CITIES AND URBAN LAND USE

DEFINITIONS OF URBAN Urban – the entire built-up, nonrural area and its population, including the most recently constructed suburban appendages. Provides a better picture of the dimensions of and population of such an area than the delimited municipality (central city) that forms its heart. Other definitions: A dense core of census tracts, densely settled suburbs, and low- density land that links the dense suburbs with the core. A continuously built-up urban landscape defined by building and population densities with no reference to the political boundaries of the city; it may contain a central city and many contiguous towns, suburbs, and unincorporated areas.

DEFINING CITIES City – a nucleated settlement of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics. Legal definitions vary from country to country US – 2500 persons South Africa – 500 persons India – 5000 persons with an adult population predominantly in non-agricultural work

OTHER DEFINITIONS Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) In the United States, a central city of at least 50,000 population, the county within which the city is located, and adjacent counties meeting one of several tests Micropolitan Statistical Areas (µSA) An urbanized area between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is found, and adjacent counties tied to the city.

5 “MSA” — AN EXAMPLE

US METROPOLITAN & MICROPOLITAN AREAS

OTHER DEFINITIONS 6 Characteristics 1.Dense concentrations of people 2.Distinguished by functional complexity 3.Centers of power 4.Human-created environments with patterns of specialized land use 5.Linked to other urban (or rural) places 6.Contradictions

SITE VS. SITUATION Site Absolute location Cities chosen for: Advantages in trade or defense Center of religious practice Cannot change (as easily) Situation Relative location Cities chosen for: Role in a larger context Can change Rome

1 ST URBAN REVOLUTION Urbanization – the increase in the percentage of people who live in cities, which eventually outstrips the number of people living in rural areas; the process of city formation and expansion. First urban revolution Innovation of the city 5 Urban Hearths 1.Mesopotamia (3500 B.C.E.) (10k-15k pop.) 2.Nile River Valley (10k-15k pop) 3.Indus River Valley 4.Huang He (Yellow)/Wei (Yangtze) Valleys 5.Mesoamerica Sometimes Peru is said to be the 6 th urban hearth

ROLES OF ANCIENT CITIES Politics Centers where heads of state were located Religion Centers where priests, temples & shrines were located Economics Centers where marketplaces, as well as wealthy merchants, land & livestock owners and traders were located Education Centers that attracted teachers and philosophers “Anchors of culture and society, the focal points of power, authority, and change.” H. J. de Blij

GREECE & ROME Secondary hearth: Greece Athens First to attain 100,000 (up to 250,000) Roman Empire Controlled Europe, N. Africa & SW Asia Urban settlements declined with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5 th c.

OTHER URBAN HISTORY Largest Pre-Columbian City in the Americas Tenochtitlán (est. 100,000) During the sharp decline in urbanization following the fall of the Roman Empire, places outside of Europe were developing Silk Road West Africa Timbuktu Five most populous in 900 Baghdad (modern Iraq) Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) Kyoto (Japan) Changan (China) Hangchow (China)

2 ND URBAN REVOLUTION Coincided with the Industrial Revolution Huge amounts of people migrated to cities to work in factories Cities changed as a result: Increase in size & number of factories Transportation systems expanded Increase in houses & housing options (tenements) Diffused with industrialization Coincided with changes in: Agriculture Culture Demography