Urban Urban AreasAreas

United States and CanadaUnited States and Canada

Urban AreasUrban Areas •Urban – having something to do with cities. People make a living in ways other than farming.

•Urban areas grouped by:

- population or

- economic activitiesKinds of Kinds of Urban Urban AreasAreas

•Cities are defined differently in different areas of the world.

•Suburbs – areas around a city – large central city

•Metropolitan Area – land of a central city and all of its suburbs.

Urban Urban FunctionsFunctions

(Eco. (Eco. Activities)Activities)

•Manufacturing

Roman Suburbs

Urbs – inside the city walls

Suburbs – outside the city walls

•Government – national, state, provincial capitals.

•Transportation

•Trade/office – generally will be located in a central area.

•Other functions:

- recreation ctrs

- educational ctrs

- religious ctrs

History of History of CitiesCities

•Started about 6,000 years ago.

•First cities:

- Mesopotamia (SW Asia)

•Specialization started to develop:

- artisans - merchants

- farmers - ruling elite (military or

religious leaders)

along the Tigris/Euphrates Rivers

- 4,000 BCE

•Running the cities – (usually the ruling elite)- wrote the laws- levied taxes- supervised public building

Earliest Earliest Great CityGreat City

•Rome – ctr of Roman Empire

- built all over Europe

- roads still used today

Sketch a map

Better Farming Techniques

Better Farming Techniques

The Plow

Irrigation

The First CitiesCause & Effect

Agricultural Revolution

Migration to River Valleys

Better Farming TechniquesMore People

More People

More People

Specialization

Some people don’t need to farm

First Cities

Bunch of non-farmers

- developed the grid system to lay out their cities (later spread all over Europe)

- brought water from the mountains by aqueducts

•Fall of the Roman Empire

- invasion of Germanic tribes

Middle Middle AgesAges

•Villages and cities started to increase again after the Dark Ages

•Trade between the villages would develop into large cities. Two of the largest cities would be Paris and London.

IndustriaIndustrial l RevolutioRevolutionn

•Next large growth of cites – started in Europe and would spread to N. America in the late 1700s.

ImmigratiImmigration & 2on & 2ndnd AgriculturAgricultural al RevolutionRevolution

•Helped spread urbanization in the 20th c.

•Dramatically increased the size of cities in North America.

Urban Urban EnvironmEnvironmentent

•Shaped by human activities

- cities have to deal with problems and increasing population

Urban Urban LandscapLandscapee

•Site and situation

-influence whether people will settle in certain area

- 2 factors influence this:

ExactExact

locationlocationSite

-actual physical features (landforms, waterways, climate, etc.)

Relative Relative locationlocation

Situation

-position of a place in relation to all places around it.

What What factors do factors do we need for we need for a city?a city?

•Water (fresh)

•Abundant food source

•Fertile land

•Good climate

•Natural protection

These are These are characteristicharacteristics of Site.cs of Site.

ConfluenceConfluence

•Near a trade center

•River – for transportation

•Located near natural resources.

These are These are characteristicharacteristics of cs of SituationSituation

Transportation Routes

•Establishing a new transportation route to

exchange goods.

• Houston Ship channel• Meets the railroads

• Railroads

• Ship Channel

•A city’s good situation guarantees its influence over the area

CBDHinterland

•A cities “downtown” is called the Central Business District (CBD).

•A city has areas around it that supply it with raw materials and farm products – called the HINTERLAND.

•The hinterland gets its manufactured products and services from the city.

Impact of Impact of Urban Urban DevelopmenDevelopmentt

•People change the natural landscape to build the city.

- animal/plant habitats are destroyed

- arable land being used for development

Modern Urban Structure

• Where do people live and work?

• Different cities are built on different models– Concentric Zone Model– Sector Model– Multiple Nuclei Model

• These models may be used to look at the same city in different ways

Concentric Zone Model

• Theory – cities grow outward in rings– Zone of transition is industrial and poor quality housing

Dallas as a Concentric Zone Model• More home ownership away from city center

% of households that own their own home

Sector Model

• Theory – cities grow in a series of wedges or corridors which extend from the CBD

Dallas as a Sector Model• High income housing in northern sector

House values

Suburbs and inner citiesIncome Disparity

Suburbs and inner citiesIncome Disparity

Multiple Nuclei Model• Theory –

city is a collection of individual centers around where people cluster

Dallas as a Multiple Nuclei Model

African Americans and Hispanics occupy different nodes in the city

The Egg Model• Tongue in cheek

– Ancient cities has walls (like a hard egg shell)

High density urban areas

Low density suburbs

Impact of Impact of Urban Urban DevelopmeDevelopmentnt

Infrastructure:• A cities support system which includes:

• Transportation (roads, railroads, ports, airports)

• Water supply

• Sanitation system

• Power supply

• Education system

• A city’s infrastructure is under stress during:

• Rapid urbanization

• City is growing faster than infrastructure

• Economic decline

• Taxes fall – less money to repair the infrastructure

Urban Urban ClimateClimate

•Cities’ climates are warmer than rural areas.

•Cities are “URBAN HEAT ISLANDS” (can be up to 3º warmer)

•Buildings change wind patterns.

Urban LifeUrban Life •Common urban problems

- unemployment

- providing services

- racial/religious conflict

- environmental pollution

- decline of the CBD

World World Patterns of Patterns of Urban Urban DevelopmeDevelopmentnt

•45% of the world’s people live in urban areas.

•Industrialized (MDCs) – 75%

•LDCs – 35% live in cities

•Last 20 years in MDCs rapid population growth

seems to be in smaller cities and smaller metropolitan areas (suburbs)

•By 2025 – 60% of the world’s population will live in cities. All but one of the largest cities in the world will be in LDCs.