Lecture Notes on Chapter 9 URBAN GEOGRAPHY Lecture Notes on Chapter 9

Bellringer What types of activities occur in a city that might shape the cultural landscape in different ways? Hint: think of the different types of buildings in a city

What is “urban geography”? The study of the city—its layout, patterns, and the factors that shape it and continue to change it The study of cities reveals how money and power shape urban spaces

-

-

-

-

Why Did People Start Living in Cities? City: A conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics

Urban Population

Where Are Cities Located, and Why? Site Absolute location Situation Relative location A city’s place in the region and the world around it Trade area: An adjacent region within which a city’s influence is dominant

Rank-Size Rule Characteristic of a model urban hierarchy The population of the city or town is 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, disproportionately larger than the rest of the cities

Bellringer Paris is the primate city of France. What are possible advantages of having a primate city? What are possible disadvantages of having a primate city? BRING YOUR TEXTBOOK TOMORROW

Central Place Theory Developed by Walter Christaller Predicts how and where central places in the urban hierarchy are functionally and spatially distributed The location of cities is not accidental, but tied to trade areas, population size, and distance

Hexagonal Hinterlands C = city T = town V = village H = hamlet

Trade Areas

Organization and Functions of Cities Urban morphology: The layout of a city, its physical form and structure Functional zonation: The division of the city into certain regions (zones) for certain functions (purposes)

Zones of the City Central business district: center of commerce Central City: urban area that’s not suburban Suburb: functionally uniform zone outside of the central city; mostly residential

Classical Models of Urban Structure Burgess Hoyt Harris & Ulman

Bellringer What is going on in the area next to the taller buildings? What is that area and why is it there?

Cities of Latin America Griffin-Ford model Disamenity sectors: Not connected to city services May be controlled by gangs and drug lords

Cities of Subsaharan Africa

Cities of Southeast Asia McGee model Colonial port as focal point

Shaping Residential Housing Patterns Redlining: Financial institutions refusing to lend money in certain neighborhoods Blockbusting : Realtors purposefully selling a home at a low price to an African American and then soliciting white residents to sell their homes at low prices, to generate “white flight” Gentrification: Individuals buying and rehabilitating houses, raising the housing value in the neighborhood

Gated Communities Find image

Urban Sprawl