Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
many residents here are surprisingly optimistic about fi nd-
ing work and i
mproving their living conditions.
A structural element common among many South
American cities is the
disamenity sector
, the very poor-
est parts of cities that in extreme cases are not connected
to regular city services and are controlled by gangs and
drug lords. The disamenity sectors in South American cit-
ies contain relatively unchanging slums known as
barrios
or
favelas
. The worst of these poverty-stricken areas often
include large numbers of people who are so poor that they
are forced to live in the streets (Fig. 9.25). There is little in
the way of regular law enforcement within such commu-
nities, and drug lords often run the show—or battle with
other drug lords for dominance. Such conditions also pre-
vail in places beyond the ring highway or
periférico
, which
is now a feature of most South American cities.
Finally, the Griffi n-Ford model displays two smaller
sectors: an industrial park, refl ecting the ongoing concen-
tration of industrial activity in the city, and a gentrifi cation
zone, where historic buildings are preserved. Gentrifi cation
remains much less common in South American cities than
in North America, but it is an emerging phenomenon.
To what extent is the Griffi n-Ford model a realistic
portrayal of the South American city? The model refl ects
the enormous differences between the spaces of privilege
and the spaces of abject poverty within the South American
city. The model also describes elements of sector d
Figure 9.24
A New and Improved Model of the South American City
Structure.
This model includes both the zones created in
the original Griffi n-Ford model and the new Ford model of the
South American city.
Adapted with permission from:
L. Ford, “A New and
Improved Model of Latin American City Structure,”
The Geographical Review
86
(1996), p. 438.
evelop-
ment evident in many large South American cities, but the
concentricity suggested by the model seems to be breaking
down. Figure 9.24 incorporates both the original zones of
the Griffi n-Ford model and the updates Larry Ford added
in a 1996 a
rticle. Larry Ford's updated Griffi n-Ford model
adds a ring highway (
periférico
) around the outskirts of the
city, divides the downtown business district into a CBD
and a market, adds a mall near the elite space, and leaves
space for su
elite spine sector lies an incipient edge city shown as “mall”
on the model and fl anked by high-priced residences. This
refl ects the emergence of suburban nodes from the North
American model in South America's cities.
In the Griffi n-Ford model, the remaining concentric
zones are home to less well-off residents, who compose the
great majority of the urban population. Socioeconomic
levels and housing quality decrease mar
burban industrial parks.
The African City
At the beginning of this century, Subsaharan Africa
included countries with some of the world's lowest lev-
els of urbanization. In the tropical region of Africa, the
majority of the people are farmers, and most countries in
the tropics remain under 40 percent urbanized. Outside the
tropics, the region is about 57 percent urban. Despite the
region's lower levels of overall urbanization than much of
the rest of the world, Africa now has the world's fastest
growing cities, followed by those in South Asia and main-
land East Asia and South and Middle America. In contrast,
the cities of North America, southern South America, and
Australia are growing more slowly, and those of western
Europe are barely growing at all.
The imprint of European colonialism can still be seen
in many African cities. During colonialism, Europeans
kedly with greater
distance from the city center (Fig. 9.24). The zone of matu-
rity in the inner city contains the best housing outside the
spine sector, attracting the middle classes, who invest suffi -
ciently to keep their solidly built but aging dwellings from
deteriorating. The adjacent zone is one of much more
modest housing. Interspersed with the more modest areas
are densely populated unkempt areas, which represent a
transition from inner-ring affl uence to outer-ring poverty.
The outermost zone of peripheral squatter settlements is
home to the impoverished and recent migrants who live in
shantytowns.
Shantytowns
are unplanned developments
of crude dwellings and shelters made mostly of scrap
wood, iron, and pieces of cardboard that develop around
cities. Although the ring of peripheral squatter settlements
consists mainly of teeming, high-density shantytowns,
