Chapter 15 APG

15.1: The Origin and Influences of Urbanization (Pg. 403 - 406)

Ecumene

  • Ecumene: The permanently inhabited portion of the earth’s surface 

    • Urban areas 

    • Suburbs 

    • Rural areas

Urbanization

  • Urbanization: The ongoing process of developing towns and cities 

    • Sped up rapidly in the 20th century 

    • Creates new problems and opportunities 

Urban Hearths 

  • Earliest cities generally located in river valleys that experience seasonal flooding and had fertile soil, leading to the creation of an agricultural surplus 

The First Settlements 

  • Settlement: A place with a permanent human population.

    • First settlements established 12000 years ago when people learned how to domesticate plants and animals 

  • The first agricultural settlements developed characteristics that made them the first true urban settlements

    • Agricultural surplus that allowed increasing numbers of people to live in the same place

    • Rise of social stratification and creation of an elite leadership class (emerged to control surplus)

    • Beginning of job specialization occurred since not everyone was needed to produce food 

Expansion of Cities 

  • Percent Urban: Proportion of a population that lives in cities as compared to rural areas 

    • More than 50% of world’s population lives in cities today 

Drivers of Urbanization

  • Population growth 

  • Economic development (Industrialization)

  • Migration (For jobs, opportunities, amenities, etc.)

  • Government policies (Better security, provision of services)

  • Changes in transportation (Modes, infrastructure)

Describing Cities 

  • City: A palace where there is a relative concentration of people 

    • The number of people required for a place to be considered a city caries a country (In the US, 10,000+) 

Metropolitan Area

  • Metropolitan Area: A city and adjacent areas across which population density is high and continuous.\

15.2: Factors that Influence Urban Growth (Pg. 407 - 411)

Ecumene

  • Ecumene: The permanently inhabited portion of the earth’s surface 

    • Urban areas 

    • Suburbs 

    • Rural areas

Expansion of Cities 

  • Percent Urban: Proportion of a population that lives in cities as compared to rural areas 

    • More than 50% of the world’s population lives in cities today 

Borchert’s Model of Urban Growth 

  • Borchert’s Model of Urban Growth: A model developed by geographer John Borchert that describes urban growth based on transportation technology.

    • Suggested new form of technology produced a new transportation system that changed how people moved in and between urban areas 

    • Divided urban history into four periods, called “epochs” 

      • Each epoch has Amazon effects on the size, density, and spatial arrangement of cities 

Epoch

Time Period

Conditions and Effects

Sail-Wagon (Boat)

1790-1830

  • Water ports became very important 

  • Poor road conditions made travel between cities difficult 

Iron Horse (Steam boats)

1830-1870

  • Steam-powered boats led to growth of river cities 

  • Regional rail networks connected cities 

  • Rail lines connected resources and industrial sites 

Steel Rail

(Trains)

1870-1920

  • Transcontinental railways emerged 

  • Cities emerged along rail lines in the interior of continents 

Auto-Air-Amenity 

1920-1970

  • Car allowed cities to spread out 

  • Airport hubs merged 

  • CIties became far more interconnected 

Suburbanization

  • Suburbanization: The process of people moving, usually from the cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities

    • Communities are connected to cities for jobs and services 

    • Often less densely populated and less ethnically diverse than cities 

Boomburbs 

  • Boomburb: Large (100,000+ residents) fast-growing suburbs 

    • Maintain suburban characteristics and do not have own economic centers 

    • Mostly found in the sunbelt region of the United States

Edge Cities 

  • Edge City: A suburb that grows to the point that it develops its own economic core and can exist independently of the city it borders 

    • Often found at intersections of major transport routes 

Counter-Urbanization

  • Counter-Urbanization: When people move from urban areas to rural areas

    • Reaction to inner city conditions, pricing, and overcrowding

    • Growth in popularity with the advent of telecommuting 

Exurbs 

  • Exurbs: Wealthy commuter communities located beyond the suburbs 

    • Motivated by cheaper property costs, more privacy, etc. 

Urban Sprawl

  • Urban Sprawl: Urban areas that expand in an unplanned and uncontrolled way covering large expanses of land in housing, commercial development, and roads

    • Infill: Redevelopment that identifies and envelopes vacant parcels of all within previously built areas 

      • Helps to counter sprawl because it focuses on areas already served by transportation and other public infrastructure

15.3: The Size and Distribution of Cities (Pg. 412 - 415)

Gravity Model

  • Used to predict the level of interaction between places 

  • Places that are larger & closer together will have more interaction (flow of people, goods) than places that are smaller & farther away from each other

  • Criticism: Interactions between cities are complicated by factors beyond size and distance

    • Tourist destinations, religious sites, government centers

Rank-Size Rule

  • The population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the urban hierarchy

    • The second-largest city will be ½ the population of the first-largest city

    • The third-largest city will be ⅓ the population of the first-largest city

    • The fourth-largest city will have ¼ the population of the first-largest city

  • More common in developed countries

    • US, Canada, Australia, Germany, etc.

Primate Cities Rule

  • If the largest city in an urban system is more than twice as large as the next largest city, the largest city is said to have primacy or be a “primate city”

    • Often found in less developed countries, countries                   that  have unitary governments, countries with agriculture-based economies, and/or a recent                    colonial history  

    • Center of finance, politics, and culture

    • Usually the capital city, but not always

  • Advantages: centers of influence attract immigrants, international companies, and foreign investment

  • Disadvantages: can have a parasitic effect (Sucking natural resources, funds, the population from other areas) causing uneven development; can become the center of pollution & crime

UK

Mexico

France

Thailand

Largest 

Urban Area

London 

(14 million)

Mexico City 

(21.2 million)

Paris 

(2.16 million)

Bangkok

(10.7 million)

2nd  Largest 

Urban Area

Manchester 

(2.6 million)

Guadalajara 

(4.3 million) 

Marseille

(861,635) 

Nonthaburi (254, 375)


Hungary

Argentina

South Korea

DR Congo

Largest 

Urban Area

Budapest 

(1.74 million)

Buenos Aires 

(15.1 million)

Seoul 

(9.77 million)

Kinshasa 

(17 million)

2nd  Largest 

Urban Area

Debrecen

(204,142)

Cordoba

(1.57 million)

Busan

(3.43 million)

Mbuji-Mayi

(3.37 million)

Rank Size Rule vs Primate Cities 

Rank-Size Rule

Primate Cities 

Usually more developed countries, but not always 

Usually less developed countries, but not always 

Goods and services, economic development spread throughout a country

Goods and services, economic development concentrated in primate city 

Less susceptible to economic challenges 

More susceptible to economic challenges

Central Place Theory

  • Proposed by German geographer Walter Christaller 1933 

    • Noticed towns of certain sizes were equidistant in the flat landscape of southern Germany 

  • A model that explains the size and spacing of centers that specialize in different goods and services

Assumptions

  • Area is an isotropic plain

  • Even population and resource distribution 

  • Perfect competition conditions

  • All consumers have similar purchasing power and demand for goods and services

  • Consumers travel the least distance possible

Central Place 

  • Central Place: A location where people go to receive goods and services

    • Cities (Big center)

    • Towns (Intermediate center)

    • Villages (Small center)

    • Hamlets (Sub center)

  • The larger the settlement, the less there are of them and the farther apart they are

  • Places of the same size will be placed the same distance apart

  • Each central place is surrounded by a market area for which it provides goods and services

    • Depicted as hexagonal hinterlands  

    • Central places compete against one another to serve as markets for goods and services

Threshold

  • Threshold: The size of population necessary for any particular service to exist and remain profitable

    • Services with a very low threshold (Gas stations, convenience stores, etc.) are present even in very small central places

    • Services with a higher threshold (Schools, hospitals, department stores, etc.) require a larger population to survive 

Range

  • Range: The distance people will travel to obtain specific goods or services

    • People will travel far for high-order (specialized) goods and services 

    • People are less likely to be willing to travel far for low-order (common) goods and services

High Order Goods

Low Order Goods

Expensive

Inexpensive

Purchased infrequently

Purchased frequently

High threshold

Low threshold

Large range 

Small range

Custom wedding gowns, expensive jewelry, cars, etc.

Fast food, toothpaste, bread, magazines, etc. 

Criticisms

  • Cities don’t usually form these patterns 

  • Doesn’t account for variations in range and threshold from person to person and culture group to culture group 

  • Competition would disrupt the pattern

15.4: Cities and Globalization (Pg. 420 - 423) 

Megalopolis

  • Megalopolis: a chain of interconnected cities 

    • AKA “conurbation” 

    • Washington DC to Boston Corridor 

Megacity

  • Megacities: Ascites with 10 million people or more 

    • Exert an influence that is felt nationally, regionally, and sometimes even globally

Megacities & the Developing World

  • High birth rates and increased rural-to-urban migration made megacities more common in developing countries

  • Megacities in poor countries face the same challenges as those in rich countries but do not have resources to fix them

Metacities

  • Metacity: A city with a population of over 20 million people

    • Only 9 metacities as of 2024 but more megacities will become metacities in the future

World Cities

  • World City: A city that exerts influence far beyond its national boundaries

    • Human capital (large population)

    • Economically influential (stock exchanges, banks, corporate headquarters, etc.) 

    • Culturally influential (educational institutions, museums, international sporting events, tourism, etc.) 

    • Politically influential (embassies and consulates, think tanks, political conferences, etc.)

    • Located primarily in highly developed countries 

    • Attract many educated/skilled workers

    • High degree of interconnectivity with other cities (particularly other world cities)