Chapter 13: Urban Patterns

1. Chapter 13: Urban Patterns The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography

2. Why Do Services Cluster Downtown? • CBD land uses • Central business districts (CBDs) • Retail services in the CBD • Retailers with a high threshold • Retailers with a high range • Retailers serving downtown workers • Business services in the CBD

3. CBD of Charlotte, NC Figure 13-1

4. Why Do Services Cluster Downtown? • Competition for land in the CBD • High land costs • Some of the most expensive real estate in the world = Tokyo • Intensive land use • Underground areas • Skyscrapers • “Vertical geography”

5. Why Do Services Cluster Downtown? • Activities excluded from the CBD • Lack of industry in the CBD • Modern factories require large, one-story parcels of land • Lack of residents in the CBD • Push and pull factors involved • CBDs outside North America • Less dominated by commercial considerations.

6. Where Are People Distributed in Urban Areas? • Models of urban structure • Are used to explain where people live in cities • Three models, all developed in the city of Chicago • Concentric zone model • Sector model • Multiple nuclei model

7. Concentric Zone Model Figure 13-4

8. Sector Model Figure 13-5

9. Multiple Nuclei Model Figure 13-6

10. Where Are People Distributedin Urban Areas? • Geographic application of the models • Models can be used to show where different social groups live in the cities • Census tracts • Social area analysis • Criticism of the models • Models may be too simple • Models may be outdated

11. Where Are People Distributedin Urban Areas? • Applying the models outside North America • European cities • Less developed countries • Colonial cities • Cities since independence • Squatter settlements

12. Income Distribution in the Paris Region Figure 13-10

13. Model of a Latin American City Figure 13-14

14. Why Do Inner Cities Face Distinctive Challenges? • Inner-city physical issues • Most significant = deteriorating housing • Filtering • Redlining • Urban renewal • Public housing • Renovated housing • Gentrification

15. Racial Change in Chicago Figure 13-16

16. Why Do Inner Cities Face Distinctive Challenges? • Inner-city social issues • The underclass • An unending cycle of social and economic issues • Homelessness • Culture of poverty

17. Why Do Inner Cities Face Distinctive Challenges? • Inner-city economic issues • Eroding tax base • Cities can either reduce services or raise taxes • Impact of the recession • Housing market collapse

18. Foreclosures in Baltimore Figure 13-18

19. Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges? • Urban expansion • Annexation • Defining urban settlements • The city • Urbanized areas • Metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) • Metropolitan divisions • Micropolitan statistical areas

20. Annexation in Chicago Figure 13-19

21. City, Urbanized Area, and MSA of St. Louis Figure 13-20

22. Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges? • Urban expansion • Local government fragmentation • Council of government • Consolidations of city and county governments • Federations • Overlapping metropolitan areas

23. Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges? • Peripheral model • Edge cities • Density gradient • Cost of suburban sprawl • Suburban segregation • Residential segregation • Suburbanization of businesses

24. Density Gradient Figure 13-23

25. Suburban Stress Figure 13-25

26. Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges? • Transportation and suburbanization • Motor vehicles • More than 95 percent of all trips = made by car • Public transit • 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 to commute by automobile

27. Subway and Tram Lines in Brussels, Belgium Figure 13-28

28. The End. Up next: Resource Issues