Urban Geography

AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY – UNIT 8

Urban
The built up area in and around a city.

An urban area is non-rural and

nonagricultural.
City
An agglomeration of people and
buildings clustered together to serve as
a center of politics, culture and
economics.
The incredibly slow growth of cities
People have existed for 100,000 years

First cities established 8,000 years ago

Reached modern size and structure in

last 200 years
Agricultural Village
Small in size and population.

Everyone living in the village was involved in

agriculture

People lived at near-subsistence levels.

Villages were egalitarian – all people were

relatively equal. Shared goods among the people.
Sjoberg’s Societal Classification
Folk- Preliterate
Feudal
Pre-Industrial
Urban Industrial
Folk - Preliterate
Earliest cities, predating written languages.
Feudal
Arose during the Middle Ages which actually
stagnated urban growth in Europe; fostered a
dependent relationship between wealthy
landowners and peasants – provided few
alternative economic alternatives.
Pre-Industrial
Found in societies without sophisticated machine
technology, where human and animal labor form
the basis for economic production (no city moved
past this stage until the Industrial Revolution).
Urban Industrial
Predominate in the modernized nations of
Western Europe, America, Japan (and to a lesser
extent where their cultures have globalized)
where productivity through machines, and energy
sources from fossil fuels and atomic power
phenomenally expand economic productivity.
Urbanization – By the Numbers
In 1800 only 5% of the world lived in cities

In 1950 only 16% lived in cities

In 2000 almost 50% of the world lives in cities

Urbanization – By the Numbers
In More Developed countries (MDC’s) nearly
75% of the population lives in cities

In Less Developed Countries (LDC’s) only 40%

of the population lives in cities

Numbers are changing quickly – because least

developed countries are urbanizing at a rate
much faster than the More Developed
countries.
Urbanization – By the Numbers

Africa and Asia are the least urbanized

continents

North America is the most urbanized

Urbanization – By the Numbers

In 1950 only 83 cities had a population over 1

million

In 2000 over 400 cities over 1 million

In 2011 seven of the ten most populous cites

were located in Asia
First Urban Revolution
Process by which small, kin-based, non-literate
agricultural villages were transformed into
large, socially complex, urban societies.

Urban elites develop – a group of socially,

politically and economically dominant figures.

Cities become theocratic centers – the focus of

religious activity.
Formative Era
Time when urban hearths came into existence
– 7,000 to 5,000 BC.
The Six Urban Hearths
Mesopotamia
Nile River Valley
Indus River Valley
Huang He and Wei River Valleys
Mesoamerica
Peru
Ultimate Guide – Urban Hearths
List the six urban hearths. For each hearth
write the following information:
• Date the urban areas emerged.
• Describe the urban hearths situation.
• List three distinctive features or facts about
the hearth.
Urban Banana
Early Eurasian urban areas extended in a crescent-shaped
zone across Eurasia from England in the west to Japan in
the east. Followed mostly along the silk and spice trade
routes.
Medieval City
European-style city with high density of development,
narrow buildings, and an ornate church at the city center,
with high walls for defense (walls proved futile when
gunpowder made its way into Europe by the 1300s).
Mercantile City
Atlantic maritime trade disrupted old trade routes & centers
of power starting in the 1500s (from interior to coastal
ports); central square became focus (“downtown”), these
cities became nodes of a network of trade; brought huge
riches to Europe (e.g. Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, …).
Manufacturing City
Grew out of the Industrial Revolution and the
“Little Ice Age”; associated w/ mushrooming
population, factories, tenement buildings,
railroads, …; poor living & health conditions; cities
improved w/ government intervention, city
planning, and zoning, …
Modern City
(modern architecture) little attention is spent on building
aesthetics or ornate designs; improved transportation &
road systems has allowed greater complexity, multiple
CBDs, and dispersal into the suburbs; the hallmark of
American life.
World Cities

Network of the most powerful cities. Control a high level of the

world’s economic, political and cultural activities.
Rank Size Rule
• Nth largest city of a country will be 1/n the size of the largest city.

• 2nd largest city will have ½ population of the largest

• 3rd largest city will have 1/3 population of the largest city
• 8th largest city will have 1/8 population of the largest city
Primate City
• One dominate city in a country or region.
• There is usually not an obvious second city
• Example - Paris France - 8.7 million next city Marseille -
1.2 million
URBAN HIERARCHY
• Ranking of settlements according to their size and
economic functions
• Hamlet – rural and to small to be a village
• Village
• Town
• City
• Regional Capitals – Provide highest order goods and have a
huge market area. Examples: Paris, LA, NYC.
Hamlet
Lowest level of settlements (often not
urban); offers few if any services.
Village
Clustered human settlement larger than a hamlet
and generally offering several services.
Town
Clustered human settlement larger than a village;
may range from a few to thousands of inhabitants
(even hundreds of thousands); generally many
goods and services are available.
City
Clustered conglomeration of people and buildings
together serving as a center of politics, culture,
and economics; a town may have outskirts, but
virtually all cities have suburbs.).
Metropolis
Usually contains several urbanized areas and
suburbs that act together as a coherent economic
whole.
Hinterland
Literally “country behind”; refers to the
surrounding area served by an urban center (the
heartland).
Megalopolis
Large supercities that were originally separate but
have expanded and joined together.

Occur predominantly in MDCs

Megacities
High population growth and migration cause these cities
to attract massive amounts of population since WWII;
tend to be plagued by chaotic and unplanned sprawling
growth, pollution, and widespread poverty.

occur predominantly in LDCs

Has more than 10 million inhabitants

26 megacities in 2012

Tokyo is #1 with 37 million inhabitants

Urban Morphology
The layout of a city, it’s physical form and structure
Functional Zonation
The division of the city into certain regions (zones) for
certain purposes (functions).
Acropolis
In Greece, a temple or religious building built
at the high point of the city.

Acro = high point

Polis = city

Parthenon of Athens is the most famous

Agora
In Greece, public spaces where citizens
debated, lectured, planned military
campaigns, socialized and traded.
Became the center of commercial
activity (a market or business zone).
Forum
The Romans would combine the agora and
acropolis into one central point.
Zones of the City
Central business district (CBD) – often referred
to as the downtown.

Central City (the CBD + older housing zones)

Suburb (outlying, functionally uniform zone

outside of the central city)
CBD Central City Suburb
Zoning Laws
Municipal or local government laws that dictate
how property can and cannot be used in
certain areas (zones).

Zoning laws limit commercial use of land in

order to prevent oil, manufacturing or other
types of businesses from building in residential
neighborhoods.
Central Place Theory
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY – CHAPTER 9
Central Place Theory
• Organizes the urban hierarchy into a unified spatial
network of cities and towns.
Central Place
• Any town or city to which people travel in order to
make purchases
Market Area
• The areas people travel from – going to the central place
• A market area is an example of a functional region
Central Place Function
• A good or service that is provided by the central place
for its trade area
Threshold
• The minimum market area size required to keep the CPF
in business.
Range
The maximum distance a customer is willing to
travel to obtain a good
•Central Place Functions have an Order
• A ranking that is based on 3 factors
1. How specialized they are
2. How large a market is needed to keep them in
business
3. How far people are willing to travel to obtain
them
Low Order Function
• A good or service that is obtained on a regular basis,
requires a small market area to be profitable and people
are unwilling to travel far to obtain it.
Medium Order Function
• A good or service that is obtained on a semi-regular
basis, requires a medium sized market area to be
profitable and people are willing to travel (but not to far)
to obtain it.
High Order Function
• A good or service that is required less frequently,
requires a large market area to remain profitable and
people are willing to travel farther for it.
Christaller’s Urban Hierarchy
• Cities are organized into a hierarchy according to their
size and importance
• Importance is determined by if they offer low or high
order functions
High Order Cities
• Offer all goods and services from low order to high
order
Medium Order Cities
• Offer low order items and services for their residents
as well as medium order functions for themselves and
those living in smaller communities nearby.
Low Order Cities
• Offer only low order functions
• Are small and many in number
Assumptions of Central Place Theory
• The system assumes that the central place evolves
• On a flat featureless infinite plain
• Has a uniform population density
• Customers prefer to shop at the nearest location that
offers the products or services they need
• Highest order cites have a
large market area for their
highest order goods
• They have a medium sized
market for their medium
order functions
• They have a small market for
their lowest order goods
•

PORTLAND

HUBBARD

SALEM
• Regional Capitals – Provide highest order goods and
have a huge market area. Examples: Paris, LA, NYC.
How does central place theory help explain patterns in
the size and distribution of cities?

Explain how globalization effects one of the basic

assumptions of the Christaller’s Central Place Theory.
Research Ultimate – Rise of
Megacities
Describe and explain the characteristics of a megacity.

In 1960 there were 3 megacities in the world. Today there are 21. Describe
and explain why this exponential growth in megacities has occurred?

Identify and explain two social and/or economic implications arising from
the rural to urban migration of garment workers in developing countries to
megacities.
3 Models of the North American City

1. Concentric zone model (Ernest Burgess)

2. Sector model (Homer Hoyt)

3. Multiple Nuclei Model

(Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman)
Early models of urban land use patterns

Figure 10.1 (p. 287)

Concentric Zone Model: City model based
on different social / economic groups living
in zones around a Central Business District.
 Concentric Ring Model is
based on the idea of
invasion and succession

Invasion and Succession: Settlement of new

arrivals to a city in older housing near the city
center and outward push of earlier groups.
Sector Model: City grows
outward from the center,
so a low-rent area could
extend all the way from
the CBD to the city's
outer edge, creating
zones which are shaped
like pieces of a pie.
 Sector Model
High-income areas along fashionable boulevards
or rail lines, water, high ground and far from
industry

Industry radiates along river or rail lines

Low-income radiates near industry

Middle-income radiates between low and high

income sectors
 Multiple Nuclei Model
Developed during early days of shopping
center suburbanization

Downtown CBD is not the only nucleus of

non-residential land uses

Specialized districts like retail, ports,

manufacturing, etc
Urban Realms Model
Each realm is a separate
economic, social and
political entity that is
linked together to form a
larger metro framework.
Edge Cities
Suburban downtowns, often
located near key freeway
intersections, often with:
- office complexes
- shopping centers
- hotels
- restaurants
- entertainment facilities
- sports complexes
DEFINE: Demographic momentum is …

EXPLAIN: Demographic momentum occurs

because…

EXAMPLE: An example of demographic

momentum is …
3 Models of World Cities

1. Latin American City (Griffin-Ford model)

2. African City (de Blij model)
3. Southeast Asian City (McGee model)
Latin American Cities
• Are impacted by colonization
• Include a prominent plaza near
the CBD
• Residential quality decreases
with distance from the CBD
(wealthier homes inner areas,
poor homes on the outskirts)
• Zone of Maturity – Lots of
services and wealthy
• Zone of Squatter Settlements –
Extreme poor, living in a ring on
very outskirts of city
African Cities
• Have two CBD’s – a colonial CBD
and a traditional (African) CBD.
• CBD’s are surrounded by a ring of
ethnic neighborhoods.
• Next rings includes mining,
manufacturing and some mixed
ethnic neigborhoods.
• Outer circle is composed of
informal satellite townships –
poor squatter settlements.
Southeast Asian Cities
• No formal CBD
• CBD like clusters surround the Old
Colonial Port – These clusters
include the government zone,
western commercial zone, alien
commercial zone and the mixed
use zones.
• Wealthiest zones tend to be
interspersed with economic zones.
• New suburbs and squatter areas
are mixed together.
• Market Gardening zone is outer
ring.
MINI REVIEW QUIZ
What happens to Crude Birth Rates in Stage 2
of the DTM.

What happens to Crude Death Rates in Stage

2 of the DTM.

WHY? Identify three reasons why the CBR and

CDR rates change in Stage 2.

List three countries currently in Stage2 of the

DTM.
Trends and Issues of Urbanization
in North America
Urban Sprawl
Unrestricted growth
of housing,
commercial
developments, and
roads over large
expanses of land,
with little concern for
urban planning.
 Tear-downs
Houses that new owners
buy with the intention of
tearing it down to build a
much larger home.

Hinsdale, Illinois (25% of houses have been

McMansions
Large homes, often built to
the outer limits of the lot.
They are called McMansions
because of their super size
and their similar look.
Urban Sprawl
Urban Sprawl
New Urbanism
Development, urban revitalization, and
suburban reforms that create walkable
neighborhoods with a diversity of housing
and jobs.
Green Belts
To contain urban sprawl many European
countries have green belts – boundary that
forces all urban development to occur in the
city’s urban core

Portland is one of the few American cities

that has an Urban Growth Boundary.

Benefits and Drawbacks?

• real estate prices increase
• density - how much is to much?
Portland skinny house for sale – 1500 sq ft, 2 bedroom home, 1/16th of an acre
lot, lot approx 25 feet wide.
260,000
House for sale in Houston – 2500 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, ¼ acre lot, lot approx
100 feet wide.
160,000
Commercialization

City governments transform a

central city to attract residents
and tourists. The newly
commercialized downtowns
often are a stark contrast to the
rest of the central city.
Spaces of
Consumption
The transformation of
the city into an
entertainment district,
where major
corporations
encourage the
consumption of their
goods and services.
Celebration, Florida
Segregation and Racism in US
Housing and Urban Landscapes
Residential Segregation: The degree to
which two or more groups live separately
from one another, in different parts of an
urban environment.
Tipping Point: The degree of neighborhood or
ethnic mixing that induces the former majority
group to move out rapidly
Also known as White Flight.
Affinity Segregation
Process by which people group and live with
people more like themselves in terms of
culture, ethnicity or race. (done by choice!)
Ghetto: A forced or voluntarily segregated residential
area housing a racial, ethnic, or religious minority. The
cluster is preserved by external constraints and
discrimination.
First use of term was in Venice, Italy – during 1500’s -
referred to area Jews were required to live
Barriozation: A dramatic increase in Hispanic
population in a given neighborhood.
Barrio = Spanish for neighborhood
Redlining
Financial institutions refusing to
lend money in certain
neighborhoods.
Blockbusting

Realtors purposefully sell a home at a low price

to an African American and then solicit white
residents to sell their homes at low prices, to
generate “white flight.”
Gentrification

Individuals buy up and

rehabilitate houses, raising the
housing value in the
neighborhood and changing the
neighborhood.
Gentrification

Individuals buy up and rehabilitate houses,

raising the housing value in the neighborhood
and changing the neighborhood.
REVIEW FRQ
A. Define lingua franca.

B. Explain two distinct advantages of a global

lingua franca.

C. Explain two distinct factors that are leading to

the rapid extinction of local minority languages.
Include an example of a language currently
threatened by extinction.
Disamenity Sector:
Very poorest parts of the city.

Example: The favelas of Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil
Slums
Older, run down inner-city neighborhoods.
 Slumming It – A Case Study
A. Summarize key aspects of life in a slum (2
paragraphs).

B. AP Connections – Make three connections

between the video and human geography
concepts/models that we have studied in
previous units.
• List the concept and write a paragraph explaining the
concept and connection. (three paragraphs - one for
each concept).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im
0tHRs9Bng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kem2ceHCt
GQ

VICE NEWS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TMKyUd
EEMo
Squatter Settlements
Area within a city in which people illegally
establish residences on land they do not own
or rent. Erect homemade structures using
plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic
and cardboard boxes.
Perifericos:
Zones of squatter settlements on periphery of
latin american cities.

Large number of migrants from rural areas end

up in the perifricos.
Flavelas
Term for a slum in Brazil.
 A model that explains urban land use
in a pattern of concentric rings around
Concentric Ring Model
the city center.

The downtown or nucleus of the urban

area. It has the peak value intersection,
Central Business
the densest land use, the tallest District (CBD)
buildings, and traditionally was the urban
area’s major concentration of retail,
office, and cultural activity.

Settlement of new arrivals to a city in Invasion and

older housing near the city center and
Succession
 Older, run-down inner-city
neighborhoods populated by poor and Slums
disadvantaged populations.

The upgrading of inner-city

neighborhoods and their resettlement
Gentrification
by upwardly mobile professionals.

A model that explains urban land use

in pie-shaped sectors radiating
Sector Model
outward from the city center.

A model that explains urban land use as Multiple Nuclei

organized around several separate nuclei.
Practice where members of a minority are
prevented from getting loans to buy Red Lining
homes in certain neighborhoods

The process whereby growth in population

and economic activity has been most Suburbanization
intense at the fringes of urbanized areas.

Suburban nodes of employment and

economic activity featuring high-rise
office space, corporate headquarters, Edge Cities
shopping, entertainment, and hotels.
Their physical layout is designed for
automobile, not pedestrian, travel.
YouTube
Kevin McCloud – Slumming It (2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-yjpvzGKZQ

Flavela War – Violence in Brazil’s Slums

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqO3qCgyFJ0

Know Your City – Portland organization – tours/lecture on

issues of city – gentrification, immigration, etc.