How are Cities Organized?

Key Question:

Zones of the City

• Central business district (CBD)

• Central City (the CBD + older housing zones)

• Suburb (outlying, functionally uniform zone outside of the central city)

AROUND THE WORLD CITIES

Modeling the Cities of the Global Periphery and Semiperiphery

• Latin American City (Griffin-Ford model)

• African City (de Blij model)

• Southeast Asian City (McGee model)

Latin American

City (Griffin-Ford Model)

Latin American model

Generalized scheme both sensitive to local cultures and international forces, both Western and non-Western

In contrast to today’s cities in the U.S., the CBDs of Latin American cities are vibrant, dynamic, and increasingly specialized– A reliance on public transit that serves the central city– Existence of a large and relatively affluent population

closest to CBD

The African City

(de Blij Model)

Southeast Asian City (McGee model)

Middle East: Mumbai, India

Modeling the North American City

• Concentric zone model (Ernest Burgess)

• Sector model (Homer Hoyt)

• Multiple Nuclei Model (Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman)

Three Classical Models of Urban Structure

Concentric zone model

Developed in 1925 by Ernest W. Burgess A model with five zones.

Burgess’s Concentric Ring

Concentric zone model

A model with five zones.– Zone 1

The central business district (CBD)– Zone 2

Characterized by mixed pattern of industrial and residential land use --Often includes slums and skid rows

– Zone 3 The “workingmen’s quarters”

– Zone 4 Middle class area of “better housing”

– Zone 5 Consists of higher-income families

AnotherExample

OfConcentric

Sector model

Homer Hoyt, an economist, presented his sector model in 1939

Because these areas were reinforced by transportation routes, the pattern of their development was one of sectors or wedges

Hoyt’s Sector Model

Modeling Cities: sector model

Stresses the importance of transportation corridors. Sees growth of various urban activities as expanding along roads, rivers, or train routes.

Multiple nuclei model

Suggested by Chauncey Harris and Edward Ullman in 1945

Maintained a city developed with equal intensity around various points

The CBD was not the sole generator of change

Ullman’s Multi Nuclei

Modeling Cities: multiple-nuclei

Stresses the importance of multiple modes of activity, not a single CBD. Ports, airports, universities attract certain uses while repelling others.

Changes in Cities in the U.S. U.S. population has been moving out of the city

centers to the suburbs: suburbanization and counterurbanization

U.S. intraregional migration during 1990s.

Developed Countries: suburbanization· wealthy move to suburbs · automobiles and roads; ‘American Dream’· better services· wealthy move to suburbscounterurbanization·idyllic settings·cost of land for retirement·slow pace, yet high tech connections to services and markets

New Urbanism• Development, urban revitalization, and

suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs.

– some are concerned over privatization of public spaces

– some are concerned that they do nothing to bread down the social conditions that create social ills of the cities

– some believe they work against urban sprawl

The new urban landscape

Office parks (many offices locate together)

Shopping Malls Master Planned Communities Festival Settings “Militarized Space (no benches..keep out homeless)

Decline Public Space (Skyway in cities) (malls vs stores)