Geog 5 MT 3

Cities

• high pop size

• internally structured

• serves multiple functions for own people + surrounding area

EX: hamlet—> megacity (10 million people +)

primate city

dominant city within a country

rank size rule

a city’s pop = 1/nth of the largest city’s pop where N = the rank of the city’s pop

2nd largest city (n = 2) = ½ of the largest city’s pop

Urbanized Area (UA)

50k+ people, disregards city, county, or state boundaries

Urban Cluster

at least 2.5k people but smaller than urbanized area

Rural Area

not a UA or UC

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

• central county + adjacent outlying counties have a high degree of social + economic integration

• must contain at least 1 area w/ 50k+ people

• central county contains the core

• functional def, communting as a key metric

micropolitan Statistical Area

only diff = must contain at least 1 urban cluster w/ 10k-50k people

Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas

adjacent metropolitan + micropolitan statistical areas that’re connected by social + economic ties including commuting patterns

Carter’s Theories of Urban Origins

-agricultural surplus

-religion

-defense

-trading

Largest Urban Areas

-fastest growing cities are in developing cities

-developed countries are most urbanized, but less developing + least developed countries are the fastest urbanizing w/ the fastest growing large cities

System of cities

-relationships btw cities in a system

-urban hierarchy—> ranking of cities based on size + functional complexity

network btw cities

• primate city, rank size rule, central place theory

cities as systems

relationships within cities or urban areas

• urban form—> size, shape, and configuration of an urban area or its parts

• land use model or concentric zone model

Christaller’s Central Place Theory

• model of urban hierarchy

• goal: explain the patterns of central place settlements + market areas based on economic functions of towns + cities

  • dist of cities + towns across an area

  • commodities offered in each town or city play important roles

    • low order commodity—> groceries or gas

    • high order commodity—> specialized equip/luxury goods

Model Terminology

Urban Centers

• towns/suburbs that provide goods and/or services

thresholds

• minimum # of people required to support a service

  • higher order goods gave a higher threshold

range

• max distance a person is willing to travel for a good or service

  • larger for high order services/ goods

Model Assumptions

isotropic plan

• all physical parameters are the same at any point + in any direction

• rural pops evenly dispersed across plain

economic rationality

• consumers

  • we all have similar tastes

  • we all purchase goods at nearest central place

• suppliers

  • complete market coverage

  • local monopoly

Sum Up Christaller’s Central Place Theory

• Urban hierarchy based on commodities + pop

  • Order of commodities (low to high) 

  • Diff commodities have diff thresholds of market areas → minimum pop needed to support it 

    • Low order commodity = low threshold 

    • High order commodity = high threshold 

  • Diff commodities have diff ranges → distance people are willing to travel for it 

    • Low order commodity = short range 

    • High order commodity = longer range 

Model Mechanics

• Market area 

  • Hexagon shape 

  • Central place plus hinterlands 

  • Noncompeting market areas 

• The size of the hexagon is proportional to the # of goods + services demanded + can be afforded 

• Nested structure: low order commodity service areas are contained within high order areas

Central Place Theory

• Towns of the same size will be evenly space 

• Larger towns will be farther apart than smaller ones 

• More small towns than larger towns will exist 

Land Use Model 

• internal structure of cities or urban areas

• urban form

  • layout of an urban area

• model that shows where functions are found in a city

  • central business district (CBD)

    • downtown of a city

Features of Land Use Model

• Accessibility

  • CBD = most accessible location

    • most acessible = highest demand, highest rent

• distance decay

  • demand for land/rent decreases as we move away from the center

Land Use Model Caveats

• suburbanization

  • commercial + retail functions move to periphery

• other factors affecting residential land use

  • urban disinvestment + decay

  • gentrification

  • immigrant enclaves

  • new housing approaches

Concentric Zone Model

• Zone 1

  • zone of transition

    • factories, low income slums, high density

• Zone 2

  • zone of workers

    • smaller older homes

• Zone 3

  • zone of better residences—> longer commute to CBD

    • houses + apartments

• Zone 4

  • zone of suburbs —> longest commute to CBD

• upward mobility

  • invasion + sucession

    • as city expand, families w/ the most resources move to outer circles

    • chances for immigrants + their children to move outward

    • new immigrants move to the center of the city

Concentric Zone Critiques

• only applicable to US

• developed pre automobile

• developed in 1920s chicago

• developed prior to 1925 pre baby boom + rise of suburbs

• mobility is much more complicated than invasion + succession

Sector Model

• differences in residential sectors by income/rent levels

• focused on dallas

  • sectors

    • high rent—> areas w/ natural amenities (parks, hills)

    • low rent—> areas next to industry/manufacturing

    • middle rent—> in btw high + low rent sectors

  • sector Model + upward mobility

    • filtering down

      • housing filters down the income ladder

      • high income residents move outward to newer housing, low income residents move into areas they vacate (older housing)

      • areas of devel near periphery = higher status

Multiple Nuclei Model (devel after car + rise of suburbs)

-CBD doesn’t have to be a monopoly

suburban growth

Peripheral Model (Suburban Model too)

• peripheral belt

• CBD

  • no monopolu

  • optional location

• sprawl

Segregation Measures

• dissimilarity

  • eveness w/ which 2 groups are dist across component geographic areas that make up a larger area

    • range 0 -100 —> 0 is complete integration btw 2 groups, 100 is complete segregation

      • less than 30—>low

      • 60—> high

      • (90+)—> very high

• exposure

  • degree of potential contact or interaction btw members of a group/members of a diff group

• isolation

  • exposure but to members of ones own group

Causes of Segregation

• spatial assimilation

  • segregation is due to group diffs in socioeconomic resources

    • more valid explanation for Asain-white Latinx segregation

    • not as valid for explaining white-black segregation

• place stratification

  • segregation is due to racism

    • overt + covert housing discrimination

• overt

  • redlining

  • refusing to rent/sell to someone based on race

• covert

  • steering from landlords

  • using factors related to race to deny housing

  • NIBYISM

• preferences

  • people want to live around people like them

  • homophily—> tendency for people to seek out or be attracted to those who are similar to themselves

• redlining

  • outlining areas w/ sizeable black pops in red ink on maps as warnings to mortage lenders

Problems w/ segregation

• poverty in non white neighborhoods

• unequal access to resources

• lack of oppurtinities to form intergroup relations

Gentrification

• process of renewal or rebuilding, influx of rich people into previously deteriorating areas

  • demographic inversion

    • increase movement by middle + high income people, pops out of suburbs + back into city center

Gentrification Patterns

• indicators

  • change in neighboorhood income charcterisics/poverty

  • change in neighboorhood racial/ethnic groups

  • change in housing stock or density

What causes Gentrification

• selective renewal in older neighborhoods

• gentrifying pioneers

  • creatives

• changing tastes of homebuers

  • younger or older retirees

  • childless

• rent gap

  • land closer to city center = more valuable

  • neglected areas closer to center have high potential value—> high ROI—> renovate older housing to increase value

Gentrification pros + cons

-pros

• investment in city

• increasing tax base

• renovation of older housing

-cons

• displacement of poor non white pop

• cultural displacement

• less age diversity

Suburbanization

• movement from city center to the periphery

• idea of CBD isn’t as important

• suburb

  • not a principal city

  • pop doesn’t exceed 100k people

  • over half of US pop lives in suburbs

Causes of Suburbanization

• changing modes of transportation

• post WWII baby boom

  • increasing edu, wealth, housing loan

• cheaper land in suburbs

• deterioration of central cities

• white flight(whites leaving central city for suburbs)

Problems of Suburbanization

• urban decay, detoriation of central city

• automobile dominance

• suburnaization—> urban sprawl—> loss of biodiversity

• homogenization of the built envr

Exurbs

• distant/isolated suburbs

• economic connections to larger urban metro

• low density housing

• higher pop growth than metro as whole

Suburban Demographics

• suburbs in past

  • white

  • non immigrant

  • middle/high income

• suburbs now

  • increasingly non white

  • increasingly immigrant

  • increasing poverty

Defining Development

• development

  • extent where humans + natural resources of an area have been brought into full productive use

  • implies degree of inequality

  • comparison of development can be made within countries/states/cities not just internationally

• assumptions

  • advanced countries set the standard

  • less developed countries will eventually evolve into middle _ highly developed countries

Underdevelopment

• an area requires add. capital, labor, or tech to improve material well being of pop

  • terms

    • transition economy, moderately, middle income countries

Outdated Terms

• global N + Soutj

  • rich north

  • poor south

• 1st world

  • advanced capitalist economies

• 2nd world

  • communist bloc countries

• 3rd world

  • all others

Current UN terminology

developed vs developing

developed economies, economies in transition, developing economies

measures of development

• GDP

  • total market value of all final goods + services prod annually within the borders of a country

• nominal GDP

  • total income of everyone in the country

  • total expenditure on output of goods + services

• Real gdp

  • nominal GDP adjusted for inflation

• GDP per capita

  • nominal or real GDP divided by pop size

• GNI

  • GDP plus total foriegn income earned by citizens

  • adjustments made to compare values across countries

    • convert currency into 1 measure (US $)

    • divide by # of people in the country (per capita)

    • make purchasing power parity correction

      • PPP

        • correction applied to GNI, accounts for price diffs across countries

Problems w/ GNI indicator

• only measures flows

• increased flows may not equal increased well being

• includes spending on military

• doesn’t measure condition of natural envr

• doesn’t measure income dist/inequality

  • GINI measures economic inequality

    • 0 = total equality

    • 1 = total inequality

• doesn’t measure informal economy

Energy Consumption Per Capita

• more developed countries use more E

• but prod of E = more common in less developed countries

• cheap E

  • use of fossil fuels

  • capital investment = low cost per unit

Workforce Engaged in Agriculture

• subsistence agriculture

  • developing countries

Measurement of Development

• food security

  • provision of sufficient quantiies of safe + nutrious food

  • dietary balance

  • can meet caloric requirements for moderate activity

    • negative effects of food insecutiy

      • infant + child mortality

      • physical + cog devel

        • stunting

          • shorter stature due to lack of food

• Housing

  • informal settlements

    • unauthorized housing

      • slum

        • informal settlement that’s densly populated

          • inadequate access to safe drinking water, sanitation, poor structural quality of housing, overcrowding, insecure residential status

• Health

  • access to medical facilities

  • access to doctors

  • access to medical + public health tech

    • antibiotics

    • immunizations

    • clean water + sanitation

Explanations for Underdevelopment: Physical Geography

• physical geography

  • tropic v temperate climate zones

    • tropic areas

      • low agricultural prod

      • challening soil

      • higher incidence of disease

• resource poverty

  • deficiency in raw materials

  • probs w/ exporting raw materials

• landlocked countries

  • reduced acess to markets

  • increased cost of transporting goods

• Critiques

  • weak set of explanations

  • for every ex, a countered

  • many developed countries have overcame physical geography

Explanations for Underdevelopment: Slave Trade + colonialism

• almost all countries in global south were colonies of EU countries

• slave trade forced migration

• legacy of slave trade + colonization

  • expolitation of resources

  • export oreitned economies, dependence on other countries

  • est of boundaries w/ no regard to ethnic groups

  • weak political, gov institutions

  • corruption/conflict

• critiques

  • some former colonies devel w/o problems

Explanations for Underdevelopment: Modernization T

• countries are in diff stages of economic growth

• w countries are blueprint for developing countries

  • all societies pass through 6 stages of devel

  • all will eventually reach end stages of mass consumptiom + post indust

  • more developed countries should aid less developed countries

  • optimistic

  • 6 stages

    • traditional society

      • farming

    • preconditions for take off

    • take off

      • begining of industrilization

    • drive to maturity

      • int trade + advd tech

    • age of mass consumption

      • info heavy + service jobs, pop consumes well above basic needs

    • post industrialization

• critiques

  • assumes devel will happen w/

    • foriegn assistance

    • tech transfer diffusion from adv economies

    • infrastructure advancements

  • not all countries start at the same baseline

  • assumes developed countries should be the standard

  • dependence on developed countries for help

Explanations for Underdevelopment: Core Periphery Development + Dependence T

• uneven spatial devel

  • core benefits at expense of periphery

  • resources, money, people flow out of periphery and into core

  • pessimistic outlook

• one region begins to develop ahead of another

• core becomes more attractive than peripheral

• multipler effect w/ investment

• permanent division btw the core + periphery

Dependency T

• extension of Core-periphery T

• development of some nations have depended on underdevelopment of others

• dependency began w/ colonialism, conts today

Critiques

• they don’t explain the growth of semi-periphery countries

• developing countries = passive victims

  • negates diffs among developing countries

  • world economic resources not fixed

Strategies for development

• Strategies influenced by modernization theory 

  • 1950s-1970s “The Big Push” 

    • Borrowing money from world bank 

      • Prod increases, expanding trade 

        • Ex: world bank loans for roads, railroads 

  • 1980s “washington consensus” 

    • Neoliberal globalization 

    • Goals: development through free markets + privatization 

• Probs w/ Big Push

  • • Inefficiencies 

    • Corruption 

    • Lack of trust that gov could fulfill development goals

  • Washington consensus 

    • Neoliberal globalization 

      • Economies grow when govs don’t interfere

      • Barriers to trade are removed 

      • Free trade 

      • privatization → state run companies 

      • Promote private foreign firms + investments 

      • Small gov 

        • Reduce taxes, reduce spending 

    • Neoliberal Globalization Problems 

      • Didn’t lead to overall development in many places 

      • Major debts to world bank 

      • IMF refinanced debt→ but w/ strings attached 

      • Private land ownership conc in hands of few wealthy individs in developing countries 

      • Urban squatters 

      • Rural landless 

        • Land given to large scale agriculture instead of small farmers 

          • Malnutrition, disease