
Jersey City is a city of low legibility


–
wedged between New York City and Newark
fragmented by railroads and highways
residents’ mental maps of Jersey City have large blank
areas
Themes in cityscape study

distinct ethnic, gender, and age variables to
mental maps of cities
–
–
–
often influence everyday behavior
women feel more vulnerable to crime, especially
rape
women will tend to avoid certain areas of a city at
night
The new urban landscape

shopping malls
–
–
–
–
most are not designed to be seen from the outside
retail districts of the 18O0s~and early 1900s cities had
grand architectural displays along the major boulevards
malls are often located near an off ramp of a major freeway
close to middle and upper-class residential neighborhoods
The new urban landscape

shopping malls
–
characteristic form of malls of the 1960s


–
simple, linear form, with department stores at each end
functioning as anchors
usually had 20 to 30 smaller shops connecting the two ends
in the 1970s and 1980s, larger malls had a more complex
form


example: Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota
malls today are often several stories tall and may have 5 or 6 anchor
stores, and up to 400 smaller shops
The new urban landscape

office parks
–
office buildings no longer need to be located in
the center city




–
development of communication technologies
major interstates connect metropolitan areas
cheaper rent in suburban locations
convenience of easy-access parking and privacy of a
separate location
being constructed throughout suburban America
The new urban landscape

office parks
–
–
–
next slide shows location of office parks in
metropolitan Atlanta
many are occupied by regional and national
headquarters of large corporations or local sales
and professional offices
many offices will locate together and rent or buy
space from a land development company to take
advantage of economies of scale
The new urban landscape

office parks
–
the use of the term park points to conscious antiurban imagery



tend to be horizontal in shape — three to six stories tall
many are surrounded by a well-landscaped outdoor
space
human-made lakes and waterfalls, jogging paths, fitness
trails, and picnic tables
The new urban landscape

office parks
–
–
–
do remove workers from social diversity of an
urban location
many office parks are located along what have
been called high-tech corridors — areas along
limited-access highways
this new type of commercial landscape is
gradually replacing downtowns as the workplace
for most Americans
The new urban landscape

master-planned communities
–
many newer residential developments on
suburban fringes are planned and built as
complete neighborhoods by private development
companies



include architecturally compatible housing
have a variety of recreational facilities
exploit various land-use restrictions and zoning
regulations to maintain control over land values
The new urban landscape

master-planned communities
–
example of Weston in south Florida




covers approximately ten thousand acres
land use is completely regulated within gated area and
also along the road system connecting Weston to the
interstate
shrubbery is planted to shield residents from roadway
view
signs are uniform in style
The new urban landscape

festival settings
–
–
–
–
often gentrification efforts focus on a multiuse
redevelopment scheme built around a particular setting,
often one with historical association
waterfronts are commonly chosen as focal points
complexes integrate retailing, office, and entertainment
activities
Knox suggests these developments are “distinctive as new
landscape elements merely because of their scale and their
consequent ability to stage — or merely to be — the
spectacular”
Festival Marketplace: Hong Kong
Festival Marketplace: Hong Kong

Festival settings, both
outdoors and indoors, are
used to attract customers.
There is typically one or
more themes with
flamboyant flags, signs,
music and entertainment.
Retail establishments
include trendy shops,
restaurants, and
entertainment facilities.
Festival Marketplace: Hong Kong

This is one of the
several ultra-modern,
enclosed malls in Hong
Kong. The theme here
is the Dragon Boat
Festival, held annually
in the lunar calendar’s
fifth month. This view
is from an open, tiered
restaurant.
The new urban landscape

festival settings
–
Some festival settings serve as sites for concerts,
ethnic festivals, and street performances.


–
also focal points for more informal human interactions
usually associated with urban life
in this sense do perform a vital function in the attempt to
revitalize downtowns
massive displays of wealth and consumption
often stand in contrast to neighboring areas that
have received little benefit from these projects
The new urban landscape

“militarized” space
–
–
meaning the increasing use of space to set up defenses
against elements of the city considered undesirable
includes landscaping development that range from:



–
–
lack of street furniture to stop homeless living on the streets
gated and guarded residential communities
complete segregation of classes and races’ within the city
As Davis says, “cities of all sizes are rushing to apply and
profit from a formula that links together clustered
development, social homogeneity, and a perception of
security.”
Has taken on epic proportions as many big American cities
become “militarized” spaces.
The new urban landscape

decline of public space
–
–
–
related to the increase in “militarized” space
change in shopping patterns from downtown to shopping
malls
many city governments have joined with developers to built
enclosed walkways above or below city streets


–
provides climate-controlled conditions
provides pedestrians with a “safe” environment to avoid
possible confrontations on the street
some scholars suggest the Internet is a new forum for social
and political interaction
A New Landmark:
London, England
A New Landmark:
London, England

This is the high-tech,
engineering style
(1986) of Lloyd’s of
London Insurance
building. Designed by
Richard Rogers, codesigner of the
Pompidou Center in
Paris, it stands as a
challenge to those in
love with the past.
A New Landmark:
London, England

It stimulates controversy and
has become a landmark
enhancing the legibility of
the city. Not only is it made
of reflective materials and
the glass atrium suspended
on central pillars, but much
of what is traditionally inside,
such as stairways, elevators
and lavatories, is now on the
outside. It is a building with
its guts exposed. The black
structure is Barclay’s Bank.
Urbanization



A country’s leading city, always
disproportionately large and expressive of
nationalistic feelings
Usually center of politics, economics, culture
Rank size rule does not apply to countries with
a primate city

A crescent shaped zone of early urbanization
extending across Eurasia from England to
Japan


Colonialism increased the importance of coastal
cities  interior cities became less important
Mercantile city brought about the “downtown” as
we know it today




Nodes of a global network of commerce
Middle class
Became engulfed by desperate immigrants looking for
opportunity
Emergence of a manufacturing city



Unregulated jumbles of activity
Poor sanitation  DISEASE
Elegant homes converted to tenement housing as wealthy
& middle class moved out of downtown areas to escape
immigrants



New World cities did not suffer as much as
European cities.
Sub-Saharan Africa  least urbanized realm
but fastest growing realm
2nd half of twentieth century  manufacturing
cities experience decline


Shift to tertiary services
Transportation advancement has led to the creation
of the modern city  suburbs
 More dispersed




Rural to urban land use  impact?
PO Muller  self sufficient entity containing its
own major economic and cultural activities
2000 census  50% of Americans live in the
suburbs
Essence of the modern American city

City where focus has shifted from CBD to
urban fringe
Shopping malls
 High tech light manufacturing
 White collar firms
 Entertainment & hotel complexes
 Airports
 Located along intersections of major freeways





Urban area is less dispersed
Urban amenities have not relocated to the
suburbs
Do not display sharp contrasts of wealth as
seen in American cities
Multiple family dwellings more common

Many built before modern transportation so streets
are narrow and layout is more compact






More walking and use of metro than cars
Primate cities
Legacy of past is better preserved
Wars have taken their toll
Outlying towns have attracted high tech industries
(outside of greenbelts)
GREENBELTS areas around European cities that
are left to natural state or are preserved gardens,
parks, etc.


Limits urban sprawl
Contains suburbanization


Estimate by the middle of this century, approximately 75% of
ppl will live in urban settings
Hazards of site



Loss of land





Paving  less rainfall permeates ground, washes pollutants into water
sources
Pollution
Production of waste (lack of sewer facilities)  developing world
Demand for water


NA loses about 1 million acres of farmland every year
China  3 million acres
Changed land cover


No infrastructure
Land not intended for heavy urban use
Urbanization increases water usage by five times per person
Changing consumption habits

More energy, meat (extends pastures & threatens forests)

Immigrants cluster together in an enclave
within a city


All needs met
Invasion and succession  neighborhoods remain
the same but new groups come in and out



Redlining
Blockbusting
Racial steering  used after blockbusting
became illegal

Realtors encouraged blacks and whites to look for
housing in areas that would promote changing
ghetto boundaries  real estate turnover


Modernism v. Postmodernism
Gentrification & commercialization



Inner cities




DINKS & SINKS
Displacement of poor residents who cannot afford
higher real estate
Less tax base
No funding
Govt housing
deglomeration
The Cloverleaf vs The
Access Road and the
AM-PM side of the Market
Two Differing Ideas on Urban and
Economic Development
The Cloverleaf
The Access Road
What are the differences in
development possibilities? Safety?
Aesthetics?
AM vs PM
Key Question
9.4
How do people share cities?
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Zoning laws: Cities define areas of the city and
designate the kinds of development allowed in each
zone.
Figure 9.28
Lomé, Togo. The city’s landscape
reflects a clear dichotomy between the
“haves” and “have-nots.”
© Alexander B. Murphy.
Figure 9.29
Tokyo, Japan. The city’s landscape
reflects the presence of a large middle
class in a densely populated
city. © iStockphoto.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Field Note
“Central Cairo is full of the multistory
buildings, transportation arteries, and
commercial signs that characterize most
contemporary big cities. Outside of a
number of mosques, few remnants of the
old medieval city remain. The first blow
came in the nineteenth century, when a
French educated ruler was determined to
recast Cairo as a world-class city. Inspired
by the planning ideas of Paris’s Baron von
Hausman, he transformed the urban core
into a zone of broad, straight streets. In
more recent years the forces of modern
international capitalism have had the
upper hand. There is little sense of an
overall vision for central Cairo. Instead, it
seems to be a hodge-podge of buildings
and streets devoted to commerce,
administration, and a variety of producer
and consumer services.”
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Field Note
“Moving out from central Cairo, evidence of
the city’s rapid growth is all around you.
These hastily built housing units are part
of the (often losing) effort to keep up with
the city’s exploding growth. From a city of
just one million people in 1930, Cairo’s
population expanded to six million by
1986. And then high growth rates really
kicked in. Although no one knows the
exact size of the contemporary city, most
estimates suggest that Cairo’s population
has doubled in the last 20 years. This
growth has placed a tremendous strain on
city services. Housing has been a
particularly critical problem—leading to a
landscape
outside
the
urban
core
dominated by hastily built, minimally
functional, and aesthetically non-descript
housing projects.”
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Shaping Cities in the Global
Periphery and Semiperiphery
• Particularly in the economic periphery, new
arrivals (and long-term residents) crowd together in
overpopulated apartments, dismal tenements, and
teeming slums.
• Cities in poorer parts of the world generally lack
enforceable zoning laws.
• Across the global periphery, the one trait all major
cities display is the stark contrast between the
wealthy and poor.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Shaping Cities in the Global Core
• During the segregation era in the United
States, Realtors, financial lenders, and city
governments defined and segregated spaces
in urban environments.
• Ex.: redlining, blockbusting
• White flight—movement of whites from the
city and adjacent neighborhoods to the
outlying suburbs.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
• In order to counter the suburbanization trend, city
governments are encouraging commercialization
of the central business district and gentrification
of neighborhoods in and around the central
business district.
• Commercialization entails transforming the
central business district into an area attractive to
residents and tourists alike.
• Gentrification is the rehabilitation of houses in
older neighborhoods.
• Teardowns: suburban homes meant for
demolition; the intention is to replace them with
McMansions.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Field Note
“In 2008, downtown Fort Worth, Texas looked
quite different than it did when I first visited in
1997. In that eleven year period, business
leaders in the City of Fort Worth gentrified the
downtown. The Bass family, who has a great deal
of wealth from oil holdings and who now owns
about 40 blocks of downtown Fort Worth, was
instrumental in the city’s gentrification. In the
1970s and 1980s, members of the Bass family
looked at the empty, stark, downtown Fort
Worth, and sought a way to revitalize the
downtown. They worked with the Tandy family to
build and revitalize the spaces of the city, which
took off in the late 1990s and into the present
century. The crown jewel in the gentrified Fort
Worth is the beautiful cultural center called the
Bass Performance Hall, named for Nancy Lee and
Perry R. Bass, which opened in 1998.”
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Urban Sprawl and New Urbanism
• Urban sprawl: unrestricted growth of housing,
commercial developments, and roads over large
expanses of land, with little concern for urban
planning
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Urban Sprawl and New Urbanism
• To counter urban sprawl, a group of architects,
urban planners, and developer outlined an urban
design vision they call new urbanism: development,
urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that
create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of
housing and jobs
• Geographer David Harvey argues the new urbanism
movement is a kind of “spatial determinism” that
does not recognize that “the fundamental difficulty
with modernism was its persistent habit of
privileging spatial forms over social processes.”
• Other critics say “communities” that new urbanists
form through their projects are exclusionary and
deepen the racial segregation of cities.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Field Note
“When I visited Celebration, Florida,
in 1997, I felt like I was walking
onto a movie or television set. The
architecture in the Walt Disney
designed new urbanist development
looked like the quintessential New
England town. Each house has a
porch, but on the day I was there,
the porches sat empty—waiting to
welcome the arrival of their owners
at the end of the work day. We
walked through town, past the 50sstyle movie marquee, and ate lunch
at a 50s-style diner. At that point,
Celebration was still growing.
Across the street from the Bank of
Celebration’ stood a sign marking
the future home of the ‘Church in
Celebration.’”
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Gated Communities
• Fenced-in neighborhoods with controlled access
gates for people and automobiles.
• Main objective is to create a space of safety within
the uncertain urban world.
• Secondary objective is to maintain or increase
housing values in the neighborhood through
enforcement of the neighborhood association’s
bylaws.
• Many fear that the gated communities are a new
form of segregation.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Ethnic Neighborhoods in the
European City
• Ethnic neighborhoods in European cities are
typically affiliated with migrants from former
colonies.
• Migration to Europe is constrained by government
policies and laws.
• European cities are typically more compact,
densely populated, and walkable than American
cities.
• Housing in the European city is often combined
with places of work.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Government Policy and Immigrant
Accommodation
• Whether a public housing zone is divided into
ethnic neighborhoods in a European city depends
in large part on government policy.
• Brussels, Belgium: has very little public housing;
immigrants live in privately owned rentals
throughout the city.
• Amsterdam, the Netherlands: has a great deal of
public housing and few ethnic neighborhoods
within the public housing units.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ethnic Neighborhoods in the Global
Periphery and Semiperiphery City
• In cities of the periphery and semiperiphery, a sea
of slum development typically begins where the
permanent buildings end, in some cases engulfing
and dwarfing the central city.
• Millions of migrants travel to such environments
every year.
• City governments do not have the resources to
adequately educate, medicate, or police the
burgeoning populations.
• The vast slums of cities in poorer parts of the world
are typically ethnically delineated, with new
arrivals precariously accommodated.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
Power and Ethnicity
• The settlement patterns of cities developed
during the colonial period often persist long
after
The Informal Economy
• The economy that is not taxed and is not
counted toward a country’s gross national
income
• Remittances
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Do People Share Cities?
From Colonial to Global CBD
• Geographers Richard Grant and Jan Nijman
documented globalization in former colonial port
cities, including Mumbai, India.
• A new spatially demarcated foreign presence has
arisen.
• The city now has a global CBD at the heart of the
original colonial city, housing mostly foreign
corporations and multinational companies and
linked mainly to the global economy.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Key Question 9.5
What role do cities play in
globalization?
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
What Role Do Cities Play in
Globalization?
• World cities function at the global scale, beyond
the reach of the state borders, functioning as the
service centers of the world economy.
• Felsenstein, Schamp, and Shachar: The world city
is a node in globalization, reflecting processes that
have “redrawn the limits on spatial interaction.”
• World cities do not exist merely to service players
in the global economy.
• Some countries such as the United States and
Germany have two or more world cities within their
state borders.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cities as Spaces of Consumption
• Media corporations are helping transform
urban centers into major entertainment
districts where items are consumed
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Urbanization



A country’s leading city, always
disproportionately large and expressive of
nationalistic feelings
Usually center of politics, economics, culture
Rank size rule does not apply to countries with
a primate city

A crescent shaped zone of early urbanization
extending across Eurasia from England to
Japan


Colonialism increased the importance of coastal
cities  interior cities became less important
Mercantile city brought about the “downtown” as
we know it today




Nodes of a global network of commerce
Middle class
Became engulfed by desperate immigrants looking for
opportunity
Emergence of a manufacturing city



Unregulated jumbles of activity
Poor sanitation  DISEASE
Elegant homes converted to tenement housing as wealthy
& middle class moved out of downtown areas to escape
immigrants



New World cities did not suffer as much as
European cities.
Sub-Saharan Africa  least urbanized realm
but fastest growing realm
2nd half of twentieth century  manufacturing
cities experience decline


Shift to tertiary services
Transportation advancement has led to the creation
of the modern city  suburbs
 More dispersed




Rural to urban land use  impact?
PO Muller  self sufficient entity containing its
own major economic and cultural activities
2000 census  50% of Americans live in the
suburbs
Essence of the modern American city

City where focus has shifted from CBD to
urban fringe
Shopping malls
 High tech light manufacturing
 White collar firms
 Entertainment & hotel complexes
 Airports
 Located along intersections of major freeways





Urban area is less dispersed
Urban amenities have not relocated to the
suburbs
Do not display sharp contrasts of wealth as
seen in American cities
Multiple family dwellings more common

Many built before modern transportation so streets
are narrow and layout is more compact






More walking and use of metro than cars
Primate cities
Legacy of past is better preserved
Wars have taken their toll
Outlying towns have attracted high tech industries
(outside of greenbelts)
GREENBELTS areas around European cities that
are left to natural state or are preserved gardens,
parks, etc.


Limits urban sprawl
Contains suburbanization


Estimate by the middle of this century, approximately 75% of
ppl will live in urban settings
Hazards of site



Loss of land





Paving  less rainfall permeates ground, washes pollutants into water
sources
Pollution
Production of waste (lack of sewer facilities)  developing world
Demand for water


NA loses about 1 million acres of farmland every year
China  3 million acres
Changed land cover


No infrastructure
Land not intended for heavy urban use
Urbanization increases water usage by five times per person
Changing consumption habits

More energy, meat (extends pastures & threatens forests)

Immigrants cluster together in an enclave
within a city


All needs met
Invasion and succession  neighborhoods remain
the same but new groups come in and out



Redlining
Blockbusting
Racial steering  used after blockbusting
became illegal

Realtors encouraged blacks and whites to look for
housing in areas that would promote changing
ghetto boundaries  real estate turnover


Modernism v. Postmodernism
Gentrification & commercialization



Inner cities




DINKS & SINKS
Displacement of poor residents who cannot afford
higher real estate
Less tax base
No funding
Govt housing
deglomeration