Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes

Key Concepts

Central Place Theory

• Market areas focused on central settlement for exchange and service provision.
• Large settlements have larger market areas with more services.
• Small settlements have smaller, more numerous market areas.
• Walter Christaller's research in the 1920s revealed a hierarchy of places using hexagonal market areas.

Threshold and Range

• Threshold: Minimum population needed to support a business.
• Range: Maximum distance people will travel for services.
• Influenced by income, travel time, and traffic patterns.

Agglomeration

• Clustering of similar business activities.
• Examples include Silicon Valley's tech firms.
• Influences planning, zoning, and business location decisions.

Urban Origins

• Urban places originate from access to resources or transportation.
• Resource nodes and Transport nodes are key categories.
• Example: Sacramento (resource node), San Francisco (transport node).

Settlement Patterns

• Clustered: Residential and farm structures close together.
• Dispersed: Households separated by distances.
• Circular: Homes forming a circle around central space.
• Linear: Settlements following a road or stream.

Site and Situation

• Site: Physical characteristics or absolute location.
• Situation: Relationship with other locations.

Housing and Built Environment

• Importance of building codes for safety and health (WHO).
• Must provide clean, safe living conditions and protect from natural hazards.

Urban Models

Concentric Zone Model

• Introduced by Ernest Burgess in 1923.
• Five concentric rings: CBD, Industrial zone, Inner city housing, Suburbs, Exurbs.

Sector Model

• Incorporates industrial corridors and neighborhoods.
• Reflects ethnic and social variations.

Multiple-Nuclei Model

• Represents urban landscapes with suburban business districts.
• Emerged post-WWII with suburban spread.

Galactic City Model (Peripheral Model)

• Post-industrial city with dispersed business districts.
• Decentralization of commercial urban landscape.

Latin American City Model

• Introduced by Larry Ford and Ernst Griffin in 1980.
• Influenced by colonial history and urban planning.

Other International Models

• Southeast Asian City Model by Terrence Garry McGee.
• Sub-Saharan African City Model by Harm De Blij.

Urban Diversity and Types

City Types

• Colonial, Fall-Line, Medieval, Gateway, Entrept, Megacities, Megalopolis, World City, Primate Cities.
• Each type has distinct origins, structures, and roles in global urban hierarchy.

Urban Society

• Issues of segregation and urban social change.
• Challenges with suburbanization and urban economic growth.

Urban Transportation

• Congestion challenges and the role of mass transit.
• Environmental impacts and solutions for downtown housing.

Urban Sustainability

• Balancing economic growth with environmental protection.
• Addressing urban government challenges and infrastructure needs.