Urban geography… Concepts: Metropolitan area Central City/CBD Suburb Exurb (disconnected residential dev’mt) ‘Edge City’ (sudden surge of growth from business relocation, etc.)

Urban land use patterns… Residential 35% (about one-third of average city’s land area) Commercial (less than 4-5% of city?) Industrial (only 6-7% of area?) Transportation 35% (larger and larger share of available land) (and other 20% uses like recreational, government, education etc…)

More fascinating info about urban geography Historical ‘epochs’ of urban development in the U.S. – based on: 1) Resources: City’s grow because they’re near resources. 2) In-migration. 3) Transportation and technology (e.g. Chicago and RR; Seattle’s seaport connection etc.)

More reasons for urban growth 4)Functional interrelationships between cities: Cities grow because they assume important roles in already existing urban systems (e.g. Vegas’ and Reno’s connection to CA). Changes in social and economic systems (e.g.Gold Rush brought migrants to the West; emancipation encouraged African- Americans to leave the South.

Six ‘epochs’of urban growth in the U.S. 1)Prior to 1800: The Colonial Heritage Resources: food, fish, timber. Largest cities - trading centers with access to interior and to Europe. NYC at the top by 1790 (33,000); Rivals were Philadelphia and Boston.

Six epochs… 2) Sail and Wagon Era – up to Period of major agricultural settlement of NE and Midwest. Decreased links with Europe. Only period when urban percentage actually dropped. (Pgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, New Orleans)

More epics… 3) Rail and Steam Epoch – Entire continent opens up. East Coast grows due to migration and industry. Boston was key financial center. Chicago rises from obscurity (RR/meat- packing, etc.).

The six urban periods continued - 4) The Steel Rail Epoch – Extension of connections to West and South. All regions joined by standardized RR network. Major growth of western cities (e.g. LA, SF, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver)

Epoch # 5… 5) Streetcar Suburbs: ? Cities begin to change internally as their urban morphology is reshaped by new transportation systems and new migrants. The big question: Does suburban growth (and the emergence of ‘edge cities’) mean death to the CBD?)

Epic Six: 6) The automobile era: 1940 to present What next? New towns Telecomm villages Neo-traditional (smart growth)