Urban Landscape (AQA A Level Geography)

• Land use can be considered the function of place; the main activities of urban areas 
• Can be industrial, financial, research and development, homes, or leisure
• Cities can have more than one function
• Most lucrative is tertiary and quaternary services
• Typical land use within cities are:
  • Housing
  • Industry
  • Services
  • Transport 
• One feature of all urban areas is the spatial sorting of functions and people
• Similar activities and types of people tend to cluster together to create a mosaic within the built-up area
• The mosaic varies from settlement to settlement, over time and space

Urban models

• Models to show how urban land is used, have been developed over the last 90 years
• They try to describe and explain the patterns in a ‘typical’ urban region
• They include social, economic, environmental and political factors

Burgess's concentric zone model 1925

• One of the earliest theoretical models to explain urban social structures and based on the city of Chicago, USA
• It suggests that as cities develop and grow, they move outwards in concentric zones
• Business activity is within the CBD, as this has the most accessible the point 
• Next is the “zone of transition”, with older houses converted in light industry and flats
• In-migrants tend to be drawn to this zone for its cheap housing
• Housing improves with distance from the CBD, allowing movement away from the centre and pollution 
• High class residential housing is occupied by middle class with it newer and larger houses

Simplified model of Burgess's concentric ring model

Limitations of the Burgess model

• The model does not take into account the physical landscape
  • This was based on Chicago, and yet the city is on the edge of the Great Lakes
• Burgess did not consider the development of commuter towns
• Urban regeneration, renewal and gentrification has changed inner city housing status
• Model does not consider social/council housing
• Decentralisation of shops and industry does not fit with the model
• Fringe developments are not included
• A simple model that explains basic urban growth

Hoyt's sector model 1939

• Hoyt, a student of Burgess, stated that business activity is still within the CBD
  • Public transport routes terminated at or near the CBD, giving access for most people
• Industry was noted to follow particular transport routes or corridors
• High class residential areas often developed where there were distinct physical or social attractions (e.g. river)
• Low class residential areas was therefore, confined to unfavourable locations (ugly, less transport links etc,)

Hoyt's sector model - note that high class housing is 'ringed' by middle class housing and is along a corridor, with direct access to the CBD

Limitations to Hoyt's model

• Based on Chicago and again makes little reference to the physical environment 
• No reference to out of town developments or commuter settlements
• The growth of a sector can be limited as land use is in blocks (contained)
• Some cities appear to follow this model as it looks at the effects of transport and communication routes

Multi-nuclei model 1945

• Harris and Ullman argued that cities do not develop around a single centre but around important, multiple nuclei
• CBD still exists but not always at the centre of the city
• Low class residential housing tends to be in areas of cheaper land around industry (heavy or light)
• High and middle class residents can afford to avoid living next to industrial areas; these areas are normally on a different side of the city to industry
• There are areas of development outside of the main settlement around new nuclei like out of town shopping centres
• The model is the first to take into consideration of the complexity of the city and its periphery
• It considers that the CBD is not the only part of the city that affects land use
• However, it is still a simplification of urban land use and the physical landscape is not fully considered

Harris and Ullman's multi-nuclei urban model 1945

Bid rent theory

• Bid rent theory shows how the price and demand on land changes as the distance towards the CBD increases
• Different land users will compete with each other for land close to the city centre
• Shops wish to maximise their profitability, so they pay more for land closer to the CBD and less for land further away from this area 
• This is based upon the idea that the more accessible an area, the more profitable it is going to be
• The amount people are willing to pay is called Bid Rent

Bid rent model

Limitations

• Very simple, with only 3 broad zones
• It assumes straight lines for cost curves and no scale 
• Too graphical, compared to map or plan
• Doesn’t take into account transport networks, planning decisions or physical environment 
• Alonso identified that occasionally low income groups are found in the centre of a city, they were in high density cramped residential buildings as rents were high 

Peak urban land surface value

• This is a major factor in sorting land uses and people 
• Activities and groups differ in what they can afford
• Urban land value tends to decline outwards from the core 
• But there are other factors too – geography of the place, flood plains, rivers, waterfronts
  
  • Historical factors
  • Economic factors
  • Social factors
  • Urban land managers – professionals who distribute and control resources – planners, governments, employers, developers, service providers 

LDE land use

• CBD in centre as normal
• Industry starts in centre and develops out around transport and water routes
• Zone of lower to middle income residence (also called zone of maturity) is where there is a mixture of old and newer housing occupied by middle classes
• Colonial - high class (elite) residential often develops in a spine out from the city centre
• Around the colonial is a wide range of housing but in the process of improvement e.g. government improvement projects
• Zone of squatter settlements is often on the most undesirable land at the periphery of a city

Based on Griffin and Ford's LDE model of Latin American land use

• Modern urban areas have undergone changes to include a range of features
• These include:
  • Mixed-use developments in town centres
  • Fortress developments
  • Edge cities
  • Gentrified areas
  • Cultural and heritage quarters 

Table of Urban Features