Urban Geography

Defining ConceptsA city is a concentrated nonagricultural settlement. Hinterland

Region which a city provides services/draws resources

IncorporationProcess of defining a city territory and establishing a gov.

Primate citiesLarge city with majority of national population (i.e. Paris)

UrbanizationProcess of concentrating population in citiesConurbations – when cities grow and merge together into vast urban areasMegalopolis – Boston to D.C. route 1

Urban Geography

Three important topicsFunctions of cities and economic role in organizing territory

Study of urbanization• Throughout history

• Different places

Internal patterns (distribution of housing, industry, culture, etc. in a city)

Urban FunctionsEarly functions

Government centersProtectionAgglomeration – division of labor

Economy sectorsPrimary – extracts resources directly from earthSecondary – transforms raw materials from primary sec.Tertiary (service sector)

Economic basesBasic sector – produces exportsNon-basic sector – services needs of the cityMultiplier effect - # basic jobs multiplies # non-basic jobs

Locations of Cities

Site factorsCharacteristics of location (i.e. defensive hilltops, oases, rivers, and locations of minerals source)

Situation factors (cities may arise on an unfavorable site due to the situation)

Building upon exising cities (Mexico City)

Transportation/trade routes (Deltas or Swamplands: i.e., New Orleans, Shanghai, Calcutta)

Central Place Theory

Walter Christaller – founder of Theory

Three requirementsHinterlands divide the space completely so that every point inside the hinterland is inside the hinterland of some market

Hinterlands are uniform shape and size

Within each market region distance between central place and furthest place must be minimal

Early Urban SocietiesHolland - 17th century

Global shipping, bankingSupported by highly productive agriculturePre-industrial revolution

BritainOccurred during industrializationWorld’s first model of urbanization

• Terrible hardships – Oliver Goldsmith’s Rural Mirth , Dickens (Slums)• Agr. Rev. – Reduced 3 of workers needed• Migration to cities by displaced workers • Labor Intensive – high ratio of workers to amount of capital invested in

machinery• Domestic Servants (1/3 labor force in 1910)• Emigration – Forced dislocation of criminals to Australia and Georgia

Urban Population Growth

IN 1800 the 21 European cities w/ populations of 100,00 or more held about 4.5 million people

By 1900 there were 147 such places with a total pop. Of 40 million, or about 10 percent of the total population

Urbanization Today

Occurring rapidly w/o concomitant econ. development

Inadequate infrastructure – Est. 90% of sewage in the developing world pours into streams and oceans

Living conditions mimic 19th century England

Caused by deteriorating rural conditions

Concentrates labor forces – by 2025 2/3 pop in urban areas

Different from historic British experience

1) Increased commercialization and mechanization accelerated displacement of workers (gap between rich and poor widens)2) Radio & TV advertise urban opportunity3) Medicine lower death rates, inc. pop4) Machinery has replaced workers5) Migration opportunities are decreasing6) More interdependent7) Gov. favor urban projects

Government PoliciesUsed to reduce rural to urban migration (Vietnam and Cambodia)

Limit housing and jobs – building codes limit slums no city services, restrict small businesses

Improve rural areas – US during depression

Compulsory ruralization

Vitality of Cities

Positive aspects of urbanizationInformal, underground economy particularly in the cities of developing countries

Urban immigrants are assets to growth• De Soto’s study of Peru

Models of Urban FormFour models of internal patternsThe Nature of Cities – Harris and Ullman

Concentric zone – figure 10.13 • CBD – tall buildings, lawyers offices near courts, jewelry stores

cluster• Less intensive business –wholesaling, warehouse (nonpolluting)• Residential land use surrounds urban core• Transportation modifies it

Sector – high rent expands along new trans routes, middle income around high rent, low income adjacent to industry and trans 10.5Multiple- nuclei figure 10-16 – several nodes of growth from CBDPeripheral – Harris 1995 – highways disperse growth (case study 414 – 415)

Social Factors in Residential Clustering

Congregation – when people decide to live with people who have a similar ethnic background

Segregation – when people live together because of segregation

Urban PlanningPlanning the ideal city

Ebenezer Howard’s - Garden Cities (relocate people and cities in countryside and surround cities by greenbelts) greatly influenced city planning in US and EuropeLe Corbusier’s - Radiant Cities (tall glass offices and aprtments faced far apart and surounded by green space)

• Proposed to bulldoze historic core of Paris (1922)• 2 main concepts – machine made env. standardized buildings and green space

(city in a park)• Many people believed his ideas created a half century of monotony

Canberra, Australia radiant city that work b/c it allows for walking

Charter of the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM)Codified the functions of the modern city

Culture in Urban Models

Contrasts to North American modelsLatin America – CBDs thrive, reliance on public transit, high income pop.live near CBD

Western Europe – new structures are built net to indigenous and colonial structures

Traditional Islamic – mosque is at the center surrounded by markets and then housing (including in the Koran)

Asian – southeast asia reflects western design form

Growth of SuburbsU.S. phenomenon due to prosperity after WWII

1950 (33% urban, 23% suburbs, 44% rural)2000 (30% urban, 51% suburbs, 19% rural)

Early suburbsCultural preference for rural livingHenry Ford

• “We shall solve the city problem…by leaving the city”

• Automobile allowed for suburban growth

Government policiesFHA loan program – guaranteed loans down payments shrank to less than 10% (favored construction of single new family housed in suburbs not urban rehabilitation)Tax incentives - homeowners could deduct mortgage, interest payments and prop taxes from gross taxable incomeReturning veterans – fed dollars provided for “Homes for Heroes”

Society Hill

Society Hill

Suburban InfrastructureSprawl – unplanned urban sprawl is expensiveHigh costs

Energy Commute / transportation

Leapfrogging – infrastructure can not be advanced in a regular manorEnvironmental

Farmland – reduction of farmlandLoss of or pollution of green space

Social Consequences of SuburbsResidential segregation and marketing

Advertisers target potential customers geographically“62 lifestyle types” Gray Power affluent retirees in Sunbelt cities

Restrictive covenantsLegal agreements that the land would never be sold to people of a designated race or religious groupMade illegal in late 1970s

Job movement and creationHome owners associations - regulate some aspect of property

20 million homes in U.S. out of the total 106 million (50 million people)

Commuting patternsRush hour

New PatternsNew urbanism

Recreate small town AmericaLess dependence on cars

Telecommuting – people working at home at computer terminals12 million employees in the U.S. work from home on computers

Virtual shoppingInternet

• U.S. e-commerce in 2003 reached $95 billion• 13 percent of U.S. travel agencies closed in 2002• 5% of U.S. shopping on internet in 2002• Amazon $4 billion in 2002

Brick and mortar

Central Cities Decline1970-1995 central cities pop. Fell (22% in Philadelphia)2000 – central cities housed only 30% U.S. pop.60% of jobs now in suburbsLoss of entry level jobsEconomic decline

Spatial mismatch• 1968 John Kain – man. Jobs to the suburbs → poor concentrated in

center city→ less jobs in city and more in suburbs → inner city unemployment

• Income is 70-75% of the suburbs

Deteriorating housing and neighborhoods “inner-city neighborhood” euphemism for slum

Central Cities New Growth (21st Century)

Service sector economyIncreased white collar jobsFinance, IT, bio-tech

Gentrification – restoring select older neighborhoodsRediscovering urban livingYuppies – young urban professionals Empty nesters – older people who move back to cities

Immigrants – latinos outnumber Afr. Amer. in 10 largest U.S. citiesNetwork Hypothesis – employers seek reliability = current employee recommendationAfrican Americans

Northern City migration – 1.5 mill. 1910 -1945, 6.5 million 1945-1970Decreasing rates of poverty

Redistribution of Jobs & HousingAmeliorating Spatial Mismatch

Urban enterprise zones – efforts to reindustrialize cities• Manufacturers receive government subsidies• Increase blue collar jobs

Reclaiming Brownfields – abandoned industrial facilities• 400,000 across the U.S.• Cleaned 19,000 acres – generated $1.5 billion dollars and 570,00 jobs

Relocate subsidized housing – provide poor families with suburban homesTransportation to suburban jobs

• Avg car cost $7,000 per yer• Interest Free car loans• Increasing bus services

Governing Urban Areas

Annexation – adding suburbs to cities (slowing trend)Incorporation (figrure 10-44)

Thwarts efforts to be annexed

Special district governments – legal retaining wall aroung municipalitiespEnding subsidies encouraging sprawl

Tax incentives to stay in cities

End of Chapter 10