Cities and Urban Land-Use

APHG Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes

Topic Overview

  • APHG CED Topics:

    • 6.1 The Origin and Influences of Urbanization

    • 6.2 Cities Across the World

    • 6.3 Cities and Globalization

    • 6.4 The Size and Distribution of Cities

    • 6.5 The Internal Structure of Cities

    • 6.6 Density and Land Use

    • 6.7 Infrastructure

    • 6.8 Urban Sustainability

    • 6.9 Urban Data

    • 6.10 Challenges of Urban Changes

    • 6.11 Challenges of Urban Sustainability

Suggested Skills

  • 2.D Explain the significance of geographic similarities and differences among different locations and/or at different times.

  • 5.B Explain spatial relationships across various geographic scales using geographic concepts, processes, models, or theories.

  • 2.c Explain a likely outcome in a geographic scenario using geographic concepts, processes, models, or theories.

  • 1.E Explain the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of different geographic models and theories in a specified context.

  • 3.D Compare patterns and trends in maps and in quantitative and geospatial data to draw conclusions.

  • 3.C Explain patterns and trends in maps and in quantitative and geospatial data to draw conclusions.

  • 2.C Explain a likely outcome in a geographic scenario using geographic concepts, processes, models, or theories.

  • 3.E Explain what maps or data imply or illustrate about geographic principles, processes, and outcomes.

  • 4.E Explain how maps, images, and landscapes illustrate or relate to geographic principles, processes, and outcomes.

Urbanization: Origin & Influences (6.1)

  • Urbanization: the process of the development of dense concentrations of people into settlements.

    • Site Factor: Refers to a place's absolute location and physical characteristics.

    • Examples include:

      • Climate variations

      • Natural resources availability

      • Landforms and topography

      • Favorable aspects like trade routes and defensible land attract populations.

    • Situation Factor: A place’s location in relation to other places or surrounding features.

    • Urban areas often thrive on trade routes facilitating access to resources and partnerships.

  • Agricultural Advances: Led to increased food supply and the establishment of permanent settlements, moving away from nomadic lifestyles.

  • Factors Driving Urbanization:

    • Transportation: Enhanced transport systems (railroads, roads, automobiles) support greater mobility of people and goods, encouraging migration.

    • Communication: Advances in technology (e.g., telephones, telegraphs) necessitate more urban workers.

    • Economic Development: Industrialization draws people to cities for job opportunities.

    • Government Policies: Investments in infrastructure and affordable housing stimulate rural-to-urban migration.

Cities Across the World (6.2)

  • Megacity: Metropolitan area with a population exceeding 10 million.

  • Metacity: Metropolitan area with a population over 20 million.

  • Future growth of megacities and metacities is likely to focus on periphery and semi-periphery countries due to migration patterns and higher birth rates in less developed countries.

  • Suburbanization: Movement of populations into suburbs leading to new demographic landscapes.

  • Urban Sprawl: Unplanned expansion of urban areas into surrounding spaces.

  • Decentralization: Movement of people and businesses from the city's core to the outskirts.

    • Counter-Urbanization: where populations migrate from urban centers to surrounding areas, often leading to significant changes in urban structure and community dynamics. This phenomenon results in the development of edge cities, exurbs, and boomburbs.

    • Edge cities: Large suburban areas with dense office buildings and amenities, serving as self-contained economic hubs.

    • Exurbs: Communities on the edges of metropolitan areas with a close connection to the city but generally wealthier inhabitants seeking space.

    • Boomburbs: Rapidly growing suburbs with populations surpassing 100,000 that are still part of a greater metro area.

Cities and Globalization (6.3)

  • Globalization: Increasing interconnectedness of global economies, cultures, and populations through trade, investment, information, and migration.

  • World City: Major urban centers crucial for international trade, finance, politics, and culture; often have diverse, multiethnic populations.

    • Impacts of World Cities:

    • Economic prosperity in one area can influence global economy.

    • Examples include New York City, Tokyo, London, and Paris.

    • New York City as a prime example of cultural, economic, and political center.

The Size and Distribution of Cities (6.4)

  • Rank-Size Rule: Concept relating city population size to its rank in an urban system.

    • E.g., second-largest city typically has half the population of the largest; third largest has one-third the population.

  • Primate City: Largest city in a country, with at least twice the population of the second-largest city, serving as the economic and political hub.

  • Gravity Model: Predicts interaction between points based on size and distance; larger populations and shorter distances lead to greater interactivity.

  • Central Place Theory: Explains settlement distribution using hexagons, where:

    • Threshold: Minimum number of people necessary to support a service.

    • Range: Maximum distance consumers will travel for a service.

    • Higher-order services found in larger cities attract customers from greater distances, compared to lower-order services which are more commonly available in smaller towns.

The Internal Structure of Cities (6.5)

  • Bid-Rent Theory: Illustrates how land prices change relative to distance from the central business district (CBD); land prices increase as proximity to the CBD increases due to higher demand and population density.

  • Models of Urban Structure:

    • Burgess Concentric Zone Model: Depicts cities growing outward from a CBD in well-defined concentric circles; suggests wealthier residents live further out.

    • Strengths: Simple framework, applicable to older cities.

    • Limitations: Outdated and less applicable to modern transportation dynamics.

    • Hoyt Sector Model: Suggests development extends in sectors rather than rings, aligned with transportation routes.

    • Strengths: Accounts for transportation routes.

    • Limitations: Does not capture dynamics of cities built on car-based layouts.

    • Harris and Ullman Multiple-Nuclei Model: Highlights multiple CBDs catering to specialized functions; relevant to modern cities like Los Angeles.

    • Strengths: Accounts for suburban growth and transportation advancements.

    • Limitations: Inconsistent economic activity in certain areas may lead to uneven development.

    • Galactic City Model: Features multiple suburban areas and edge cities as economic hubs; explains effects of suburbanization.

    • Strengths: Effectively represents urban growth dynamics.

    • Limitations: Centered on car dependency and less able to address public transport impacts.

    • Latin American City Model: Displays colonial influences in city layouts, featuring plazas and uneven infrastructure distribution.

    • Strengths: Accurately shows colonial legacy and its social impacts.

    • Limitations: Disamenity zones can be closer to city centers.

    • Southeast Asian City Model: Centered around ports rather than traditional CBD, reflecting colonial trading history and economic zones.

    • Strengths: Recognizes historical trading significance.

    • Limitations: Lacks analysis of transportation network effects.

    • Sub-Saharan African City Model: Displays impacts of colonial legacy with multiple CBDs and ethnic separation in residential areas.

    • Strengths: Captures diverse historical economic structures.

    • Limitations: Assumes a universal colonial layout.

Density and Land Use (6.6)

  • High-density areas near CBD feature skyscrapers, mixed-use buildings, and depend heavily on public transit.

  • Moving away from CBD, density decreases, leading to a mix of housing types (e.g., single-family homes, duplexes).

  • Low-density areas have large plots and high vehicle reliance, located farthest from CBD.

  • Infill: Development of vacant land within urban areas to promote efficient use of space and counter urban sprawl.

Infrastructure (6.7)

  • Infrastructure: Fundamental systems supporting society, including transportation, communication, and energy; critical for economic development.

  • Quality of infrastructure correlates with economic and social growth; disparities indicate income inequality.

  • Example: Mumbai's contrasting blue-tarp housing and high-rises demonstrate unequal wealth distribution.

Urban Sprawl (6.7)

  • Urban Sprawl: Uncontrolled low-density expansion into rural areas, exacerbated by enhanced transport options and technology.

    • Leads to reliance on cars, increased pollution, and costly infrastructure maintenance.

Urban Sustainability (6.8)

  • Urban Sustainability: Ability to maintain economic and social quality without compromising future generations' needs; involves mixed-use development and walkability.

    • Zoning: Local laws dictating land use for efficient development.

    • Transportation-oriented development: Focus on compact, walkable communities connected to public transit.

  • Smart-growth policies: Urban planning strategies aimed at promoting sustainable communities.

  • New Urbanism: Movement to enhance livability through equitable urban designs.

    • Potential downsides include rising housing costs and gentrification risks.

  • Greenbelts: Protected undeveloped areas to limit urban sprawl and preserve natural land.

Urban Data (6.9)

  • Quantitative Data: Numerical data that can be counted (e.g., Census data).

  • Qualitative Data: Non-numerical insights gathered from studies, narratives, and interviews.

Challenges to Urban Changes (6.10)

  • Redlining: Discriminatory practice denying loans based on neighborhood racial composition; example from historical Chicago.

  • Blockbusting: Tactics encouraging homeowners to sell low by instilling fear of ethnic neighbors; significant in 1950s and 1960s Chicago.

  • Environmental Injustice: Unequal distribution of environmental risks affecting marginalized groups.

  • Disamenity Zones: Areas undesirable for habitation due to poverty, crime, and lack of infrastructure.

  • Zones of Abandonment: Deteriorating areas due to disinvestment and population decline.

  • Squatter Settlements: Informal housing built without legal rights, commonly in less developed regions.

  • Inclusionary Zoning: Policies requiring affordable housing in new developments.

  • Local Food Movements: Emphasizing sustainability and community through local food sourcing.

  • Urban Renewal: Revitalizing urban areas by renovating or replacing old buildings.

  • Gentrification: Economic transition of neighborhoods leading to displacement of lower-income residents; characterized by rising property values and increased investment.

Effects of Gentrification (6.10)

  • Positive Effects: Reduction in crime, improved infrastructure, increased economic activity, and higher tax revenues.

  • Negative Effects: Displacement of low-income populations, loss of historic character, increased housing costs, and socio-economic segregation.

Challenges to Urban Sustainability (6.11)

The Challenges

  • Urban Sprawl: Leads to environmental degradation and costly infrastructure maintenance, increasing reliance on vehicles.

  • Long Commute Times: Increase greenhouse gas emissions affecting climate change.

  • Health Concerns: Insufficient sewage services linked to rapid city expansion.

The Solutions

  • Regional Planning Efforts: Coordinated strategies for housing and urban infrastructure development.

  • Brownfields: Redeveloping contaminated former industrial sites for new uses.

  • Urban Growth Boundaries: Limits on suburban expansion to preserve open space.

  • Farmland Protection Policies: Safeguarding farmland from urban development to maintain agricultural land availability.

Key Terms

Topic 6.1:

  • Site Factor

  • Situation Factor

  • Urbanization

Topic 6.2:

  • Megacity

  • Metacity

  • Suburbanization

  • Urban Sprawl

  • Decentralization

  • Suburbs

  • Edge Cities

  • Exurbs

  • Boomburbs

Topic 6.3:

  • World Cities

  • Globalization

Topic 6.4:

  • Rank-Size Rule

  • Primate City

  • Gravity Model

  • Central Place Theory

  • Threshold

  • Range

Topic 6.5:

  • Burgess Concentric-Zone Model

  • Hoyt Sector Model

  • Harris and Ullman Multiple-Nuclei Model

  • Galactic City Model

  • Latin American City Model

  • Southeast Asian City Model

  • African City Model

  • Bid-Rent Theory

  • Central Business District

  • Beltway

Topic 6.6:

  • Infilling

Topic 6.7:

  • Infrastructure

Topic 6.8:

  • Zoning

  • Mixed-Use Development

  • Walkability

  • Transportation-oriented development

  • Smart Growth Policies

  • New Urbanism

  • Greenbelts

  • Slow-growth cities

Topic 6.9:

  • Quantitative Data

  • Qualitative Data

  • Census Data

Topic 6.10:

  • Redlining

  • Blockbusting

  • Environmental Injustice

  • Disamenity Zones

  • Zones of Abandonment

  • Squatter Settlements

  • Inclusionary Zoning

  • Local Food Movements

  • Urban Renewal

  • Gentrification

Topic 6.11:

  • Ecological Footprint

  • Regional Planning Efforts

  • Brownfields

  • Urban Growth Boundaries

  • Farmland Protection Policies