1. Urban Geography

2. Where are cities located and why?

6. Although The U.S. and Europe have a higher percentage of urban
dwellers, India and China both have higher numbers of urban
dwellers.

7. Settlement Factors: Topography
Orientation and shelter

8. Settlement Factors: Topography
A river crossing

9. Settlement Factors: Topography
The floor of a river valley.

10. Settlement Factors: Topography
Machu Pichu—symbolic significance

11. Site Factors for Settlements: Key resources
Mining towns

12. Site Factors for Settlements: Key resources
Water and energy supply

13. Site Factors for Settlements Key resources
The Fall Line—Important resource sites
Trenton NJ
Philadelphia PA
Baltimore MD
Washington D.C.
Richmond VA
Raleigh NC
Columbia SC
Atlanta GA
Montgomery, AL
Jackson, MS

14. Site Factors for Settlements: Key resources
Outside of a river’s meander

15. Site Factors for Settlements: Key resources
At a desert oasis

16. Site Factors for Settlements: Trade Routes
At a crossroads

17. Site Factors for Settlements: Trade Routes

18. Site Factors for Settlements: Defense
A hilltop city

19. Site Factors for Settlements: Defense
New Orleans—The “Crescent City”

20. Walter Christaller Location Theory
The nested hexagons show urban areas with their surrounding market area (hinterland).

21. Walter Christaller Location Theory
A hamlet provides some basic services to the people living there and those nearby.

22. Walter Christaller Location Theory
A village is likely to offer several dozen services. There will be some specialization.

23. Walter Christaller Location Theory
A town is larger than a village and has a higher level of specialization.

24. Walter Christaller Location Theory
A city has more specialization and a larger hinterland than a town..
A ciy has suburbs while a town has outskirts

25. Walter Christaller Location Theory
An urban hierarchy is a ranking of settlements according to their size and functions.

27. Walter Christaller Location Theory
The rank-size rule states that there is an inverse relationship between the size of a city and its rank in the urban hierarchy.

28. Walter Christaller Location Theory
Under the rank-size rule:
If the city has 1 million people
-the town will have 500,000 (1/2 the size),
-the village will have 333,333 (1/3 the size),
-and the hamlet will have 250,000 people.

29. Location Theory Conclusions 1. Urban places form an orderly rank or
hierarchy.

30. Location Theory Conclusions 1. Urban places form an orderly rank or
hierarchy.
2. Places of the same size and number of
functions are rather evenly spaced.

31. Location Theory Conclusions 1. Urban places form an orderly rank or
hierarchy.
2. Places of the same size and number of
functions are rather evenly spaced.
3. Larger urban areas are spaced farther
apart than smaller towns or villages.

34. Walter Christaller Location Theory
Christaller’s central place theory tends not hold in countries that have unitary systems of government or those that have gone through extended periods as colonies.
They have primate cities.
Population Cartogram of France
Bangkok, Thailand

35. How are cities organized?
Traditional models of urban structure:

36. How are cities organized?
The Concentric Zone Model reflects the walking-horsecar era--early 20th century.

37. How are cities organized?
The Sector Model reflects the influence of transportation corridors.

38. How are cities organized?
The Multiple Nuclei Model reflects the influence of the automobile on suburbanization.

39. Present-day United States metropolitan area.

40. The Galactic City

42. Social Geography of American and Canadian Cities