Chapter 13 Lecture Urban Patterns - Study Notes

Key Issues

• Why do services cluster downtown?

• Where are people distributed within urban areas?

• Why are urban areas expanding?

• Why do cities face challenges?

6.1 Urbanization and Economic Activities & 6.2 Cities Across the World

Urbanization

• Movement of individuals from rural areas to urban centers.

• Includes the growth, expansion, and development of cities.

• Recent trends show an increasing percentage of the global population residing in urban areas.

Why Do Services Cluster in Settlements?

Urbanization and Earliest Urban Settlements

• The initial urban settlements are thought to have arisen in the Fertile Crescent spanning Southwest Asia and North Africa.

• Key ancient urban locations include:

  • Ur: Located in modern-day Iraq, a significant early civilization.

  • Knossos: An urban site on Crete, dating from around 2500 B.C.

  • Troy: Located in Asia Minor, noted for its trade.

  • Mycenae: A notable early urban center in Greece.

• Early urban hubs mainly functioned as trading centers organized into city-states.

  • City-states are self-governing enclaves, combining settlements and the surrounding countryside.

  • Athens was the largest city-state in ancient Greece.

  • Rome's population is estimated to have ranged from 250,000 to 1 million at its peak.

Timeline of Urban Settlements

• Çatalhöyük: 6000 B.C.

• Tell Brak: 5000-4000 B.C.

• Jericho: 7000 B.C.

• Memphis: 2000 B.C.

• Nile River Valley: Crucial for the development of ancient civilizations.

• Thebes: 1000 B.C.

• Ur: 3000-2000 B.C.

Medieval Urban Settlements

• Characterized by tight-knit networks of small marketplaces catering to the needs of local lords across Europe.

• The largest medieval settlements served as centers of power for lords and church leaders while also acting as principal market hubs.

• The tallest and most complex structures were often churches, surrounded by protective walls.

Rapid Growth of Urban Settlements

• Urban population growth occurs in two ways:

  • Increase in the number of residents living in urban environments.

    • 8 of the 10 most populous cities are in developing countries.

  • Increase in the percentage of individuals residing in urban areas.

    • Historical data shows urbanization percentages in various years:

      • 3% in 1800

      • 6% in 1850

      • 14% in 1900

      • 30% in 1950

      • 47% in 2000

  • About 3/4 of the population in developed nations is urbanized, while approximately 2/5 in developing nations are urbanized.

Global Urbanization Patterns

• Visual maps depicting urban population distributions (showing urban population percentages by region).

6.3 Why Are Urban Areas Expanding?

Definitions of Urban Settlements

• A city is an urban area legally incorporated as an independent, self-governing unit (often termed a central city in the U.S.).

• Urban area includes:

  • A dense core of census tracts

  • Densely populated suburbs

  • Low-density land connecting the suburbs to the core.

• The Census Bureau defines two types of urban areas:

  • Urbanized Area: Regions with at least 50,000 inhabitants.

  • Urban Cluster: Areas with between 2,500 and 50,000 inhabitants.

Measuring City Functional Areas

• The metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is utilized by the U.S. Census Bureau to measure functionally related city areas, which include:

  • An urbanized area with a population exceeding 50,000.

  • The county housing the city.

  • Adjacent counties with high population densities and a significant proportion of workers commuting to the central city's county.

Overlapping Metropolitan Areas

• Certain MSAs overlap, forming a continuous urban region.

  • Example: The region stretching from north of Boston to south of Washington D.C., known as Megalopolis.

• Local Government Fragmentation: Most U.S. metropolitan regions have a council of government, a coordinated agency comprising representatives from multiple local authorities for joint planning and development.

Mega and Meta Cities

• Mega-city: Defined as a city with more than 10 million residents.

• Meta-city: Defined as a city with over 20 million inhabitants (projected for 2026).

List of Current Meta Cities

• Tokyo

• Mumbai

• Delhi

• Shanghai

• Pearl River Delta

• Mexico City

• Sao Paolo

• Lagos

• Dhaka

Annexation Process

• Annexation: The formal procedure for adding land area to a city.

• Many cities in the U.S. expanded rapidly in the 19th century due to superior services compared to rural areas, such as water supply and sewage disposal.

Density Gradient

• Describes the phenomenon where cities in the U.S. experience diminishing density as the distance from the urban core increases.

• This leads to suburban sprawl, which is the spreading and flattening of population density across a larger region.

Suburbanization Trends

• Features of the suburban landscape in the U.S. include:

  • Suburban Segregation: Developments are socially and economically separated, with similarly priced homes grouped together to attract specific income brackets.

Edge Cities

• Defined as communities located on the periphery of major urban center, consisting primarily of commercial hubs; they generally offer more commercial space than residential.

• Often arise at crucial roadway intersections.

  • Example: Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.

Boomburbs

• Defined as rapidly growing suburbs with populations exceeding 100,000 that display urban characteristics.

• Examples: Anaheim, California and Mesa, Arizona.

Urban Transportation Impact

• The expansion of urban areas has been significantly affected by motor vehicles, which facilitate large-scale development of suburbs further from urban centers.

• On average, urban regions dedicate roughly 1/4 of their land to roadways and parking.

  • Multilane freeways can consume a considerable amount of urban space, complicating city layouts.

Strategies for Public Transit

• Public transport systems can effectively serve large urban populations compared to personal vehicles due to cost-effectiveness and lower emissions.

• Challenges include the American cultural preference for personal vehicles over public transit, leading to often underfunded transportation systems.

Economic Activities in Urban Areas

• Primary Activities: Jobs focused on extracting resources from nature (e.g., mining, agriculture).

• Secondary Activities: Jobs involved in processing raw materials (e.g., manufacturing, construction).

• Tertiary Activities: Service-oriented jobs that do not involve manufacturing but assist other economic activities (e.g., healthcare, hospitality).

Distribution of Services in the CBD

• Central Business District (CBD): Occupies less than 1% of urban land but hosts a significant portion of urban services, categorized into three types:

  1. Public Services: Such as government offices, libraries, and courts.

  2. Business Services: Including banks, advertising agencies, and financial firms, sharply benefiting from proximity for networking.

  3. Consumer Services: Retail operations, which have seen a downturn in the CBD due to shifts in shopping habits and the migration to suburbs.

Market Dynamics in the CBD

• The surge in demand for CBD land encourages vertical construction like skyscrapers and underground infrastructure for essential utilities.

• Bid Rent Theory: Suggests that land prices decrease as one moves away from the CBD.