HGAP 6.1 - 6.4

Ecumene

a variety of community types within a range of population densities

Settlement

place with a permanent human population

Urbanization

process of developing towns and cities

Rural

areas (farms and villages with ) low concentrations of people

Urban

areas (cities) with high concentrations of people

Suburbs

residential areas near cities

Factors driving urbanization

presence of an agricultural surplus, the rise of social stratification and a leadership class or urban elite, and the beginning of job specialization

Percent Urban

an indicator of the proportion of the population that lives in cities and towns as compared to those that live in rural areas

Site

describes the characteristics at the immediate location

Situation

refers to the location of a place relative to its surroundings and its connectivity to other places

City-state

an urban center (the city) and its surrounding territory and agricultural villages

Urban Hearth (Historical Examples)

the Tigris-Euphrates Valley (Mesopotamia) in modern Iraq

the Nile River Valley and Nile Delta in modern Egypt

the Indus River Valley in modern Pakistan

the Huang-He floodplain in modern China

Urban Area

a central city plus land developed for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes, and includes the surrounding suburbs

City

a higher-density area with territory inside officially recognized political borders

Metropolitan Area (metro area)

a collection of adjacent cities economically connected, across which population density is high and continuos

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

consists of a city of at least 50,000 people, the county in which it is located, and adjacent counties that have a high degree of social and economic integration, or connection, with the urban core

Micropolitan Statistical Area

cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants (but less than 50,000), the county in which they are located, and surrounding counties with a high degree of integration

Nodal Region

focal point in a matrix of connections

Morphology

physical characteristics, such as the buildings, streets, public places, and homes that can describe an urban area

Population characteristics of cities (3)

High social heterogeneity, mass amount of immigration, and very diverse

Time-space compression

the shrinking “time-distance“, or relative distance, between locations because of improved methods of transportation and communication

Borchert’s Transportation Model (chart)

Sail-Wagon Epoch - 1790-1830, water ports became very important, poor road conditions made long-distance travel between cities difficult

Iron Horse Epoch - 1830-1870, steam engines powered boats, which promoted the growth of river cities, regional rail networks connected cities, rail lines connected resources and industrial sites

Steel Rail Epoch - 1870-1920, transcontinental railways emerged, cities emerged along rail lines in the interior of continents

Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch - 1920-1970, cars allowed cities to spread out, airport hubs emerged, cities became far more interconnected

Pedestrian Cities

cities shaped by the distances people could walk

Streetcar Suburbs

communities that grew up along rail lines, emerged, often creating a pinwheel shaped city

Communications impacts on cities

changes in communication technology have dramatic impacts on the growth and development of cities. Historically, cities connected to trade routes received information first. However, as telecommunication technology developed with the telegraph, telephone, cell phones, and the Internet--early adopting cities benefitted

Population and migration impacts on cities

Rural-to-urban migration is an important concept to understand the growth of cities. Population growth pressure, cultural tension, environmental strain, and lack of economic opportunities create push factors in agricultural communities

Economic development and

government policies impacts on cities

cities are viewed as engines of growth for a country’s economy. Consequently, economic and political leaders, at the national and local scale, develop policies to guide and encourage the growth of cities

Transportation impacts on cities

Changes in transportation infrastructure within cities has also had important effects on the urban structure

Suburbanization

involves the process of people moving, usually from cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities

Causes of Suburbanization

Several causes contributed to the growing suburbanization after WW2 such as economic expansion, greater purchasing power for many families, the growth of a car-centered lifestyle, and the government’s construction of a vast system of new highways that allowed workers to commute from their city jobs to suburban houses

Boombergs

rapidly growing communities (over 10 percent per 10 years), have a total population of over 100,000 people, and are not the largest city in the metro area

Edge Cities

nodes of economic activity that have developed in the periphery of large cities

Counterurbanization (deurbanization)

the counter-flow of urban residents leaving cities

Exurbs

the prosperous residential districts beyond the suburbs

Megacities

have a population of more than 10 million people

Metacities

continuous urban area with a population greater than 20 million, attributes of a network of urban areas that have grown together to form a larger interconnected urban system

Megalopolis

a chain of connected cities

Conurbation

an uninterrupted urban area made of towns, suburbs, and cities

Trend of urbanization in the developing world

Megacities were once found at only the centers of large empires or the most powerful countries. However, that pattern has changed. In the past century, megacities have become more common in LDC’s because of high birth rates and increased rural-to-urban migration

World Cities (global cities)

cities such as New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris that exert influence far beyond their national boundaries

Urban Hierarchy

ranking, based on influence or population size

Top 10 World Cities 2020

1. London, England
2. New York City, USA
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Paris, France
5. Singapore
6. Amsterdam, Netherlands
7. Berlin, Germany
8. Seoul, South Korea
9. Hong Kong
10. Shanghai, China

Nodal Cities

command centers on a regional and occasionally national level

Urban Systems

an interdependent set of cities that interact on the regional, national, and global scale

Rank-size rule

describes one way in which the sizes of cities within a region may develop. It states that the nth largest city in any region will be 1/n the size of the largest city

High-order services

usually expensive, need a large number of people to support, and are only occasionally utilized

Low-order services

usually less expensive than higher-order services, require a small population to support, and are used on a daily or weekly basis

Primate Cities

if the largest city in an urban system is more than twice as large as the next largest city

Gravity Model

states that larger and closer places will have more interactions than places that are smaller and farther from each other

Central Place Theory (CPT)

explains the distribution of cities of different sizes across a region

Central Place

a location where people go to receive goods and services

Market Area

zone that contains people who will purchase goods or services, surrounds each central place

Hinterlands

in which people living in the corners would be farther from the central place in which there would be overlapping areas of service

Threshold

the size of population necessary for any particular service to exist and remain profitable

Range

the distance people will travel to obtain specific goods or services

Limitations of CPT

it assumes a flat, featureless plain and does not take into account the effects of natural landscapes of rivers, mountains, or other barriers. Nor does it consider the influence of transportation systems and how the availability of those types of transportation can expand the market area

Expected changes in US cities

in the future, self-driving cars and other new technology could reduce the friction of distance. If so, edge cities and exurbs will likely expand. Immigration will likely continue, making the population more diverse. Voluntary segregation will likely continue, and the number of ethnic neighborhoods will flourish

Exp. changes in Asia and Africa

The megacities of the LDC’s will likely get larger, the economic, social, and educational opportunities these cities offer will continue to pull in migration from rural areas. However, if growth exceeds carrying capacity, the standard of living will deteriorate. The high dense concentration of people will likely increase the impacts of deadly epidemics, natural disasters, environmental changes, immense pollution, criminal networks, terrorist activity, and civil unrest. Without dramatic economic and political changes, access to water and inhaling of pollution will likely worsen.