Models Of North American Cities By: Emily Goelz, Dylan Kienitz, and Jake Connelly

Concentric Zone Model  First model for explaining social group distribution  Created 1923 by E. W. Burgess  A city grows outward from a central area in series of concentric circles  Depending on the city, the size and width of the rings vary

Concentric Zone Model Continued  Innermost zone: central business district (CBD)  Concentrated nonresidential activities  Second ring: transition zone  Industry and poor-quality housing  Third ring: working-class homes  Modest older houses with stable working families  Fourth ring: working-class homes  New and spacious homes  Fifth ring: commuter zone  Many who work in the center live on the outside

Concentric Zone Model Diagram

Sector Model  Developed in 1939 by Homer Hoyt  This model says that a city develops in sectors instead of rings  Certain sectors are better for different activities  This can be due to the environment of just due to chance  Cities grow from the center outward in wedges or sectors  The best houses are on the edges of lower class housing sectors causing upper class housing to be from downtown to the edge of the city  Industrial areas develop along transportation lines  Viewed as a refined version of the concentric zone model

Sector Model Continued  Upper-class housing tends to stay in the same area  When needed upper-class areas will extend away from the CBD (central business district) instead of intruding on the space of other sectors  Example of a city: Chicago  Upper-class housing extends north along the coast of Lake Michigan  Industrial zones follow the major roads and railroads to the South, Southwest, and Northwest of the city

Sector Model Diagram

Multiple Nuclei Model  A city contains more than one area that is the center for the activities  Some activity centers in Atlanta are Centennial Olympic Park and the Atlanta Zoo  Some activities are attracted to particular regions, or pushed away from other regions  Such as universities attract scholars and well educated-individuals  Business may form “iron triangles” or clusters of related businesses  Businesses that relate to automobiles form very functional and common iron triangles  Activities that don’t interact with each other don’t cluster together  Food stores and automobile shops do not cluster in the same area of a city

Multiple Nuclei Diagram

Summary  Concentric Zone Model- Cities develop in rings around the central business district  Sector model- Cities develop in sectors based on the clustering of similar activities  Multiple Nuclei Model- Cities develop with multiple different centers of activities