2 - Urban Theories Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is urban theory?
(Harding and Blokland, 2014) - ‘A body of ideas explaining one or more aspects of reality within, or of, towns and cities’
What are the two main theories/schools of thought around urban geography?
Whether the urban is a physical space or a social/economic/cultural/spatial process
Define the Global North.
(UNCTAD, 2025) - The Global North is constitued of countries with developed economies: North America, Europe, Israel, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand
Name some examples of urban theories based around the urban area as a physical space.
Chicago School of Urban Sociology - Burgess(1925) - concentric rings model
Megalopalis - Gottman(1961) - originally a study of the Northeast Megalopalis but has become a representation of other similar regions
Name and explain an early example of urban theory.
Booth(1889-99) - London Poverty Maps
Mapped where various classes of people were located, from lowest class to upper and middle class
Explain the Burgess model.
Burgess(1925) believed that the urban area was made up of five concentric rings: CBD, zone of transition(mixed residential & commercial use), working class residential zone(innter city), middle class residential zone(outer suburbs), commuter zone(outskirts of outer suburbs)
Explain the bid rent theory.
(Alonso, 1964)
Refers to how the price and demand for real estate changes as distance from the CBD increases
Commerce willing to pay greatest rent to be located in inner core - most accessible location for large population
Industry willing to pay to be in outer core - more land available for factories, but benefits of inner core still available
Householders purchase land further out due to reducing transport link & decreasing marketplace dissuading industry/commerce and cheaper land prices
What city was the Burgess model based on?
Chicago
What are some limitations of the Burgess model?
Does not especially reflect Global North cities now post deindustrialisation
Also, assumes that there is no overlap between zones e.g. no residential housing in CBD or no commerce on outskirts of city
Banlieues in France reflect inaccuracy of this model - Wacquant(2007) details how they are areas of low income housing located on outskirts of French cities
What factors did Gottman note were important to the reshaping of land use through the Northeast?
Gottman(1961) - Less land used for agriculture, more forestry covering formerly agricultural lands to satisfy recreational needs, concept of ‘neighbourhood’ diminishing as transportation became more developed
Name some examples of theories based on the urban area as a process.
The Global City(Sassen, 2005) & the Ordinary City(Robinson, 2006)
Explain the idea of the ordinary city.
(Robinson, 2006) - Establishes idea that all cities are ordinary, rather than dividing into Global North & South, and that they all have their own levels of complexity, diversity & dynamism
Avoids hierarchical categories, making it more adaptable than other theories
Name and detail an example of an ‘ordinary city’.
Zambian copperbelt mining town of Ndola - dynamics significantly influenced by two factors in particular - attachement to rural homelands & histories of both racist capitalist exploitation and colonialism
Colonial nature of gov = strict taxation reqs = technically forcing people to migrate to urban area for work
Distinct sense of community as described by Epstein(1969) despite tribal backgrounds as urban areas led to diverse populations - resulted in improvement of relationships between tribes
Explain the idea of a ‘global city’.
(Sassen, 2005)
The idea of a global city is rooted in the effects of globalisation in an urban area
The presence of TNCs that outsource much of their operations to specialised service firms
Growing importance of services = growing socioeconomic inequality as firms that operate outside of this industry face reduced profits and diminished importance
Critique the idea of the ‘global city’.
(Sassen, 2005) - Mainly still only applicable to Global North or most developed of Global South cities, however, process-led theory allows for more Global South cities to be applicable to this model in future
