Ch. 13: Urban PatternsKey Issue 1

Urbanization

• Urbanization-the process by which the population of cities grows.• Increasing percentage of people in cites

• 1800 = 3%• 1850 = 6%• 1900 = 14%• 1950 = 30%• 2000 = 47%• 2008 = 51%

• ¾ of MDCs, 2/5 of LDCs-- why?• MDCs are now “fully urbanized”• Percentage living in cities has greatly increased in LDCs

Urbanization is:The number of ppl in citiesThe percentage of ppl in citiesThe land area occupied by cities

Urbanization

• Increasing number of people in cities• MDCs have a higher percent of urban residents, but LDCs have more

of the very large urban settlements (8 out of 10)• Growth of cities used to be tied to Industrialization• In LDCs, big cities are not connected to an increased in development

levels

The Industrial Revolution promoted urbanization in MDCs

Urbanized Area: city plus continuous suburbs

2015 World’s Largest Cities

Urban Settlements are difficult to define…• Social differences:• Louis Wirth:• Large size

• Different social relationships

• High population density• Specialization and competition

• Socially heterogeneous people• Diversity and loneliness

• Physical differences:• Legal boundary

• Self governing, taxes

• Continuously built up• >1000 people/mile

• Functional area• Area of influence• May be beyond legal boundaries• TV stations, newspapers, sports

teams

Overlapping Metropolitan Areas

• Megalopolis—adjacent, overlapping Metropolitan Statistical Areas• Boswash• Great Lakes area• Southern California• German Ruhr• Japan Tokaido

Urban Models

• 3 models explaining where people settle in cities• Based on Chicago—prairie city

Concentric Zone Model

• E. W. Burgess 1923• Cities grow outward from a central area in a series of rings• Size and width of rings may vary from city to city but order stays the

same.• CBD Zone in Transition working class homes middle class homes

commuter zone

Concentric Zone Model

Fig. 13-5: In the concentric zone model, a city grows in a series of rings surrounding the CBD.

Sector Model

• Homer Hoyt 1939• City develops in sectors, not rings• Certain areas of the city are more attractive for different activities, as

a city grows these expand in a wedge

Sector Model

Fig. 13-6: In the sector model, a city grows in a series of wedges or corridors extending out from the CBD.

Multiple Nuclei Model

• Harris and Ullman 1945• City is a complex structure that includes more than one center for

activities to revolve around.• i.e. a port, neighborhood business center, university, airport, parks• Different nodes attract and repel

Multiple Nuclei Model

Fig. 13-7: The multiple nuclei model views a city as a collection of individual centers, around which different people and activities cluster.