1. URBAN GEOGRAPHY

2. Migration to the Cities
Occurs VERY quickly
Already predominant urban atmosphere
Uneven distribution
“City” is a recent phenomena

3. Ancient Cities and Early Civilizations
Egalitarian societies
In Southwest Asia things began to change about 6000 BCE
Cities and states
Growing villages  political systems  state
Anthropologists Wright & Johnson
Formative era

4. Function and Location of Ancient Cities and Early Civilizations
Importance of geographic location
Urban elite: group of decision makers and organizers
Mesopotamian cities
Theocratic centers
Urbanization not simultaneous
By modern standards early cities were not large

5. Theocratic Centers of Mesoamerica

6. Establishment of Cultural Hearths

7. Diffusion to Greece
Urbanization spread from Mesopotamia in several directions
During the third millennium BCE Greece became one of the most highly urbanized areas on Earth
Development in Greece had a global impact
Urban traditions passed on to the Roman Empire

8. The Roman Urban System The largest developed on Earth at that time
A transport network
Greek city grid pattern
Post-Roman decline
Many causes of empire's failure
Urban growth elsewhere
Xian, China = “Rome of East Asia”
Southern margin of the Sahara
Mayan urbanization
City of Teotihuacán may have had more than 100,000 people

10. Post-Roman, Pre-industrial Europe
Medieval Europe
Muslim invasion & Crusades
Urban environments
Better weapons = easier invasions
Need STRONG cities
~17th century, mostly icky
Left for “New World” ASAP

11. Post-Roman, Pre-industrial Europe
Sjoberg Model of urban places
Cities are products of their societies
Divided into four categories:
Folk-preliterate
Feudal
Preindustrial
Urban-industrial
Recognized primate cities
Generalizations; not all cities behave the same

12. Post-Roman, Pre-industrial Europe
The global spread of urbanization
Silk route; Chinese architecture; “urban banana”
European maritime exploration
The mercantile city
Emergence of the manufacturing city
City planning improvements
Today’s transition:
Transportation innovations  modernization of the American manufacturing city
Modern city NOT stabilized

13. Urban Geography: Location, Pattern, and Structures of Cities
Relationships can be measured and mapped
Every city and town has an adjacent region within which its influence in dominant
Hinterland—German word meaning the land “behind” the city
Large cities tend to lie farther apart than smaller ones
Evolution of cities

14. Ranking Urban Centers
Urban hierarchy and functions of clustered settlements
A hamlet < than 100 people; may or may not have an urban function
A village offers many services
A town = higher level of specialization and hinterland
The city
Megalopolises (megalopoli?)
Bosnywash

15. Place & Location
Growth of Shenzhen, China

16. Place & Location Urban site Paris, France
The actual physical qualities of the place a city occupies
Paris, France
The original site of Paris was an island

17. Paris today

18. Place/Location Urban site
Site problems of Mexico City & Bangkok
*The role of a city's site can change over time

19. The Changing City Different atmospheres
John Borchert’s four-stages of the American metropolis
Sail-wagon epoch ( )
Iron-horse epoch ( )
Steel-rail epoch ( )
Auto-air-amenity epoch ( )
Today Borchert would add a fifth:
High-Technology Epoch (1970 to present)

20. Models of Urban Structure
Cities exhibit functional structure
Central business district (CBD)
Central city
Suburb
North American cities?
3 models

21. Modeling the North American City

22. Modeling the North American City

23. Modeling the North American City

24. Modeling the North American City
Urban realms
Early post-war period, reduced interaction between the central city and suburban cities
Outer cities became more self-sufficient

25. Models of Urban Structure
Modeling the North American city
“Urban realm”
Los Angeles

26. Models of Urban Structure
Outer city growth since 1960s
By 1973, American suburbs surpassed central cities in total employment
Outer cities = “edge cities”
Equal partners in city shaping processes

27. Socio-cultural Influences on Cities
Neighborhood spatial differences
Help explain the internal ethnic geography
Ethnic neighborhoods
Redlining
Blockbusting
Racial steering
Perceived dangers of urban life led to gated communities

28. Patterns of Cities Rank size rule Urban functions
The population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy
Urban functions
Every city and town has an economic base
Basic sector
Non-basic sector
Functional specialization
Employment structure
All cities have multiple functions

29. Patterns of Cities
Chauncy Harris maps, 1943

30. Central Place Theory Central places
CPT developed by Walter Christaller
Began with a simple set of assumptions
Surface of ideal region would be flat and have no physical barriers
Soil fertility would be the same everywhere
Also assumed an even distribution of population and purchasing power, and uniform transportation network
Assumed a constant maximum distance for sale of any good or service produced in a town would prevail in all directions from urban center

31. A logical extension of CPT
An example of CPT
A logical extension of CPT

32. Central Place Theory The real world
Physical barriers, resource distributions, etc. create modification of the spatial pattern
Christaller stimulated urban and economic geography in general and location theory in particular

33. GLOBAL URBANIZATION

34. Europe in the Vanguard Western Europe
Population around 1800 was very rural
Two-hundred years later it was about 80 percent urban
Rapid urbanization was the beginning of a worldwide process
Cities founded as colonial headquarters in Asia and Africa

35. Europe in the Vanguard Western Europe Define an “urban resident”…
Role of a city’s relative location during the Industrial Revolution
Cities grew by agglomeration: the spatial process of clustering by commercial enterprises for mutual advantage and benefit
Industrial cities went through a phase of specialization
Changes in where the world’s largest cities are located

36. World Urbanization

37. Cities > 1 Million People

38. North America Urbanization

40. Modeling the Modern Latin American City

41. Modeling the Modern Southeast Asian City

42. Modeling the Modern Subsaharan African City

43. Reading & Resource Reading: Walter Christaller & CPT Resource:
A quick look at Christaller’s contribution
Resource:
Video: Nuewirth, Shadow&SquatterCities
A .zip file from the site