Human Geo 13.3 Questions Flashcards
How has annexation gone recently in the US?
In recent decades, cities have been less likely to annex peripheral land because residents prefer to organize their own services rather than pay city taxes for them. Originally, some of these peripheral jurisdictions were small independent towns, and others are newly created communities with residents who want to be close but not legally part of a large city.
What makes suburbs attractive?
Suburban houses offer: a detached dwelling with private land, space to park cars, opportunity for home ownership, privacy, a daily retreat, better schools, protection, less traffic, and more. As incomes rose in the 20th, more families were able to afford to buy suburban homes. By 1960, 1/3 of all Americans lived in suburbs (1/3 in cities), and 1/2 in 2000 (1/3 in cities).
What is a problem regarding the many fragmented local governments in the US (that exist due to the difficulty in annexing suburban jurusdictions)?
In 2012, the US had 90,000 local gov’ts (including counties, townships, school districts, and special districts, which are organized to provide fire protection, water, libraries, and public transportation) IL has the largest number of local gov’ts. Larger metropolitan areas have thousands of local gov’ts, and people want a single metropolitan gov’t instead. US gov’t fragmentation makes it difficult to solve regional problems (traffic, construction, waste, etc.)
Most US metropolitan areas have a council of governments. What are 2 kinds of strong metropolitan-wide governments in North America?
- Consolidations of city and county governments: Ex. Indianapolis (whose boundaries were changed to match those of Marion County, ID, and now county and city operations are joined), Miami (combined with Dade county in some services, but city boundaries haven’t been changed).
- Federations: Toronto or other large Canadian cities. Toronto’s gov’t is a federation of 13 municipalities (1954), and it was a 2-tier system of government until they all became a single municipality in 1998.
What 2 main costs does sprawl incur?
- Local authorities must spend more money extending roads and utilities to connect developments not contiguous to existing built-up areas.
- More agricultural land is lost through construction of isolated housing developments and more energy is expended (longer trips to work).
What 2 changes have affected the density gradient recently and reduces the extremes of density between inner and outer areas?
- Fewer people living in the center (so gradient has a gap in the center)
- Fewer differences in density within urban areas. The # of people living on a hectare of land has decreased in central areas thru abandonment of old housing but has increased in the periphery through construction of new apartment projects and diffusion of suburbs across a large area.
Contrast the supply of land between US and UK Suburbs:
In Europe, the supply of land for building new houses is more severely restricted than in the US, because officials designate areas of mandatory open space. Several British cities are surrounded by these greenbelts, and new housing is built either in older suburbs inside them or in planned extensions to towns beyond them. These restrictions on land drive up existing house prices.
Many suburbs display what 2 forms of segregation?
- Residential Segregation: Housing in a certain community is usually built for people of a single social class, with others excluded by cost, size, or location. Segregation by race and ethnicity can also persist in suburbs.
- Commercial Segregation: Residents are separated from commercial and manufacturing activities that are confined to compact, distinct areas.
How is the homogeniety in suburban communities legally protected?
Through zoning ordinances, or laws that limit the permitted uses of land and max density of development in a community. They identify districts designed only for single-family houses, apartments, etc. Low-income families may have trouble finding affordable housing if each house must sit on a large lot or apartments are prohibited. In some gated communities, visitors check in. People with low incomes and African Americans are less likely to live in US suburbs due to the high cost of the housing and unwelcoming attitudes (fear the property values will decline if the high status is altered).
What is geographic segmentation and how do marketing geographers identify sectors/rings/nodes that come closest to matching customers?
Companies use this info to locate/reach their customers and determine locations/advertising. Segmentation is the process of partitioning markets into groups of potential customers with similar needs/characteristics. 2 types of geographic information are combined: the distribution of social and economic characteristics from the census, and addresses of purchasers of various products.
Why and how are consumer & business services expanding in suburbs?
Consumer services because most of their customers live there. Since WWII ended, downtown sales have stagnated, but suburban sales have risen. Suburban retailing is concentrated in shopping malls, built by a developer. Suburban residents don’t want to travel to the CBD to buy necessities, and corner shops have been replaced by supermarkets in shopping malls (who have recently actually lost customers due to the rise of online consumer services like Amazon that have taken away mall traffic).
What are business services doing in suburban areas?
Offices that don’t require face-to-face contact are moving to suburbs (with lower rent). Executive can drive to their offices & park cars cheaply, and factories/warehouses have more space, cheaper land, and better truck access. For some lower-paid employees, suburban locations pose hardships. These employees may not own reliable cars, or not be able to get to their job, and some workers miss the stimulation of a big city.
John Borchert identified what 5 epochs of US urban areas resulting from changing transportation systems?
- The Sail-Wagon Epoch (1790-1830)
- The Iron Horse Epoch (1830-1870)
- The Steel Rail Epoch (1870-1920)
- The Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch (1920-1970)
- The Satellite-Electronic-Jet Propulsion (1970-today)
Cities have prospered or suffered during the various epochs, depending on their proximity to economically important resources & migration patterns. Cities also retain physical features from earlier eras that may be assets/liabilities.
The US has more registered motor vehicles than licensed drivers, and ownership is nearly universal in the US. Motor vehicles offer what 2 principal benefits?
- Comfort, choice, & flexibility: Motorists can live wherever and travel whenever. They aren’t constrained by the timetable of public transport. A motor vehicle offers comfortable seats, music, and isolation.
- Perceived cost: Cheaper than public transport (fare is higher than cost of fuel). Most of the costs associated with motor vehicles are paid on an annual basis, regardless of the amount of driving that is actually done.
What additional costs do motor vehicles incur?
Motor vehicles incur environmental costs, and are important land users in a city (1/4 of city land is taken up by roads and parking lots). European and Japanese cities have been especially disrupted by attempts to insert new roads/parking areas in or near the historical central areas. Traffic jams cause Americans to waste gas and time, and congestion costs $160 billion per year. Still, most people overlook these costs and prefer motor vehicles.
