1. How Technology and Transportation Change Situation
Urban Epochs
How Technology and Transportation Change Situation

2. The Rise of Cities Cities that grew and became important were…
Influential over a very large area (big hinterland!)
Highly accessible such as along trade routes (silk road) or coasts as ocean trade routes opened (situation)
Places that brought people & ideas together

3. Urban Epochs
5 Epochs (Developed by John Borchert, a Minnesotan Geographer and U of M professor in 1967)
Urban Epochs describe time periods where cities provide goods and services in a certain way to a surrounding area (hinterland) in exchange for raw materials
The wealth and prosperity is directly tied to the wealth and prosperity of its hinterland
This is why most cities are around the best farmland
Over time, the ways cities interact with their hinterlands have changed
These changes are due to advancements in how we can transport people and goods

4. Sail and Wagon Epoch: 1790 - 1830 Pre-Industrial
Transportation was slow, hinterlands were small
Trade was with Europe and domestic
Much of interior of US was not accessible
Leading cities – big ones on the East Coast – Boston, New York, Philadelphia
All major cities have access to rivers / oceans
This makes their hinterlands larger!

5. Then comes the 2nd Urban Revolution!
A series of innovations led to major changes in how people make goods – the industrial revolution
Food production went up due to mechanization of farming
People began flocking to cities to work in factories
This is the beginning of the 2nd Urban Revolution

6. Steamboat Epoch: 1830 - 1870 Beginnings of industrialization
Steam powered RR and ships
Nationwide transport system begins
1869 – Transcontinental RR completed
Industrial cities in North, along Great Lakes and RR lines – Rise of Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh
Minneapolis and St. Paul emerge here
Erie canal (1825) connects MN to global markets

7. Rail Road Epoch: 1870 - 1920 Larger, wealthier hinterland
National metropolitan network emerges
Steel industry defines this epoch
Golden age of northern, industrial cities
Expansion of RR further south and west
Telegraph communication increases links
Lower St. Anthony Falls Dam, electric power plant, and flour mill – Minneapolis, 1908

8. Auto/Air/Amenity Epoch: 1920 - 1970
Continued improvements in transportation
Interstate Highway system
More with access to automobiles and air travel
Shift begins from industrial (factory) to post-industrial (services)
Leads to the rise of suburbs with wealthy living outside of town away from factories
Housing boom post WWII
Rise of south and west in the US
Notice how people begin live further away from the city center as transportation becomes more available to more people

9. High Technology – 1970 - Today
Hinterland is still important, but cities now have a global reach
Economic base of cities is now based on information access and distribution
Technology and research base
Less manufacturing need
Continued growth in west and south
Even greater access to transportation and rise of suburbs makes cities take up more space (urban sprawl)