Urban Epochs

How Technology and Transportation Change Situation

The Rise of Cities• Cities that grew and

became important were…

• Influential over a very large area (big hinterland!)

• Highly accessible such as along trade routes (silk road) or coasts as ocean trade routes opened (situation)

• Places that brought people & ideas together

Urban Epochs 5 Epochs (Developed by John Borchert, a Minnesotan Geographer and U of M professor in 1967)

• Urban Epochs describe time periods where cities provide goods and services in a certain way to a surrounding area (hinterland) in exchange for raw materials

• The wealth and prosperity is directly tied to the wealth and prosperity of its hinterland

• This is why most cities are around the best farmland

• Over time, the ways cities interact with their hinterlands have changed

• These changes are due to advancements in how we can transport people and goods

Sail and Wagon Epoch: 1790 - 1830• Pre-Industrial• Transportation was slow,

hinterlands were small• Trade was with Europe

and domestic• Much of interior of US

was not accessible• Leading cities – big ones

on the East Coast – Boston, New York, Philadelphia

• All major cities have access to rivers / oceans

• This makes their hinterlands larger!

Then comes the 2nd Urban Revolution!

• A series of innovations led to major changes in how people make goods – the industrial revolution

• Food production went up due to mechanization of farming

• People began flocking to cities to work in factories

• This is the beginning of the 2nd Urban Revolution

Steamboat Epoch: 1830 - 1870

• Beginnings of industrialization

• Steam powered RR and ships

• Nationwide transport system begins

• 1869 – Transcontinental RR completed

• Industrial cities in North, along Great Lakes and RR lines – Rise of Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh

• Minneapolis and St. Paul emerge here

• Erie canal (1825) connects MN to global markets

Rail Road Epoch: 1870 - 1920• Larger, wealthier

hinterland• National metropolitan

network emerges• Steel industry defines

this epoch• Golden age of

northern, industrial cities

• Expansion of RR further south and west

• Telegraph communication increases links

Lower St. Anthony Falls Dam, electric power plant, and flour mill – Minneapolis, 1908

Auto/Air/Amenity Epoch: 1920 - 1970

• Continued improvements in transportation• Interstate Highway

system• More with access to

automobiles and air travel• Shift begins from

industrial (factory) to post-industrial (services)

• Leads to the rise of suburbs with wealthy living outside of town away from factories

• Housing boom post WWII• Rise of south and west in

the US Notice how people begin live further away from the city center as transportation becomes more available to more people

High Technology – 1970 - Today• Hinterland is still

important, but cities now have a global reach

• Economic base of cities is now based on information access and distribution

• Technology and research base

• Less manufacturing need

• Continued growth in west and south

• Even greater access to transportation and rise of suburbs makes cities take up more space (urban sprawl)