URB - Urban Growth Lesson

Urban Growth Lesson

Spread of Cities

  • Urban hearth areas began around 3500bc near reliable water sources
    • Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Fertile Crescent)
    • Indus River Valley
    • Nile River
    • Huang He River
    • Settlements in Mexico and Peru
  • Urbanism grew because of trade marketplaces
    • West to the Mediterranean and East through Persia to the Far East
  • Cities were sometimes built on planned grid patterns around administrative buildings or around religious centers or holy sites

Cities in History

  • Preindustrial cities had rural areas (provided food and agriculture) around urban centers (economic functions)
    • Ancient cities in Greece and Rome used the city-state model (market area surrounded by land to farm and live)
    • After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century these cities faded
  • Feudal cities (Medieval cities) emerged during the Dark Ages 6th -13th centuries (Middle Ages or Medieval) in Europe and were based around wealthy people exchanging land for the labor of the poor
  • With the Age of Exploration in the 15th - 17th centuries and mercantilism (European powers claiming status by taking raw materials from their colonies) new colonial cities were created as copies of the original European cities
    • Wide boulevards and classical architecture
  • By the beginning of the 16th century cities in the world existed in a crescent shape "urban banana"
    • These cites had both favorable site (arable land, resources, layout) and situation factors (proximity to trade routes)
    • London, Paris, Constantinople, Venice, Cairo, Nanking, Hanchow and Osaka
  • Many early cities had shops, markets, home and offices mixed together in urban space, but by the medieval period certain jobs were located together (builders, artists, etc.)
    • There was always economic segregation with the wealthiest living in the city center
  • Hispanic and Asian cities had large buildings dominating the cityscape to show political or religious beliefs and provided the settings for important functions, while medieval Islamic cities had small, winding streets with mosques and government buildings blended into the urban landscape

Industrialization in the City

  • After exploration, sea-trade cities became the most important (mainly in Europe and America)
    • These industrial cities didn't focus on administration or religion, but rather on manufacturing and distributing products
  • In 1800 5% of the world's population lived in cities, beginning in 2008 over 50% of the world's population now lives in cities
    • The diffusion of industrialization and the second agricultural revolution led to a snowball effect when jobs moved to the cities and were followed by workers
  • The quick growth created shock cities that lacked the infrastructure to deal with the massive population
    • Increased illness, pollution, crime
  • All urban places are part of the urban system of cities that are spatially interactive (they all depend on each other)
    • There are varying levels of connectivity and accessibility, but all cities are part of the system

Urbanization - Population over Time Graph

Urbanization Graph description Links to an external site.

Central Place Theory

  • Walter Christaller explained the patterns of urban land use in the central place theory
    • Just like von Thunen he assumed that the land was flat and uniform and transportation was equally distributed

Central Place Theory

  • Four main ideas:
    • Central places are urban centers that provide services to the people in the hinterland (surrounding rural areas)
    • The more unique a function in a central place the higher its threshold (minimum number of people needed to validate a function's existence in the central place)
    • The more unique a function (or good) in the central place the larger its range (maximum distance a person is willing to travel to obtain that service/good)
    • Central places compete with each other because of spatial competition
  • Common services (convenience store, fast food chains) will have low threshold, low range and are frequent in small and large central places
  • Specialized services (Lamborghini dealership, plastic surgeon) will have high threshold and high range and are only available in large central places
  • Smaller central places will need to be located closer together because consumers are not willing to travel as far, but larger central areas are so important that distance is not as much of a factor (distance is considered in time, not miles)

Rank-Size Rule and Balance of Power

  • The urban hierarchy has levels with only a few cities at the top and more and more cities as you go down the list
    • The higher a city on the hierarchy the larger the population and the more variety of central place functions being serviced
    • There is a connection between a city's size and its location on the urban hierarchy (based on size and power) within the urban system (includes all cities)
  • Within a country there is a relationship between all of the cities and surrounding areas
    • In MDCs this usually follows the rank-size rule
      • The nth largest city's population size in a region is 1/n the size of the region's largest city population
      • The 6th largest city in a region is one-sixth the size of the region's largest city
    • This system has more parity between locations, with a solid transportation network and different cities with different specialized services
      • In the US, the largest city is NYC (economics), followed by LA (entertainment) and Chicago (industry)
    • There are countries in the world that have city that is disproportionately larger than the others, known as a primate city

      Example of a Primate City - Mexico City, Mexico

      • Examples include Mexico City (above picture), Buenos Aires, London, Paris, Rio de Janeiro
      • Primate cities are at least twice as large as the next largest city and have a disproportionate amount of power within the country

World Cities

  • There are also world cities (global cities) that have a disproportionate amount of power in the world
    • These cities have high levels of centrality in the global urban system
    • 1600's - London, Lisbon, Amsterdam
    • 1700's - Rome and Paris
    • 1800's - Berlin, Chicago, NYC, St. Petersburg
    • 1900's & 2000's - NYC, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Sydney
      • Characterized as alpha, beta or gamma cities
  • Modern world cities are the centers for financial decisions, information and mncs (multi-national corporations)
    • These cities have panregional influence , meaning their range extends outside of their country
    • The influence must be larger than its share of the earth's population or dominate a distinct area of global affairs
    • NYC, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Sydney
  • Below world cities there are megacities that have a high degree of centrality and primacy in their own nation and have a population over 10 million
    • Jakarta, Mexico City
  • Historically some countries have attempted to gain more power or influence for their capital city and will move these to new locations, this is known as a forward capital
    • This might be done to disperse power or population throughout a country, reestablish state control after gaining independence, to encourage movement to another part of the country
        • Brasilia in Brazil

Urban Changes in the US

  • Samuel Borchert studied US cities and created his model of urban evolution based on the transportation technology that dominated during the time when the city had its initial growth spurt and economic growth
    • Epoch 1 - Sail Wagon era (1790-1830) near ports and waterways
    • Epoch 2 - Iron Horse era (1830-1870) near rivers and canals as railroads and steamboats were spreading
    • Epoch 3 - Steel Rail era (1870-1920) IR was in full swing and industrial cities on railroads surged
    • Epoch 4 - Auto-Air-Amenity era (1920+) linked to car and air travel with highways and the growth of suburbs
    • Epoch 5 – Satellite – Electronic – Jet Propulsion (1970 – now) linked to online communications and international services
  • Cities usually grow in a stage in which they hold the advantage and then lose power as time progresses
    • Flint, MI had huge growth and influence in the Steel Rail era, but lost dominance as the US shifted from a secondary to tertiary sector nation

Postindustrial Cities

  • Modern postindustrial cities are focused on service industries, more than manufacturing
    • Factories are being converted in malls, art galleries and apartments
    • These cites usually have architecture rooted in postmodernism, diversity and free form (not uniformity of style)
    • The Industrial Revolution created cities focused on manufacturing and distribution, but now those cities are becoming deindustrialized
      • They have gone through their boom and bust cycle
        • Booming in services while busting in manufacturing
        • Some cities are having just one of the two, but either way the new economy requires education and skills to remain above the poverty line

Questions to Consider

  1. What were the two main parts of a preindustrial city?
  2. What was a colonial city?
  3. What is a shock city?
  4. What was the main characteristic of an industrial city?
  5. What is the name of the outlying area serviced but a central place (in the CPT)?
  6. What is the threshold? Example.
  7. What is the range? Example.
  8. What is the rank-size rule?
  9. What is the difference between a global city and a megacity?
  10. What was the basis for Borchert's Model of Urban Evolution?
  11. What is the difference between basic and non-basic employment?
  12. What is the multiplier effect?
  13. What sector do postindustrial cities focus on?

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS (Images are available in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons License Attribution)