Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Urban residents generally live in one of two areas: multiple housing buildings that fringe the
CBD or detached, single-family residences of outer-city areas. The following sections discuss
some of the areas that crop up when people choose to live in and around cities.
Rich folks-poor folks, suburbs-inner city
As a general rule (which has numerous exceptions) people of low-to-modest incomes tend to live in
inner-city high-density neighborhoods while the more affluent reside in the suburbs. This geograph-
ic pattern is not as old as the cities themselves, but instead evolved over time. Specifically, an old
high- density residential area usually adjoins a city's CBD. Most often the buildings date from pre-
automobile times, when the need to be close to work encouraged dense settlement. As affluence rose
and transportation improved, the middle- and upper-income people (largely white) tended to move to
outlying areas, while low-income people (largely minority) moved into the newly vacant residential
spaces. As the number of inner-city poor people rose, landlord incentive to spend money to maintain
and improve their housing declined. Slums were the virtually inevitable result despite occupying land
little more than a stone's throw from high-value CBD real estate.
Other factors have subsequently served to place suburban real estate beyond the reach of the inner-
city less-well-off. These include local (suburban) decision-making not to build public or low-cost
housing, and passage of ordinances that mandate large minimum lot sizes or house sizes. Also, lack
of efficient (or any) public transportation in suburban areas decreases the likelihood that the poor will
move in.
As a result, cities and suburbs generally end up being inhabited by people of different race and social
class. These people tend to have different needs, different attitudes toward social services, different
views on the role of government, different perspectives on taxation, and different priorities about how
tax money should be spent. Political tension between inner city and suburban residents is an almost
inevitable side effect. This sometimes results in one political party being “the party of the city” and
another being “the party of the suburb.”
Ethnic neighborhoods
An
ethnic neighborhood
is a residential area in which people of common origin voluntarily live in
close proximity to each other. (This is in contrast to a
ghetto,
in which the choice of residential loc-
