16.2: Patterns in Urban Design

Urban geography is a rapidly growing field, as the world becomes increasingly urbanized. Urban geographers play an important role in understanding the challenges and opportunities of urbanization, and in developing solutions to the problems that cities face. In fact, most of these geographers are called urban planners. Urban planning is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks and their accessibility.

Urban planning answers questions about how people will live, work, and play in each area and thus, guides orderly development in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Although predominantly concerned with the planning of settlements and communities, urban planners are also responsible for planning the efficient transportation of goods, resources, people and waste; the distribution of basic necessities such as water and electricity; a sense of inclusion and opportunity for people of all kinds, culture and needs; economic growth or business development; improving health and conserving areas of natural environmental significance that actively contributes to reduction in carbon emissions as well as protecting heritage structures and built environments.

Although this field is used to develop or redevelop neighborhoods and communities, its science goes back to the 1800’s with Johann Henrich von Thünen, and his model of agricultural land use. Thünen's model of agricultural land, created before industrialization, made the following simplifying assumptions:

• The city is located centrally within an "Isolated State."
• The Isolated State is surrounded by wilderness.
• The land is completely flat and has no rivers or mountains.
• Soil quality and climate are consistent.
• Farmers in the Isolated State transport their own goods to market via oxcart, across land, directly to the central city. There are no roads.
• Farmers behave rationally to maximize profits.

With this foundation, geographers were able to design urban models that maximize the value and use of that space, using the Central Place Theory. This is an urban geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size, and range of market services in a commercial system or human settlements in a residential system. Let’s view the three most common models.

Concentric Zone Model (1925)

This model of urban development suggests that cities grow in a series of concentric rings, with the Central Business District (CBD) in the middle and the suburbs on the outer edge. Based on human ecology theory done by Earnest Burgess, it was the first to give the explanation of distribution of social groups within urban areas. This concentric ring model depicts urban land usage in concentric rings: the CBD was in the middle of the model, and the city is expanded in rings with different land uses. It is effectively an urban version of Von Thünen's regional land use model developed a century earlier.

The zones identified are:

1. The center with the central business district,
2. The transition zone of mixed residential and commercial uses or the zone of transition,
3. Working class residential homes (inner suburbs), in later decades called inner city or zone of independent working men's home,
4. Better quality middle-class homes (outer suburbs) or zone of better housing,
5. Commuter zone, high-class homes on outskirts of outer suburbs - homeowner can afford to commute to central business district.

Figure 16.2: The Concentric Zone Model. Starting at the center: A-The Central Business District - the center of the city. B-The zone of mixed use with both commercial buildings and residential ones. C-Low-class residential homes; these were later called inner suburbs - housing is cheap, standard of living is low. D-Higher-class residential zone; later called outer suburbs. Better quality of life, more expensive to live there. E-Commuter zone. Image by Zeimusu (assumed original author) is in the public domain.

Sector Model (1939)

This model of urban development suggests that cities grow in a series of sectors, with each sector representing a different type of land use, such as residential, commercial, or industrial. The theory is based on early twentieth-century rail transport and does not make allowances for private cars that enable commuting from cheaper land outside city boundaries. The theory also does not consider the new concepts of edge cities and boomburbs, which began to emerge in the 1980s, after the creation of the model. Since its creation, the traditional CBD has diminished in importance as many retail and office buildings have moved into the suburbs.

Figure 16.3: The Sector Model. Image by Cieran 91 is in the public domain.

Multiple Nuclei Model (1945)

This model of urban development suggests that cities have multiple centers, each of which serves a different function. This was modeled after the layout of Chicago. It says that even though a city may have begun with a single CBD, other smaller CBDs develop on the outskirts of the city near the more valuable housing areas to allow shorter commutes from the outskirts of the city. This creates nodes or nuclei in other parts of the city besides the CBD thus the name multiple nuclei model. The purpose was to produce a more realistic, if more complicated, model. The main goals in this were to:

• Move away from the concentric zone model
• Better reflect the complex nature of urban areas, especially those of larger size

The model assumes that:

• Land is not flat in all areas
• There is even Distribution of Resources
• There is even Distribution of people in Residential areas
• There is even Transportation Costs

Figure 16.4: The Multiple Nuclei Model. Image by SuzanneKn, modified by 11gardir, is in the public domain.

Urban geography is a complex and fascinating field. It is a field that is constantly evolving, as new technologies and new ways of thinking about cities emerge. If you are interested in learning more about cities and how they work, then urban geography is a field that you should consider studying.