Urban Land-Use Theories

Concentric zone model 1

Urban Land-Use Theories Concentric Zone Theory Burgess (1925) Cities grow outwards from the centre in a series of rings. Urban primacy is when a country has a primary city that is three or four times larger than any other city in the county. It is common in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Argentina, for example) and can be a problem since so many natural resources are concentrated in one urban area

Concentric Zone Theory Timeframe 1920’s Class conscious society Housing segregated according to income Lack of transport infrastructure Assumptions Older buildings in city centre Newer buildings at edge of city Land values highest in city centre Strong economic and ethnic segregation Low income groups lack transport and live close to city centre. Cities develop on a flat plain with equal access to transport Edge cities typically grow on the borders of large urban areas at points near major roads and airports. Edge cities tend to spring up near transportation corridors that allow people to easily commute to nearby cities or travel to faraway cities

Problems with Burgess Model Old Doesn't consider car ownership Landscape not considered Impact that industry and transport could have on land use not considered. Zones are never as clear-cut

Hoyt’s Sector Model 1939 Sectors radiating out from the CBD along transport routes.

Sector Theory Timeframe Late 1930’s Income and status divided society Housing areas reflect social segregation Assumptions Settlement develops along transport routes Towns radiate out from the CBD Low-income and industrial areas lie next to each other Wealthy people choose the best sites

Hoyt’s theory is based on statistical data, so is less open to the criticism that Burgess received. The rank-size rule expresses the size of a city as proportionate to another city through a ratio, or a mathematical equation. It is a tool of applied mathematics

Burgess – Concentric Zone Hoyt – Sector Model In central place theory, range, or the maximum distance a consumer will travel to buy a good, is proportional to the cost of obtaining the good. The level of desire or need of consumers to purchase a good determines how far they will travel to purchase it Burgess – Concentric Zone Hoyt – Sector Model Harris and Ullman – Multiple Nuclei

Examine briefly one theoretical model which attempts to explain the development of land use zones in a developed world city The gravity model, used to predict flows of human activity between places, has been criticized for its inability to take into account the evolution of patterns. The gravity model appears static and cannot easily be modified to show how flow patterns evolve

Five Concentric Zones 3) Low Income Residential 4) Middle Income Residential suburban estates- good quality, gardens 5) High Income Residential / Commuter Small towns and villages 1) Central Business District 2) Transition and Industry low incomes oldest housing ghettos In a concentric zone model, the zones outside the core are sized according to what people will pay for the land. The sizes of the rings in the concentric zone model are based on people’s demand for land that exists within and outside of the central business district

Criticisms of Hoyt’s Theory Old Too general In reality, most zones contain more than one land-use Doesn't consider the impact of urban renewal schemes The Hoyt sector model for the growth of cities tends to work when applied to British cities, which grew outward from a central business district along major roads and rail lines

Have some relevance Now due to urban renewal schemes and changes in society, high income residential areas often exist close to the CBD Modern cities are expanding beyond these models- Urban Sprawl The simplest form of the gravity model assumes that the interaction between two towns is proportionate to the product of their populations divided by the square of the distance between them

Harris and Ullman’s Multiple Nuclei Theory – 1945 As an urban area grows, it develops around a number of different business centers or nuclei Suburban downtowns are nuclei independent of the central business district and have the power to draw residents that live throughout the greater metropolitan area

Multiple nuclei model 3

Multiple Nuclei Theory Modern cities more complex than suggested by other theorists Each nucleus acts as a growth point Growth occurs outwards from each nucleus, until they all merge into one large urban area Cities want to motivate employers to create service jobs to replace industrial and manufacturing jobs that have moved to suburban or rural areas

Multiple Nuclei Theory Mixture of Burgess and Hoyt Shows some land-uses attract more of the same, for example industrial areas Some land-uses may deter others from locating nearby, eg; housing is usually located away from industrial areas

Criticisms of Multiple Nuclei Theory Not an exact fit for all cities and towns Too complex