URBAN PATTERNS

Chapter 13 – Angel Ruiz // Period 1

Key Issues~

- Why do services cluster downtown? - Where are people distributed within

urban areas? - Why do inner cities face distinctive

challenges? - Why do suburbs face distinctive

challenges?

Why do services cluster downtown?

The central business district (CBD) is composed of a large percentage of settlement’s business services. Business services are arranged around downtown to aid with face-to-face contact. Retailers with large thresholds or large may also locate downtown.

Downtown is know as the central business district

The CBD is compact meaning it contains only 1% of urban land area but also contains a

large percentage of businesses such as shops, offices, and public institutions. Central

business districts attract consumers because of its accessibility.

Three types of retail services clustered in the CBD which required accessibility to

everyone In the region:

-Retailers with a high threshold

- Retailers with a long range

- Retailers that served people who worked in the CBD

Retailers with a high threshold

Example: Department stores~

Large department stores in the CBD would cluster near one intersection, which was known

as the “100 percent corner”. Rents around there would be high ‘cos it has the highest

accessibility for the most customers.

Retailers with high range

Retailers with high range once preferred CBD locations because their customers were scattered over a wide area.

Example: A jewelry or clothing store attracted shoppers from all over the urban area, but each customer didn’t visit frequently.

Retailers serving downtown workers

These businesses usually sell office supplies, computers, and clothing. They also offer shoe repair services, dry-cleaning, etc.

Customers of downtown shops tend to be downtown employees who shop during lunch hour.

Large department stores have difficulty attracting their old customers whereas smaller shops that cater to the special needs of the downtown labor force are expanding.

Business Services in the CBD

Offices cluster in the center for accessibility. People that serve in those businesses are usually in advertising, banking, finance, journalism, and law particularly depending on the proximity to professional colleagues.

Example: Lawyers choose locations near government offices and courts.

Competition for the land in the CBD

The center’s accessibility produces extreme competition for the limited sites available. As a result, land values are very high in the CBD, and too expensive for some activities.

High land cost

In a rural area a hectare of land might cost several thousand dollars.

Example: Tokyo’s high prices result from a severe shortage of buildable land. Buildings in most areas are legally restricted to less than 10 meters in height, which is normally about three stories, due to potential earthquakes. (…)

Two characteristics of the CBD follow from the high land cost:

- Land is used more intensively in the center than elsewhere in the city.

- Some activities are excluded from the center because of the high cost in space.

Where are people distributed within urban areas?

Three models explain where various groups of people live in urban areas-the concentric model, the sector model, and the multiple nuclei model. Combined, the three models present a better understanding about the distribution of social and economic groups within urban areas. With modifications, the models also apply to cities in Europe and LDCs.

Concentric

First developed to explain the distribution of different social groups within urban areas. It was created by sociologist E.W. Burgess.

Concentric model: A city grows outward from a central area in a series of concentric rings like the growth rings of a tree.

1. CBD: The innermost ring, where nonresidential activities are concentrated.

2. A zone in transition, which contains industry and poorer quality housing. Immigrants that move to the city live this zone first in small housing units, which are made by subdividing larger houses into apartments.

3. A zone of working-class homes, which has , modest old houses which are occupied by working families that have a stable income.

4. A zone of better residences which has newer houses that are more spacious for middle-class families.

5. Commuter’s zone.

Sector

Developed in 1939 by a land economist by the name of Homer Hoyt.

Sector model: City develops in a series of sectors, not rings.Some specific areas of the city are more attractive due to certain activities taking place, originally because of an environmental factor of by a mere chance. As a city grows, activities expand outward.

1. CBD2. Transportation and industry3. Low-class residential4. Middle-class residential5. High-class residential

Multiple Nuclei Model

Made by C.D. Harris and E.L. Ullman who were geographers back in 1945.

Multiple Nuclei: A city is a complex structure that includes more than one center around activities revolve.

1. Central business district2. Wholesale, light manufacturing3. Low-class residential4. Medium-Class residential5. High-Class residential 6. Heavy manufacturing7. Outlying business district8. Residential suburb9. Industrial suburb

Examples of applying the models

CONCENTRIC: 2 families with same income and ethnic background. One family pays the rent of the home while the other owns their home. The one who owns a home is more likely to live in an outer ring and the renter in an inner ring.

SECTOR: 2 families that own their own homes. Family with higher income will not live in the same sector as the family with lower income.

MULTIPLE NUCLEI: People with same ethnic background or racial background are likely to live near each other.

Why do inner cities face distinctive challenges?

Inner-city residential areas have physical problems stemming from the high percentage of older deteriorated housing, social problems stemming from a gap between demand for services and supply of local tax revenue.

Inner-city Physical Issues

Inner-city neighborhoods are facing poor housing conditions which most of them were built before 1940. Deteriorated housing can be either demolished and replaced with new housing or rehabilitated.

Inner-City Social Issues

Inner cities contain primarily people with low incomes who face many social problems. Inner-city residents are usually referred to as permanent underclass residents because they are trapped in an unending cycle of economic and social issues such as an excessive amount of unemployment, drug addiction, illiteracy, juvenile delinquency, and crime.

Inner-City Economic Issues

The amount of low-income residents in inner-city neighborhoods of central cities has produced financial problems. The major recession going on recently has aggravated has triggered those problems.

Eroding Tax Base

Inner-cities do require public transportation services, but can only pay such a small amount to support those services. So, in order to relieve those costs, Inner-cities could reduces services such as closing libraries, eliminate bus routes, collect trash less frequently, and delay replacement of outdated school equipment. They could also raise tax revenues such as providing tax breaks for downtown offices, luxury hotels, restaurants, and shops.

Impact of the recession

One of the main causes of the severe recession back in 2008 was a collapse in the house market, primarily in the inner-city. In the years leading to the recession, financial institutions sharply increased the number of loans to low-income inner-city households buying their first homes.

Why do suburbs face distinctive challenges?

The suburban lifestyle as exemplified by the detached single-family house with surrounding yard attracts most people. Transportation improvements, most notable the railroad system in the nineteenth century and the automobile in the twentieth century have helped the sprawling of urban areas. Among the negative consequences of large-scale sprawl are segregation and inefficiency.