SOCS 1110: Foundations of Human Geography Ch 11: Urban Systems

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SOCS 1110 Foundations of Human GeographyCh 11
Urban Systems Structure

• Paul Sutton
• psutton_at_du.edu
• Department of Geography
• University of Denver

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Some terms from the Book to know

• Hinterland The region to which any city provides
  services an upon which it draws for its needs
• Urban Heat Island Microclimate of city produced
  by human activity
• Incorporation the process of defining a city
  territory and establishing a city government
• Primate City examples Mexico City, Bangkok,
  Paris
• The United States does not really have a Primate
  city
• Urban Geography
• 1) The study of the functions of cities and
  their economic role in organizing space
• 2) The comparitive study of urbanization as it
  occurred in the past and as it is continuing in
  different countries today
• 3) The study of the internal geography of
  cities, that is, the internal distribution of
  housing, industry, commerce and other aspects of
  urban life

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Some urban factoids or Info mc-nuggets

• Cities showed up about 5,000 years ago
• Cities Resulted from agriculture, priests, and
  soldiers
• Early cities Turkey/Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan,
  China, Mexico, Peru
• Race to 1 million Rome 200 a.d., Kaifeng, China
  1150, Hangzhou, China 1275, London 1800, New
  York 1900
• Power Cities of Urban Systems Theory
• New York, London, Tokyo

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Geographic Theory

• How far would you go to buy a cup of coffee?
• How far would you go to buy a book?
• How far would you go to buy a washing machine?
• How far would you go to buy a car?
• On average these distances will progressively
  increase
• Goods have a threshold and range
• Central Place Theory explains this (next slide)

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Central Place Theory (CPT)

• CPT focuses on four questions Assumptions
• How may central places will develop?
  Isotropic plain
• Why are some places larger than others?
  Uniform distribution of population and income
• Where will cities locate? Equal ease of
  transportation
• What will be the size of each citys trade
  area? Producers and consumers are optimizers
• Central place depends completely on trade
  with hinterlands
• In order to determine level of a central place,
  you must rank all goods and services according to
  their thresholds
• Threshold (inner range) minimum level of
  demand needed that will allow a firm to stay in
  business (minimum level of sales, minimum
  population)
• Range (outer range) average maximum
  distance people are willing to travel to purchase
  a good
• Threshold and range vary for each good and
  service
• Central places of a given level provide not only
  goods and services that are specific to its
  level, but also all other goods and services that
  lower order centers provide
• Threshold influences the number and relative
  location of producers
• High-order goods are available only at a few
  locations They are expensive and purchased
  infrequently
• They have a high threshold and wide ranges
• Low order goods provided by a large number of
  locations. They are relatively cheap and
  purchased frequently
• For any market, the most effective system of
  marketing region will be a hexagonal lattice
• Regular shape close to a circle. Completely
  covers an area without overlaps or unserved areas
  

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Some Cartoons ..
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A Model of Urban Structure
Colin Clarks Population Density Decay
Function Dx D0e-dx
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The Economic Bases of Cities

• Cities depend on hinterland for food
• They must return the favor
• Basic Sector the part of a citys economy that
  produces exports (e.g. Hollywoodmovies, Detroit
  Automobiles)
• Non-Basic Sector The part of a citys economy
  serving the needs of the city itself

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Local Urban Thought Questions

• If you shop at a mall, are political candidates
  allowed to campaign there?
• Would you be allowed to set up a table and gather
  signatures to run for mayor yourself?
• Are beggars or charity fundraisers found either
  in your downtown or at the mall?
• Does the public function doctrine cover malls in
  your state?

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The Question of Private Property

• One significant difference between traditional
  downtowns and most new villages and suburban
  malls is that the latter are private property.
  People cannot be banned from a traditional
  downtown, and the right to petition on a public
  sidewalk is constitutionally protected. People
  may, however, be banned from private property,
  and constitutional rights, such as political
  pamphleteering, may be restricted. In many
  communities today malls are the only public
  gathering places, so if the mall owners are
  allowed to decide who may speak in them, mall
  owners can determine the publics access to
  ideas. Candidates for political office have been
  banned from busy malls owned by their opponents,
  and so have labor union organizers. U.S. law
  recognizes that private properties can perform
  functions traditionally associated with
  government. This is called the public function
  doctrine. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that
  the Constitution does not protect citizens
  access to shopping centers against the wishes of
  the owners. (Pruneyard v Robins, 1980). Some
  states however, have upheld the right of public
  access under their state constitutions. Each
  state has balanced public and private rights
  differently. Today in the United States
  increasing numbers of well-to-do people live,
  work, and shop in private environments, enjoy
  private recreational facilities, send their
  children to private schools, and travel by
  private means. This has been called the
  secession of the successful. Thes private
  environments are patrolled by private security
  officers, one of the countrys fastest growing
  occupations. (Security Guards constitute almost
  2 of the nations total labor force, triple the
  number of public police officers.) The
  privatization of space is a new form of economic
  and social segregation that carries profound
  influence throughout U.S. political and social
  life.

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• Large Scale Questions
• Is the worlds urban population growing or
  shrinking?
• In 1800 3 of the worlds population lived in
  cities, what in 2000?
• What countries have the largest proportion of
  urban citizens? Why?
• Where are the worlds biggest cities, LDCs or
  MDCs, and why?
• Why do the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.N.
  disagree so dramatically on the population of
  some cities?
• United Nations
  U.S. Census Bureau
• Mexico City 16 million 28 million
• Sao Paulo 16 million 25 million
• Shanghai 15 million 8 million
• Beijing 12 million 6 million
• In 1900 the worlds biggest cities were
  associated with the industrial revolution
  and economic development. Is that true today?

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Small Scale Questions

• Where is the urban/rural boundary?
• Or, Is Englewood in Denver?
• Legal Boundary Built-up Area Metropolitan
  Statistical Area (MSA)
• How does population density vary within a city?
• How extreme is ethnic/racial segregation in the
  cities of the world?
• Are there any common internal structures to
  cities?
• How and why are LDC and European Cities
  inside-out versions of U.S. cities with respect
  to location of rich and poor?

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A Large Scale Image of Urbanization(write these
questions down)

• What does Large Scale mean?
• What is this an image of ?
• How was this image made?
• What age of the population is in image?
• What age of the image is land?
• Is this an image of urbanization?
• What does this image measure?
• If this was India, how would image differ?
• Isnt the study of urbanization fun?

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Time for a laser pointer Map Quiz.You should
know what I do ?note state boundaries may not
be there
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What do cities look like at Smaller Scales?Some
Theories.
The Concentric Zone Model Of Burgess How do Real
Estate costs vary with distance from city
center? Who Lives downtown?
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The Multiple Nuclei and Sector Models of
Urban Form
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Lets Zoom In on a local city ?
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Two Looks at the Denver Metro AreaWhere does
the data come from?How does it compare?
Denver Metro Area Population Density from 1990
U.S. Census
Nighttime Satellite Image of Denver with major
roads superimposed
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What does the Nighttime Imagery Not tell us?

• How far does Denver spread beyond denver
• What is the distribution of wealth in Denver?
• Where do the Asians live and why?
• Where do the Hispanics live and why?
• Where to the Blacks live and why?
• Where do the Whites live and why?
• What do these patterns mean?

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FYI Denver Metro Area Counties
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Nighttime image of Denverwith County Boundaries
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Hispanic Population of Denver

• How do we define Hispanic
• Where does the Hispanic population live?
• Is the Hispanic population growing?
• How mobile is the Hispanic population?
• What income levels do Hispanics live at?
• Public Education and Hispanic Population...

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Percent Hispanic in Denver Metro Area Census
Tracts
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Black or African American Population of Denver

• How long have the Blacks been here relative to
  the Hispanics in the Denver metro area?
• Where do the Blacks live?
• What about the Black middle class?
• Are Blacks segregated from Hispanics in the
  Denver metro area? If so, by what means?

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Percent Black in Denver Metro Area
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Asian Population of Denver Metro Area

• Is the Asian population as spatially segregated
  as the Hispanic or Black? (why)
• What is the temporal tenure of the Asian
  population in Denver? (WWII history)
• What is the income level of the Asian population
  relative to the Black and Hispanic populations
  and why?

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Percent Asian in Denver Metro Area
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Where are the white people?

• Is this map a trick? (explain)
• How do you think income will co-vary with of
  population that is white?
• What do you think is going on with respect to
  school districts and white suburbia?
• Where do (would) you live?

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Percent of Population White in Denver Metro Area
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Show me the Money !

• How does income vary with population density? (as
  far as you can tell)
• Is suburbia whiter richer than downtown
  Denver? (if so why? And what implications?)
• Can you imagine any strange tax incentives that
  might result from these patterns?
• How can the city and county of Denver control
  Urban Sprawl? (this is a trick question)

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Median Household Income inDenver Metro
Area(Green is Rich, Red is in the Red ?)