Urban: Roman Cities•System and planning•Site: absolute location, chosen for advantages•Situation: city’s role in larger area/context (prominence can change)•Urban morphology: city layout•Functional Zonation: different segments with different functions•Forum: center of Roman public life

Urban: Middle Ages•500-1300•Europe: little urban growth•Asia: urban growth (Chinese urbanism diffuses into Korea and Japan)•Africa: trade cities flourished (Timbuktu)•Americas: Mayan and Aztec Empires

Urban: European Exploration/Colonization

•Before, cities located mostly on interior trade routes in Eurasia and Africa (e.g., along Silk Road)•Interior cities declined, coastal cities grew (e.g., Bombay, Tokyo, Jakarta)•Trade/slaves brought wealth to European (mercantile) cities (e.g., Lisbon, London, Seville, Genoa, Antwerp)

Urban: Revolutions•2nd Agricultural Revolution (late 17th, 18th Centuries)

•Seeds, breeding, storage, marketing•Less workers needed, flock to cities•2nd Urban Revolution (18th Century)•Industrial Revolution starts in England•Chaotic industrial city•Horrible conditions, pollution•Reform: workers’ rights, city planning, zoning

Urban: City Locations•Trade areas: regions influenced by dominant cities•Rank-size rule: 1. Largest city population: X2. Second largest city population: ½X 3. 1/3 X4. ¼ X etc.• Doesn’t work as well in countries with a single

dominant city• Primate city: a country’s disproportionally large and

influential leading city (e.g., Mexico City)

Urban: City Locations•Central Place Theory: idealized conditions (no physical barriers, soil consistency, equal population, uniform transportation•Places location mostly determined by the goods and services needed and offered•Main influence: location of places determined not by accident but affected by economic and geographical features•Sun-Belt Phenomenon: government and economic forces affect placement and importance of U.S. cities in the Sun Belt region

Urban: City Models•Functional Zonation: division into regions (zones) for purposes (functions) may be planned or unplanned•Globalization: helps to create common landscapes (e.g., New York and Shanghai) •Central Business District (CBD): key economic zone•Central City: original city not including suburbs•Suburbs: outlying, functionally uniform part of urban area (process of urbanizing lands called suburbanization)

Urban: North American City•Concentric Zone model, Sector model, Multiple Nuclei model: reflect changes over time specifically in transportation and desegregation•Edge cities: suburban areas that become functionally independent (e.g., Irvine, California)

Urban: South American City•Megacities: large population, territory, in-migration, strained infrastructure (e.g., Sao Paulo, Brazil)•Griffin-Ford model: blend traditional elements with forces of globalization•Shantytowns: unplanned developments of crude dwellings and shelters around edge of city•Disamenity sector: poorest sectors disconnected from regular city services, controlled by gangs, drugs (favelas, barrios, periferico)•Unlike with U.S. cities, poor areas are disconnected from CBD and industrial areas

Urban: African City•World’s fastest growing cities•Affects of colonialism still seen•Multiple CBDs•Neighborhoods marked by strong ethnic affiliations

Urban: Southeast Asian City•McGee model: old colonial port zone surrounded by commercial districts•No CBD but aspects of CBD in other zones•Alien commercial zones (Chinese) different from western commercial zones (reflects different history with colonialism)•Similarities with South American model•Larger middle class presence in suburban zone than in South America

Urban: Shaping Cities•Periphery and Semi-Periphery: overcrowding, lack of zoning laws, stark contrast between wealthy and poor, little or no infrastructure in poor areas•Core: change in historical practices such as redlining (refusing housing loans to poor/black people); blockbusting (getting white people to leave for the suburbs, also called white flight•Commercialization: transforming CBD into attractive place for businesses and residents•Gentrification: rehabilitation of houses in older neighborhoods (pros and cons of this)•Teardowns: demolishing homes in suburbs and replacing them with McMansions

Urban: Core City Features•Urban sprawl: unrestricted growth with little or no urban planning (product of automobile era), most rampant is areas of greatest population growth (Sunbelt, West)•New Urbanism: urban and suburban reforms and development to create diverse, walkable neighborhoods (e.g., Celebration, Florida)•Open, central shopping areas with neighborhoods and public spaces developed around them•Pros: counters urban sprawl, improves quality of suburban life•Cons: exclusionary•Gated Communities: “space of safety”•Pros: safety, increase house values, recast former “projects”•Cons: new form of segregation

Urban: Ethnic Neighborhoods•European Cities: migrants from former colonies (Algerians in France) or guest workers (Turkey migrants in Germany)•Government involvement in migrants’ rights•Large public housing neighborhoods in rings around the city•Migrant neighborhoods may be ethnically diverse (Amsterdam) or homogeneous (Paris) due to government policies

Urban: Ethnic Neighborhoods•Periphery or Semi-Periphery Cities: dominated by slum developments•Impermanent, often unsafe housing, little or no connection to city resources and services•Dwellers pay rent and are exploited by landowners (“slum lords”)•Neighborhoods typically ethnically delineated•Affects of colonialism linger: ethnic groups privileged during colonial times still have more privileged status today •Survival dependent often on extended family resources, remittances, and informal economy

Urban: Effects of Globalization•In former colonial cities, city centers are transforming from segregation of foreign (mostly European) and local activities to three CBDs: global, national (large domestic), and local (small domestic)•World Cities: cities whose influence transcends state boundaries and function as “service centers” of the world economy (e.g., New York, London, Tokyo); some are capital cities, also•Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Cities

Urban: Effects of Globalization•Cities as “spaces of consumption”•Cities are places used by global companies to advertise and sell their products•City centers often used as entertainment spaces (e.g., Time Square)