C H. 13 U RBAN P ATTERNS Where have urban areas grown?

T HE C ITY Mosaic of different sights, sounds, smells, and tastes Upscale high-rises to inner city slums Thriving ethnic neighbourhoods to tract housing suburbs Contrast of poverty and luxury Tokyo Subway

24 HOURS …. Imagine humankind’s time on Earth as a 24-hour day Settlements of more than a hundred people are only about a half-hour old Towns and cities emerged only a few minutes ago Large-scale urbanization began less than 60 seconds ago

G UESS THE S KYLINE ….

I NTRO In more developed regions, people are increasingly likely to live in suburbs response to conflicting desires Causes & consequences of today’s evolving urban patterns in the US and elsewhere are quite similar 1800 – 3% of ppl live in cities, now ______% Beijing only city to have more than 1 million, today 400+

U RBANIZATION 2 dimensions an increase in the # of ppl an increase in % of ppl living in cities Increasing % of People: more than 50% of ppl live in cities for the 1 st time ever measure of development MDCs–75%, LDCs-40% ** Exception is Latin America consequence of change in economic structure urbanization has ended in MDCs, % still increasing in LDCs

Increasing # of people: LDCs have more large urban settlements (9 of 10 most populous cities are in LDCs) 1950: 7 of 10 largest cities still in MDCs, rapid growth of cities in LDCs is NOT an indicator of improved level of development but mainly b/c of high NIRs 1. Shanghai Karachi Beijing Lagos Delhi Tianjin Istanbul Tokyo Guangzhou Mumbai data (different from textbook)

Very large cities are a feature of LDCs –most megacities are in LDCs **Young populations (NIR) + redefining borders + rural to urban migration

U RBANIZATION : S AO P AULO, B RAZIL Sao Paulo epitomizes the dynamics of urbanization, especially capitalism. Starting as a coffee exporting center, it had less than 32,000 inhabitants by Today metropolitan Sao Paulo is a primate city of more than 20 million (*counting surrounding metropolitan area). Economic development and flat land engendered population increase and sprawl, rising land costs in the center, and a boom in construction.

U RBANIZATION : S AO P AULO, B RAZIL Economic success is denoted by the high-rises which are a mix of industrial, commercial and professional office blocks, as well as apartment complexes. City planning is only a recent phenomenon. Rural to urban migration is a serious problem and the city’s rapid growth has outstripped its ability to provide jobs, housing and adequate services.

D EFINING U RBAN S ETTLEMENTS Difficult to draw boundary between urban & rural; geographers look at both social & physical factors Social: Large size, High density, & Social heterogeneity Physical: Legal definition of a city, Urbanized area, & Metropolitan statistical area (MSA)

P ROBLEM OF RECOGNIZING URBAN REGIONS There is no agreed-upon international definition of what constitutes a city India defines an urban center as 5,000 inhabitants, with adult males employed primarily in nonagricultural work The United States Census Bureau defines a city as a densely populated area of 2,500 people or more South Africa counts as a city any settlement of 500 or more people