AP Human Geography - Chapter 13 Urban Patterns

CBD

Central Business District; downtown area with services and offices

Percent of urban land that is typically a CBD

Less than 1%

Why are land costs so high in the CBD?

High accessibility leads to intense competition for limited space

Intensive land use

Using land more efficiently by building vertically (e.g., skyscrapers)

Skyscraper’s role in the CBD

Maximizes land use by providing space vertically

Activities usually excluded from the CBD

Industry and residential housing

Why has industry moved out of CBDs?

Need for large, flat land parcels and modern shipping ports

Zone in transition

An area around the CBD with a mix of industry and poor-quality housing

Concentric zone model

Urban model with cities growing in rings outward from the CBD

Developed the concentric zone model

E.W. Burgess

Sector model

Urban growth extends outwards in wedges (sectors)

Developed the sector model

Homer Hoyt

Multiple nuclei model

A city is a complex structure with multiple centers (nodes)

Developed the multiple nuclei model

C.D. Harris and E.L. Ullman

Social area analysis

Study of where people live based on social characteristics

Census tract

A small, defined area used for analyzing urban social patterns

Why do businesses cluster in the CBD?

Accessibility to professional colleagues and customers

High-threshold retailers

Stores needing large numbers of customers (e.g., department stores)

High-range retailers

Stores attracting customers from far distances (e.g., jewelry stores)

What has happened to traditional downtown retailers?

Many moved to suburban malls

Retailers that now thrive downtown

Specialty shops and services for office workers

Ho are European CBDs different?

More historic structures, fewer skyscrapers

Where do wealthy people tend to live in European cities?

Near the center, in historic neighborhoods

Feature of European suburban areas

Low-income residents in high-density housing

Why do many European CBDs ban cars?

To preserve historic areas and improve pedestrian access

How were precolonial cities in LDCs structured?

Around religious centers and markets

How did colonial powers affect city structure in LDCs?

They built grid-pattern colonial districts near native towns

Latin American city model

Wealthy live near the CBD along a spine; poor live on the periphery

Squatter settlement

Unauthorized settlements with poor infrastructure

Common names for squatter settlements

Favelas (Brazil), barridas (Latin America), bidonvilles (North Africa)

Filtering

Large homes subdivided for lower-income families over time

Redlining

Banks refusing to lend money in certain urban areas

Urban renewal

Rebuilding parts of a city by clearing slums and redeveloping

Why is urban renewal controversial?

It displaces low-income residents and destroys communities

Public housing

Housing owned by the government for low-income residents

Why is public housing criticized?

High crime, maintenance issues, and concentration of poverty

Gentrification

Middle-class renovation of inner-city neighborhoods

Problem gentrification can cause

Displacement of low-income residents

Underclass

A group trapped in a cycle of poverty and social problems

Culture of poverty

A way of life characterized by lack of opportunities and support

Why is homelessness increasing?

Lack of affordable housing, job loss, and mental illness

Eroding tax base

Low-income residents can’t pay enough taxes for needed services

How do cities try to fix financial problems?

Cut services or raise taxes

Foreclosure

When a homeowner can’t pay the mortgage and loses their home

Where are foreclosures concentrated?

In inner cities and low-income areas

Why are services worse in inner cities?

Lack of funds and fewer paying customers

Significance of suburban sprawl

Growth of low-density housing outward from cities

Why do people move to suburbs?

Desire for space, safety, better schools, and lower crime