Urban Organization

Urban Hierarchies: By Size Unincorporated Areas- an area where only two or three families live; found in western U.S; rural areas that could become incorporated if their population grows.

Hamlet- few dozen people and offer limited services; may contain a gas station or general store; fringes of urban center.

Village- larger than hamlets and offer more services; some specialty stores that offer specific goods like clothing, food, furniture, etc.

Towns- range from 50 to few thousand people; an urban area because of defined boundaries but smaller than city in terms of population and area; rural area surrounding them is the hinterland; serves mostly farmers.

Cities- densely populated area with tens of thousands of people.

Metropolises- large cities of 50,000ppl, including surrounding suburban areas; suburbs are dependent on urban core for activities.

Megalopolis/Conurbantion- several metro areas are linked together to form one huge urban area; examples can be found on east coast combining Boston to D.C.

World Cities Cities that possess cultural outreach and political influence. New York, London, and Tokyo.

Hierarchy by Influence: National Scale Cities are given rankings based on their amenities as well as their importance in global commerce. Urban Hierarchy puts cities in ranks from small first-order cities upward to fourth-order cities (large world class cities) (previous slides) National Scale.

Hierarchy by Influence: Global Scale World Cities (N.Y, Tokyo, London) Alpha Cities (L.A, Chicago, D.C, Frankfurt, Milan, Hong Kong) Beta Cities (San Francisco, Brussels, Moscow, Mexico City) Gamma Cities (Dallas, Amsterdam, Jakarta, Johannesburg)