Urbanization - ISA

Urban Geography  How cities function, their internal systems and structures, and the external influences on them.  2 Ways of studying Urban Geography  Systems of cities: how cities influence the landscape around them, how they connect to one another, and how they are distributed nationally and globally  Internal cities: internal workings of cities, analysis of patterns of land use, racial and ethnic segregation, architecture, intra-city transportation, cycles of construction and development  Uses census data, and narrative accounts

Urban Areas  What’s an “urban” area?  Nucleated-clear core area(s), people that live there have non-agricultural jobs  Central City

 Usually surrounded by Suburbs-nucleated spaces that use much land for residences but are not self-sufficient  Modern cities and towns so close together they form an urbanized area that is continuously built up landscapes and buildings=Physical city  Metropolitan Area

Urban Hierarchy  Clustered settlements range in size-arranged by complexity of their centralizing functions  Smallest to Largest  Hamlet-small cluster of farms, and basic services  Village-small cluster of homes, and more specialized services  Town-larger than village, has more specialized services (bank, schools, library) has a hinterland (area dependent on the town)  City-larger population, functional specialization, larger hinterlands, greater centrality, Central Business Districts (CBD)  Megalopolis-multiple cities that have grown together-

Social Life of Urban Areas  Louis Wirth says 3 characteristics of cities that set it apart from rural areas  Large Size- too many acquaintances to keep track of everyone’s personal life  Many people but don’t know most very well

 High Density-people have highly specialized jobs, each person in city serves specific purpose-people compete for space (high cost of living), greater differences in rich and poor  Social heterogeneity-lots of diversity, freedom and independence not available in rural ares

Origin and Evolution of Cities  Ancient and Early River Civilizations: Formative Era  Nile, Mesopotamia, Indus River, China  As populations grew, the need for decision makers to distribute food came to be (urban elite)  Functions of Ancient Cities:    

Centers of power-government headquarters Religious centers-priests, temples, shrines Economic centers-markets, merchants, traders Educational centers-educators for the urban elite

Urbanization around Mediterranean  City-states-self-governing communities plus the surrounding countryside  Athens, Sparta, Thebes  Rome-becomes an urban empire connected by roadways and waterways

Urbanization in China  Han Dynasty (ruled during Roman Empire) will have largest city in world Chang’an and later Luoyang  Located on rivers and near Silk Road trade route  Connected by roads, rivers, canals

Medieval cities  Roman empire falls and cities take a hit in Europe  Venice and Genoa (because of sea trade) remained strong  Churches were center of Medieval European cities

 By 1000 AD the largest cities were in Asia  Baghdad, Constantinople (Istanbul), Kyoto, Chang’an, Hangchow.  Not until 1800 did Europe have the most populated city in the world-London

Pre-industrial Cities  Pre-industrial cities were the centers for culture (because industry had not moved in yet!)  Primate cities-larger than other cities in the area and representing a national culture  Kyoto-primate city for old Japan, Paris, London  However! One major difference is that religious buildings dominated landscapes of cities in Middle East, Europe, the Americas but not Africa or East Asia

 Trade routes and networks determined a cities success and growth-called mercantile city where trade was central to design

Industrial Cities  Because of the Industrial Revolution-the manufacturing city emerged-where factories attracted laborers from all over boosting major population growth in urban areas  Transportation to and fro and within develops  Problems will grow quickly but so will solutions like government intervention and city planning and zoning

World Cities and Megacities  Manufacturing cities begin to decline as outsourcing and LDC’s are used for that type of labor  World Cities include:  Largest regional cities: New York, Tokyo, London  Second Tier cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich, Sao Paolo, Singapore,  Third Tier cities: Bangkok, Bombay, Hong Kong, Manila, Osaka, Seoul, Taipei, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg

Tiers of World Cities  Based on centrality of these services Business-corporations, banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges, legal and accounting firms, airports, busy harbors, junction of rail and highway networks  Consumer-retail business, entertainment and cultural offerings (plays, concerts, restaurants, museums)  Public-government headquarters, ambassadors, lobbyists

Megacities  Term created by UN in the 1970’s

 25 total megacities=population over 10 million  Some include:          

Tokyo Mexico City Seoul New York City Sao Paulo Mumbai Delhi Shanghai Los Angeles Osaka

Functions of Cities  Transportation centers-where major routes converge (roads, railroads, sea traffic, air transport)  Special Function Cities-engaged in mining, manufacturing, or recreation

 Provide goods and services for surrounding area from a central place

Economic Base of Cities  City workers provide services outside city- “export activities” money flows into city-basic sector of a cities economy.  Those who produce goods or services for residents of city-non-basic or service sector  Some geographers compare number of workers in service and basic sectors-called base ratio of a city

The Changing City  Borchert’s 4 Stages in the Evolution of American cities:

 1. Sail-Wagon Epoch(1790-1830)-technologies determined job opportunities of people entering city  2. Iron Horse Epoch (1830-1870)-railroad technology changed nature of trade and employment  3. Steel-Rail Epoch (1870-1920)-steel industry transformed urban America and job opportunities of workers  4. Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch (1920-1960)- internal combustion engine came to dominate lifestyles, employment, and economic base of cities

Models of Urban Systems  2 theories of settlement geography-patterns of settlement on earth  Rank-Size Rule-true for urbanized cities in the US not in LDC’s or in regions with a dominate primate city-nth largest city will be 1/nth the size of the largest city-2nd largest city will be ½ the size of the first ranked city  .

Models of Urban Systems  Central Place Theory-cities are centers for distribution of goods and services for non-urban populations  The landscape is divided into noncompeting market areas— complementary regions where each area and its merchants have a monopoly  Market areas form a series of hexagons, no area is unserved, no two centers  Central place is at the center of each hexagon, supplies all goods and services to that area  Market area is determined by the number of goods and services  Some hexagons have smaller ones within it, hierarchy of central places

Internal Cities  Analyze the internal land space of a city, varying uses  Use several factors to analyze    

Accessiblity High cost of accessible space Transportation Societal and cultural needs

Models of Urban Land Use  Concentric Zone Model-Cites grow outward from a central area (CBD) in a series of concentric rings  Sector Model-variant of concentric zone theory, cities develop in sectors not rings from a (CBD)

 Multiple-Nuclei Model-a city grows from multiple nodes, not just from a (CBD)

Patterns of class, age, gender, race, and ethnicity  Social area analysis-takes census data and overall picture of how various peoples are distributed within an area (city)  Most Urban Land Models support the idea that people prefer to live near others with similar characteristics  Social Class, Age and Marital Status, Gender (feminization of poverty), Race and Ethnicity clustered into (ghettos) from historical segregation patterns in US