Intro. To Urban Geography
Definitions city: a multifunctional (residential and non) nucleated settlement with a central business district (CBD) town: a smaller nucleated settlement with a CBD central city: main urban node metropolitan area: a large-scale functional entity containing several urbanized areas (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale) suburb: an outlying area of a larger urban region “Urbanization”: the growth of cities & towns
A. The City 1.Urbanization in the last 200 years has strengthened globalization – – “urban explosion” has gone hand in hand with the industrial revolution – – World’s urban population doubled from – – Just over 50% of population live in cities
B. Urban Geography B. Urban Geography 1.Studies the functions of cities & their economic role 2.Compares urbanization in different parts of the world 3.Analyzes the internal geography of cities: - distribution of housing, industry, commerce
C. URBAN HIERARCHY “layers within layers” in the urban system scale from global to regional World Cities Major Cities Large Cities Small Cities Large Towns Small Towns Villages
D. The First Cities 1.Social changes that led to urbanization: - generation of agricultural surplus - a stratified social system
Urban Diffusion
- cities protected by walls - temples dominated landscape - poorest on outskirts - no waste disposal Mesopotamia--
- have had worldwide influence - structures built on high point of city - public spaces for trade and discourse - network of cities connected by trade Greek Cities--
Roman Cities-- - diffused city life across the Empire - military camps - linked by transportation networks over road, river, and sea
Tehran The Islamic City
The Renaissance City
The Industrial City
Suburbanization and urban sprawl Suburbanization and urban sprawl The “Modern” City
NY or Tokyo? The “Post”-Modern City
Where are you??