1. Chapter 13- Urban Areas
Key Issue 1- Why do services cluster down town?
Key Issue 2: Where are people distributed within urban areas?
Key Issue 3- Why Do Inner Cities Face Distinctive Challenges?
Key Issue 4- Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges?

2. Cities and Urban Geography
In /3 of the world lived in a city.
Today 1/2 of us live in cities and the number is increasing. 2

3. Historic City Functions
Commercial Centers - Fresno, Venice, New York
Industrial Cities - Manchester, Detroit, Los Angeles
Primary Resources - Scotia, Minas Gerais, Nevada City
Resort Cities - Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Marseille
Government / Religious Centers - Monterey, D.C., Brasilia
Education Centers - Palo Alto, Berkeley 3

4. 4

5. U.S. Urban Growth Stages 5

6. Ancient World Cities
Oldest cities are found in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and Indus Valley.
Mesopotamia (Jordan/Iraq)
Jericho 10,000 B.C.
Ur 3,000 B.C. (Iraq)
Walled cities based on agricultural trade
Ziggurat (stepped temple)
Ancient Ur in Iraq 6

7. Ancient World Cities
Oldest cities are found in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and Indus Valley.
E. Mediterranean
Athens 2,500 B.C.
1st city to exceed 100,000
Many cities organized into City-States
Ancient Athens 7

8. Medieval World Cities European Feudal Cities
After collapse of Roman Empire in 5th Century, Europe’s cities were diminished or abandoned.
European Feudal Cities
Begin in 11th Century
Independent cities formed in exchange for military service to feudal lord.
Improved roads encouraged trade
Dense and compact within defensive walls
Paris, France
Cittadella, Italy 8

9. Medieval World Cities
Cittadella, Italy
Cittadella, Italy 9

10. Major Cities of the World

11. Modern World Cities London, New York, Tokyo
A high percentage of world’s business is transacted and political power is concentrated in these cities.
Headquarters of large businesses
Media control centers
Access to political power
London, New York, Tokyo
Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich, Sao Paulo, and Singapore 11

12. Urban Planning Building Better Cities
How to Make a Great City
Famous Planned Cities
Canberra, Australia
Brasilia, Brazil
Washington, D.C.
Irvine, CA
Seaside, FL
Poundbury, England
Smart Growth
Pedestrian Friendly
Increase Density
Mix Ethnic and Income Groups
Urban Planning Building Better Cities 12

13. Rank-Size Rule
Rank-Size Rule: n th-largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement. In other words, 2nd largest is 1/2 the size of largest. Works best in most developed countries that have full distribution of services. 13

14. Primate City Rule
Largest settlement in a country has more than twice the number as the second ranking city. These cities tend to represent the perceived culture of the country. 14

15. Key Issue 1- Why do services cluster down town?
Urbanization- the process by which the population of cities grows
increase in the number of people living in cities
increase in the percentage of people living in the cities
A large percentage of people living in urban areas is a measure of a country’s development.
In MDC’s approx ¾ of pop live in urban areas, compared to 2/5 for LDC’s.
The increase in service sector jobs pull people to the cities, while the need for fewer farm workers has pushed them out of the rural areas.
Although MDC’s generally have a higher percentage of people living in the cities, LDC’s have most of the world’s largest cities.
About half the growth results from people emigrating from the countryside to the city, even without the prospect of available jobs

16. -Social heterogeneity
Defining where urban areas end and rural areas begin is becoming increasingly difficult, especially in areas dominated by urban sprawl, like the U.S.
Louis Wirth argued that an urban resident follows a different way of life from a rural dweller. Wirth socially defined the city as having these three characteristics:
-Large size
-High density
-Social heterogeneity
Physically designating a “city” is even more difficult. Various methods are used, sometimes interchangeably, sometimes overlapping.

17. Largest World Metropolitan Areas
Ten Most Populous Today 17

18. Largest World Cities Ten Most Populous in A.D. 1975
1. Tokyo million
2. New York million
3. Shanghai million
4. México million
5. São Paulo million
6. Osaka million
7. Buenos Aires million
8. Los Angeles million
9. Paris million
10. Beijing million
Source: U.N., 2001
* Note that five of these cities are in the Core or more developed world. 18

19. Largest World Cities Ten Most Populous by A.D. 2015
1. Tokyo million
2. Bombay million
3. Lagos million
4. Shanghai million
5. Jakarta million
6. São Paulo million
7. Karachi million
8. Beijing million
9. Dhaka, Bangladesh million
10. México million
Source: U.N., 2001
* Note that only one of these cities is in the Core of the more developed world! 19

20. City- The area of urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit
-Urbanized area- In the U.S, the central city and the surrounding built-up suburbs.
-Metropolitan Statistical Area- the U.S. Census official method of measuring the functional area of a city. 4 characteristics
-urbanized area with a pop of at least 50,000.
-The county within which the city is located.
-Adjacent counties w/a high pop density and large % of residents working in the central city’s county.
-Micropolitan statistical areas- same as MSA only designed for smaller urban areas.

21. Sometimes the MSA of cities will overlap resulting in a mega city commonly referred to as a megalopolis, such as the Boswash corridor. (The “continuous” city of Boston, Washington D.C., and New York City)

22. Megalopolis
Illustrates the difference between strict city proper definitions and broader urban agglomerations.
To define urbanized areas, the U.S. Census Bureau uses the term Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or Consolidated MSA (CMSA) if two of them overlap. 22

23. CBD land uses Central business districts (CBDs)
Retail services in the CBD
Retailers with a high threshold
Retailers with a high range
Retailers serving downtown workers
Business services in the CBD

24. CBD of Charlotte, NC
Figure 13-1

25. Competition for land in the CBD
High land costs
Some of the most expensive real estate in the world = Tokyo
Intensive land use
Underground areas
Skyscrapers
“Vertical geography”

26. Why build up?
Why copy Western model?
Skyscrapers 26

27. Activities excluded from the CBD
Lack of industry in the CBD
Modern factories require large, one-story parcels of land
Lack of residents in the CBD
Push and pull factors involved
CBDs outside North America
Less dominated by commercial considerations.

28. Key Issue 2: Where are people distributed within urban areas?
Models of urban structure
Are used to explain where people live in cities
Three models, all developed in the city of Chicago
Concentric zone model
Sector model
Multiple nuclei model

29. Concentric zone model- created in 1923 by E. W
Concentric zone model- created in 1923 by E.W. Burgess, it shows the city as growing outward in concentric rings. Though the ring size may vary betwixt cities, the same order is always evident: CBD;
zone of transition (industry and slums);
working class zone;
middle-class family zone;
commuter zone.
This model displays that wealth is what designs the city, as one moves out from the CBD, the residences in each zone are progressively nicer, and the people are progressively richer.

30. Concentric Zone Model
Figure 13-4

32. Sector model- created in 1939 by Homer Hoyt, it is essentially a modification of the concentric zone model. Rather than rings however, this model uses sectors that lead out from the CBD generally in a radial pattern, with transportation and industry sector running alongside the CBD. As in the concentric zone model, wealth increases as one moves out from the CBD.
This model is especially helpful in showing the clustering of ethnicities along certain sectors.

33. Sector Model
Figure 13-5

35. Multiple nuclei model- created in 1945 by C. D. Harris and E. L
Multiple nuclei model- created in 1945 by C.D. Harris and E.L. Ullman, it says that the pattern of urban development is that there is no pattern and a city is a complex structure that includes more than one center around which activities revolve.

36. Multiple Nuclei Model
Figure 13-6

38. No model is truly better than another Normally one can argue any of the three to fit any city.
The three models are used primarily to help in the understanding of where people with different social characteristics tend to live within an urban area.

39. Geographic application of the models
Models can be used to show where different social groups live in the cities
Census tracts
Social area analysis
Criticism of the models
Models may be too simple
Models may be outdated

40. Changes in Cities in the U.S.
U.S. population has been moving out of the city centers to the suburbs: suburbanization and counterurbanization
Developed Countries: suburbanization
wealthy move to suburbs
automobiles and roads; ‘American Dream’
better services
Counterurbanization (exurbanization)
idyllic settings
cost of land for retirement
slow pace, yet high tech connections to services and markets
U.S. intraregional migration during 1990s. 40

41. Census tract- urban areas that contain approx 5,000 residents and try to correspond to neighborhood boundaries.
European and less developed cities typically follow the same models, only the direction of increasing wealth is reversed.
The rich cluster downtown and the poor are banished to the outskirts.
Many LDC cities show this trend because they were founded by European colonists who simply imposed their urban planning upon whatever city they chose.

42. Intraregional Migrations in LDCs
Populations in the less developed world are rushing to cities in search of work and income.
Urbanization
migration from rural areas
lack of jobs in countryside
lack of services in cities
Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York only MDC cities on top 10 list
Lagos, Nigeria
Mumbai, India
Mexico City, Mexico 42

43. Changes in Cities in LDCs
Populations of cities in the less developed world have been surging: urbanization, migration, natural increase
Urbanization in LDCs:
driven by changes in global economy that make farming more challenging
the poor live in the suburbs, rich live in CBD
cities struggle to provide jobs and housing
services overtaxed
squatter settlements common
crime on the rise
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil 43

44. Europe versus U.S. Cities: Sprawl
European cities, including this hypothetical U.K. example, tend to restrict suburban development, thereby concentrating new development in and around existing concentrations. This leaves large rings of open space, so-called greenbelts.
What are the social costs of sprawl? 44

45. Squatter settlements- the outskirts of many LDC cities where the poor are clustered. These settlements often lack running water, schools, electricity, mass transit, or any other service that one would expect in a city.

46. Income Distribution in the Paris Region
Figure 13-10

47. Model of a Latin American City
Figure 13-14

48. Toulouse, France 48

49. Ferrara, Italy 49

50. Sogne, Norway 50

51. Venice, Italy 51

52. Somewhere in France 52

53. Amsterdam, The Netherlands53

54. Florence, Italy 54

55. Copenhagen, Denmark 55

56. European Cities: result of very long histories
Complex street patterns - prior to automobile, weird angles
Plazas and Squares - from Greek, Roman, Medieval
High density and compact form - wall around city or low-growth zoning
Low skylines - many built before elevators, others required cathedral or monument to be highest structure
Lively downtowns - center of social life, not just office work
Neighborhood stability - Europeans moved less frequently than we do.
Scars of War - many wars , many cities originally defensive
Symbolism - gothic cathedrals, palaces, and castles
Municipal Socialism - many residents live in buildings that are owned by city gov’t. Some of these are massive housing projects, others small scale apartment buildings. 56

57. Key Issue 3- Why Do Inner Cities Face Distinctive Challenges?
Inner-city physical issues
Most significant = deteriorating housing
5 Issues
Filtering- the process of subdividing homes by successive waves of increasingly lower-income people.
Redlining- the practice of some banks of drawing lines on a map to identify areas in which they will refuse to loan money.

58. Urban renewal- the process in which cities identify blighted inner-city neighborhoods, acquire the property from private owner, “relocate” the residents, clear the site, build new infrastructure, and develop it into a new business district or park area; effectively developing it so well that the property value is too high for the original tenants to stay, and they must move to another area.
Public housing- government supported housing in which the low-income tenants must pay ~30% of their income for rent with the government covering the other costs not paid for by rent. Accounts for 2% of all dwellings in the U.S; the numbers differ in Europe.
Renovated housing
Gentrification- the process by which middle-class people move into deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods and renovate the housing. These people are often attracted by the cheap housing, proximity to CBD, and availability of city amenities. This process also results in the raising of property values beyond the range of many of the low-income residents who are required to move out.

59. Racial Change in Chicago
Figure 13-16

60. Inner-city social issues
Underclass- common term referring to inner-city residents because they are trapped in an unending cycle of economic and social problems.
Homelessness
Culture of poverty

61. Inner-city economic issues
Eroding tax base
Cities can either reduce services or raise taxes
Impact of the recession
Housing market collapse

62. Foreclosures in Baltimore
Figure 13-18

63. Many low-income inner-city residents lack job skills because they never completed high school, and few low-skilled jobs remain downtown, most having moved out to their customers in the suburbs.
3 million Americans are homeless, most roaming through the cities. Because some inner-city residents are unable to escape the cycle of poverty, they turn to crime, drugs, and/or other illegal behavior to make ends meet.

64. The concentration of low-income residents in the inner-city, with most of the middle and upper classes in the suburbs, has left city governments with extreme financial problems.
Without a strong tax base, many governments are unable to fund schools or other social programs that would help end the underclass cycle, thus the problem continues.
Cities are less able to annex compared to the past. Suburbanites wish to have their own services and have jurisdictions independent of the city.
Suburbs wish to remain close to the city to enjoy its amenities, but not become part of it and have to join in its problems.

65. Key Issue 4- Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges?
Urban expansion
Annexation- the process of legally adding land area to a city.
Defining urban settlements
The city
Urbanized areas
Metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)
Metropolitan divisions
Micropolitan statistical areas

66. Annexation in Chicago
Figure 13-19

67. City, Urbanized Area, and MSA of St. Louis
Figure 13-20

68. Urban expansion Local government fragmentation
Council of government
Consolidations of city and county governments
Federations
Overlapping metropolitan areas

69. Peripheral model- developed by C. D
Peripheral model- developed by C.D. Harris, it suggests that an urban area consists of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road. Peripheral areas lack the problems of many inner-cities, but often result in a large amount of inefficient urban sprawl.
Edge cities- areas that develop along the ring road that are nodes of consumer and business services.
Density gradient- the density change as one leaves the inner city. Typically drops from extremely high in the CBD, to low in the rural surroundings. However, in recent years, fewer people are living in the center thus creating a “hole” in the density gradient with the highest pop density surrounding this hole. Also, as suburbs “fill in”, the density differences are softened as one moves in a given direction.
Sprawl- the progressive spread of development over the landscape.

70. Density Gradient
Figure 13-23

71. Suburban Stress
Figure 13-25

72. Suburban segregation Racial and Economic Segregation schools taxes
democracy

73. School Segregation 73

74. Transportation and suburbanization
Motor vehicles
More than 95 percent of all trips = made by car
Public transit
Advantages of public transit
Transit travelers take up less space
Cheaper, less pollutant, and more energy efficient than an automobile
Suited to rapidly transport large number of people to small area
Public transit in the United States
Used primarily for rush-hour community for workers into and out of CBD
Small cities-minimal use
Most Americans prefer to commute by automobile

75. Subway and Tram Lines in Brussels, Belgium
Figure 13-28

76. Greenbelt- rings of open space found within European cities.
Zoning ordinances- laws developed in Europe and N. America in the early 20th century that encourage spatial separation by congregating people of similar background and economic state.
Council of government- a cooperative agency consisting of representatives of the various local governments in the region.
Smart growth- legislation and regulations to limit suburban sprawl and preserve farmland.

77. Rubenstein, James- Cultural Landscape; An Introduction to Human Geography
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