Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
not anticipated by his models and theories (including the
Internet and the interstate system) make them less rel-
evant today.
Geographer Larry Ford stresses that central place
notions still have a role in explaining current develop-
ments. Take, for example, the
Sun Belt phenomenon
of the past four decades—the movement of millions of
Americans from northern and northeastern States to the
South and Southwest. This is not just an internal, volun-
tary migration made possible by social security funds and
retirement plans; it also results from deliberate govern-
mental economic and social polices that favor “Sun Belt”
cities through federal spending on military, space, and
research facilities. And even as Northerners moved south-
ward, millions of Middle and South American migrants
moved northward—into the same urban centers already
growing for domestic reasons.
The overall effect of all this movement was to create
a changed urban hierarchy in the Sun Belt region. Central
place theory would predict that some existing cities would
respond by increasing their production of higher-order
(technological) goods and services, increasing their eco-
nomic reach and bypassing others. And this is what hap-
pened: Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix became headquarters
cities for large regions, moving up in the urban hierarchy.
Charlotte, Tampa, San Antonio, and Tucson also rose, but
took secondary status. Other centers participated less in
the new spatial economy and remained where they were
in the urban hierarchy.
As Ford emphasized, central place theory can still
add “analytical power to the understanding of patterns
of urban growth, even in this era of fast and long-distance
transportation, suburbanization, and multiple urban
functions.”
regions of the world also have their own, distinct char-
acteristics. Mumbai, India, looks vastly different from
Chicago, Illinois. Tokyo, Japan, is distinct from Lagos,
Nigeria. Cities in South America tend to be graced by
often magnifi cent plazas not common in Australia or
Russia.
One way to conceptualize the layout of cities is
through models that illustrate the structures of cities.
Since the 1920s, urban geographers have studied, charted,
and mapped cities to create models that describe the
urban morphology, functional zonation, and overall lay-
out of cities in world regions.
City models reveal how cities are purposefully struc-
tured to perform the roles they have as centers of com-
merce, education, transportation, industry, and gover-
nance. The form of cities also refl ects the historic, spatial,
economic, cultural, and political processes that shaped
cities in each world region.
In this section of the chapter, we discuss a number
of models that urban geographers have drawn for cities.
In the next section, we discuss the people and institutions
that organize and shape cities.
Models of the City
Each model of the city, regardless of the region, is a study
in
functional zonation
—the division of the city into
certain regions (zones) for certain purposes (functions).
Every city in the world is an assemblage of functional
zones, orderly designed in some places and jumbled chaos
in others. Zones of the city exist and play certain roles in
the city's life, whether to house residents, produce goods,
educate students, or accommodate government. Each
zone or region is part of the larger city.
Globalization has created common cultural land-
scapes in the fi nancial districts of many world cities.
Until little more than 30 years ago, Shanghai, China, was
a vast, low-rise Chinese city centered on a colonial-era
riverfront with British and French architectural imprints
that had endured for more than a century. Today, you
might mistake the fi nancial districts in downtown
Shanghai for New York City with its forest of skyscrap-
ers housing international corporations, banks, hotels,
and hundreds of thousands of apartment dwellers. You
will also see the names of the same corporations and
hotels on high-rise buildings in central Mumbai (India),
Bangkok (Thailand), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and
Singapore.
With globalization refl ected in cultural landscapes
around the world, are regional models of cities no lon-
ger useful? Quite the opposite: they help us understand
the processes that forged cities in the fi rst place and
understand the impact of modern linkages and infl uences
now changing cities. In Shanghai, China, for example,
Sketch a map of your city or town and the cities or towns
nearby. Make a list of the kinds of goods and services avail-
able in each of these towns. Do the ideas about central
places presented in this section of the chapter apply to
your region?
HOW ARE CITIES ORGANIZED,
AND HOW DO THEY FUNCTION?
We all know that cities have certain features in
common, and we use geographic terms to identify these
features including downtowns, suburbs, industrial dis-
tricts, and shopping malls. Cities in various geographic
