1. Urban Patterns

2. Central Business Districts (CBD)
Highly accessible
Especially before cars

5. CBD is highly accessible!
What kind of retailers (per Central Place Theory) need the most accessibility?
Retailers with a high range/threshold
Department stores
Shift in the 1960s/1970s → stores “re-agglomerate” to suburban malls , why?
cars/parking lots make malls more convenient
Now attract tourist shoppers (Michigan Ave.)
specialty stores (jewelers, Apple store, live theatre)
must be in center to attract as many people as possible

6. CBD is highly accessible!
Services pertaining to downtown workers
Why are professional services clustered in the CBD?
want proximity to govt. offices, other professionals
business that support professional services also cluster there
office supply, copy services, temp. agencies,
accessible to all types of workers (the secretary and the CEO!)
How is the janitor going to get to Kenilworth if the CEO conducts business close to his mansion?
a key characteristic of “global” cities is social stratification
Retail also caters to the tastes of downtown workers
Shoe repair, lunch places, business attire, etc.
this sector is expanding

7. High competition for land in the CBD
Bid-rent theory
land is more expensive in the city center because certain economic activities are wiling to pay more to locate there.
High land costs, which results in?
Intensive land use
Skyscrapers
Chicago (Home Insurance Building) 1880s
Iron frame and elevators
Give CBDs distinctive character but can lead to placelessness
Glass and iron skyscrapers are ubiquitous (“common”).
Underground areas are also used

8. Culture and Urban Form Chicago School(s) of Architecture = skyscrapers
1st school (late 1800s): walls hang on iron frame
2nd (mid 20th century): glass and iron skyscraper, form follows function = aka “the International School”

9. High competition for land in the CBD
Bid-rent theory
land is more expensive in the city center because certain economic activities are wiling to pay more to locate there.
High land costs, which results in?
Intensive land use
Skyscrapers
Chicago (Home Insurance Building) 1880s
Iron frame and elevators
Give CBDs distinctive character but can lead to placelessness
Glass and iron skyscrapers are ubiquitous (“common”).
“Vertical geography” = use changes as you go up
Retailers → professionals → residential
Underground areas are also used
Subways, loading docks, utility lines

10. Competition for land in the CBD
Activities excluded from the CBD
Traditional lack of industry
locate outside of CBD but still close to transport
along Chicago River, River North, West Loop, South Loop
“zone of transition”
as industry relocates to suburbs, Sun Belt, LDCs
CBD expands
waterfronts transitioned to recreation, tourism, retail
“zone of transition” gentrifying, mixed use

11. Competition for land in the CBD
Lack of residents in the CBD
1800s = CBD had residents centers
Wealthy move outward as city expands, abandon mansions
Replaced by new immigrants, factory workers in zone of transition
20th century = retail wins bid-rent
few downtown residents
Now: population returning
empty-nesters, yuppies,
proximity to nightlife culture, don’t care about schools, etc.

12. Empty Nesters and Young Professionals

13. CBDs outside North America
Less dominated by commercial considerations.
More public use and higher population
Bldg/zoning restrictions to maintain character and attract tourists
Height restrictions
Older buildings renovated not demolished

14. Culture and Urban Form Chicago School(s) of Architecture
City Beautiful movement
Parks, monuments, orderly street plan (Daniel Burnham)
Nice to look at AND believed to create civic pride and moral virtues
The National Mall in Washington, DC

16. Culture and Urban Form Chicago School(s) of Architecture
City Beautiful movement
Parks, monuments, orderly street plan (Daniel Burnham)
Nice to look at AND believed to create civic pride and moral virtues
Beaux Arts style (you don’t need to know all the details but should recognize it)
"noble spaces"—grand entrances/staircases—not utilitarian ones
Arched windows and pedimented doors
Statuary, sculpture, murals, mosaics, and other artwork, all coordinated in theme to assert the identity of the building
Classical details: balustrades, pilasters, garlands

19. Culture and Urban Form Chicago School(s) of Architecture
City Beautiful movement
Postmodern architecture
Wide range of styles, challenges what’s “accepted”
Diverse aesthetics, anything goes, unique forms
More people-friendly = “cloud gate” aka “the bean”

21. Post-modernism is booming