KI 13-3 Why Do Inner Cities Face Distinctive Challenges?  Inner-city physical issues? Most significant = deteriorating housing (built prior to 1940) ○ Filtering – Large houses split into smaller dwellings for low income families ○ Redlining – Bank policy of refusing to grant loans in certain areas (historically a racist policy)

Urban Renewal  Cities identify blighted neighborhoods, relocate residents and “fix it up” Public housing – residents pay 30% of income for rent ○ 1% in US vs. 14% in UK Renovated housing ○ Gentrification – renovation of older neighborhoods by middle class people  Who would oppose gentrification? Why?

Inner-city social issues  The underclass People trapped in an unending cycle of social and economic issues  Culture of poverty? Why? Single parent households (to work or to parent?) Drugs Gangs

Inner-city economic issues  Eroding tax base – What can cities do? Reduce services Raise taxes  Impact of the recession Housing market collapse

Urban expansion  Annexation – Land area added to a city Used to happen a lot Not so much any more  Why did it happen?  Why don’t residents want to be added to cities?  What problems could this create?

Defining urban settlements  The city – the city limits (the actual city)  Urbanized areas – the central city and surrounding suburbs  Metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) Area surrounding a city that is influenced by the city (television stations, newspapers, sports teams, etc.) St Louis

Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges?  Urban expansion leads to issues Lack of annexation leads to Local government fragmentation – various decisions when one is better  Some Solutions? ○ Council of government – cooperation between city and surrounding governments ○ Consolidations/Federations of city and county governments – Combined the two into 1

Confused further by overlapping metropolitan areas Why area overlapping metropolitan areas problematic? Where does this issue occur most?

Peripheral Model  Edge cities – Spring up as consumer/business service hubs for the suburban residents that work in the central city More specialized: Ex. airport or theme park focused economy

Density Gradient  Most dense area of housing is city center  In recent years, how has that changed? Fewer in center Fewer differences in density

Solutions to (sub)urban sprawl?  Greenbelts (Europe) – higher home prices  Smart growth – States only fund “smart” development

Suburban Segregation  Social class segregation Different classes in different neighborhoods  Land use segregation Zoning ordinances limit residential, commercial, industrial to certain areas (healthier!?)  Suburbanization of businesses Big box stores Shopping mall

Schools – one of the big losers Why do students/schools lose with the fragmentation of metropolitan areas?

Public transit More than 95 percent of all trips = made by car Advantages of public transit –Transit travelers take up less space –Cheaper, less pollutant, and more energy efficient than an automobile –Suited to rapidly transport large number of people to small area Public transit in the United States –Used primarily for rush-hour community for workers into and out of CBD –Small cities-minimal use –Most Americans prefer car commutes

The End.