Structure of Cities

• All categories of land users-commercial, residential and industrial- compete for convenient and accessible locations in the city

• Wealthier households tend to trade off convenience for being able to consume larger amounts of suburban space, while poorer households trade off space for accessibility

Social Patterns in Cities

• Territoriality provides a means of establishing and preserving group membership and identity. Processes of congregation and discrimination often result in segregation

Spatial Structure of American Cities

• Segregation is the spatial separation of specific subgroups within a wider population. Segregation varies in both intensity and form

• Most large cities are structured around a central business district(CBD). CBD’s consist of a transitional zone, suburbs, secondary business districts and commercial strips, and industrial districts

• In larger metropolitan areas a polycentric structure is typical with edge cities, new business centers, and specialized subcenters

• The internal organization of cities reflects the way they function together, both to bring people and activities together and to sort them out into neighborhoods and functional subareas

• During the mid twentieth century American cities were reshaped by the combination of increased auto-mobility, federal outlay on highway construction and federal mortgage insurance programs

• The resulting spurt of city building produced a dispersed spatial structure and the emergence of polycentric metropolitan structure

Urban Structures

• Urban structure varies considerably because of history, culture, and the different roles cities have played within the world system

• European cities have evolved under very different circumstances from American cities and consequently exhibit distinctive characteristics that reflect those circumstances

• Islamic cities provide examples of how social and cultural values and peoples response to their environment are translated to spatial terms through urban form and the design of the built environment

• The new cities of the world peripheral regions are characterized and shaped by the explosive growth