1. Development of Towns and Cities
Francisci WG.11b

2. What are the functions of towns and cities?
Towns provide security and defense for residents.
Examples: police department, fire department and rescue
services

3. What are the functions of towns and cities?
Towns or cities serve as religious centers.
- Jerusalem, Israel: Important religious center for Muslims,
Jews and Christians
- Varanasi, India: Hindus

4. What are the functions of towns and cities?
Towns and cities serve as trade centers for local and long distance trade.
- New York City: Trade center for the eastern U.S. and foreign trade
- Tokyo, Japan: Foreign trade
- Local cities: Local trade

5. What are the functions of towns and cities?
Towns and cities serve as the seat of government administration.

6. What are the functions of towns and cities?
Cities and towns provide jobs for residents.
- Businesses and factories tend to be located in or near cities

7. How does the function of cities change over time?
Rio de Janeiro: once was the capital of Brazil; the capital moved to Brasilia because the coastal area of Rio de Janeiro became overcrowded.
Pittsburgh, PA: first a defense fort and then the city changed to steel production; now a financial center.

8. How does the function of cities change over time?
New York City, NY: trade shifted from local coastal trade to trade with the Great Lakes via the Erie Canal; presently a worldwide trade and financial center.
Mining Towns: Gold, silver or coal mining towns abandoned after resource depletion leaving behind ghost towns.
Ghost Towns: A deserted town with few or no remaining inhabitants.

9. How are cities set up? Inner City: Downtown of the City
Suburbs: Surround the inner city and are connected by transportation and communication.
Metropolitan Region: Made up of the inner city and the suburbs.
Sprawl: Spreading of the population outside of the city into rural areas that are then converted to farmland.
Suburbs
Suburbs
Inner City
Suburbs
Suburbs
Metropolitan Area

10. How do cities impact the countries in which they are located?
Cities are often magnets for migration.
New ideas, such as technology and inventions often start in urban areas.
Corporations, television stations and radio stations are located in cities.
Traffic jams, pollution

11. How do cities impact the countries in which they are located?
Rich and poor become isolated from one another.
- In U.S., rich live in the suburbs of the city, while the poor
live in the inner city.
- In developing countries, the poor immigrate into the cities but
cannot find housing, they tend to live on the outskirts of the
city.

12. How do cities impact the countries in which they are located?
When city populations increase in developing countries, providing services to residents becomes difficult (fresh water, sewage, electricity, education, health clinics).
Because developing countries tend to have poor infrastructures, major cities are not connected to the rest of the regions in the same country.