Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes Chapter 15: Topic 6.4 Flashcards
An interdependent set of cities that interact on the regional, national and global scale.
Urban systems
Describes one way in which the sizes of cities within a region may develop. It states that the n^th largest city in any region will be 1/n the size of the largest city. The rank of a city within an urban system will predict the size of the city. Ex: 3rd largest city that exhibits this distribution would be approximately 1/3 the size of the largest city.
Rank-size Rule
Usually expensive, need a larger number of people to support, and are only occasionally utilized. Ex: major sports teams, large malls, luxury car dealerships, and large specialized research hospitals.
High-order services
Usually less expensive, require a small population to support, and are used on a daily or weekly basis. Ex: gas stations, local grocery stores, small restaurants.
Low-order services
If the largest city in an urban system is more than twice as large as the next largest city, the largest city is said to have primacy. This city is more developed than other cities in the system, and consequently, disproportionately more powerful. These cities are the social, political, and economic hub for the system and offer a wider range of services than do the many smaller cities. Medium sized cities are often not present. Countries that follow a unitary form of government, or extremely strong central government, often follow a primate city model.
Primate cities
States that have larger and closer places will have more interactions than places that are smaller and farther from each other. Can be used to predict the flow of workers, shoppers, vacationers, migrants, information, mail, products, economic activity, and nearly any other flow between cities There are numerous flows to bigger cities and between nearer cities. Assumptions: locations with no barriers. Limitations: not accounting for how political borders, physical walls or rivers, or cultural language barriers influence interactions between cities. Ex: Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada are tourist destinations that attract visitors despite of their size and distance. Jerusalem and Mecca and Washington DC are also exceptions to the model.
Gravity Model
Proposed in 1933 by Walter Christaller, German geographer, it explains the distribution of cities of different sizes across a region. It uses consumer behavior related to purchasing goods and services to explain the distribution of settlements.
Central Place Theory (CPT)
A location where people go to receive goods and services. It might be a tiny community such as Hamlet. Or it might be a slightly larger village, town, to small city with more stores and services. It could also be a major city, where one can get lower and higher order services such as direct air flights to other major cities or watch a touring Broadway musical.
Central Place
Zones that contain people who will purchase goods or services, these surround each central place. Higher-order services = larger ______, lower-order services = smaller _____
Market Area
The way Christaller chose to depict these market areas. This depiction is a compromise between a square in which people living in the corners would be farther from the central place and a circle, in which there would be overlapping areas of service. This allowed for central places of different sizes to distribute themselves in a clean pattern across a region.
Hinterland
The size of population necessary for any particular service to exist and remain profitable. Services with low ____, such as convenience stores or a gas station, are present even in very small central places. Restaurants, hospitals, high schools, and department stores have higher _____, so they require a larger population within the market area to survive economically.
Treshold
The distance people will travel to obtain specific goods or services. People will travel very far for higher-order services such as wedding rings and heart transplants, but they are less likely to travel very far for basic services such as fast food or toothpaste. This explains why fast-food restaurants can be found in nearly any town but a shop dealing in diamond jewelry would be found only in larger cities.
Range
Assumes a flat, featureless plain. Does not take into account the effects of natural landscapes of rivers, mountains, or other barriers on the distribution of cities. It also does not consider the influence of transportation systems (rail, road, water, air) and how the availability of those types of transportation can expand the market area.
Limitations of CPT
More people will relocate out of central cities into enclaves inspired by new urbanist designs. These “urban burbs” offer walkable streets, local markets, public transit, less-expensive accommodations than central business districts. Self-driving cars and other new technology could reduce the friction of distance. Edge cities and exurbs will expand. Immigration will continue, making the population more diverse. Voluntary segregation will continue, and the number of ethnic neighborhoods will flourish.
Expected changes in US cities
Megacities in less-developed countries of Asia and Africa will likely get larger. Opportunities these cities offer will continue to pull migration from rural areas. If growth exceeds the carrying capacity, the standard of living will deteriorate. The dense concentration of peop/*le will increase impacts of epidemics, natural disasters, environmental changes, immense pollution, criminal networks, terrorist activity, and civil unrest. Without dramatic economic and political changes, problems such as unhealthy air and a lack of access to safe drinking water will worsen.
Expected changes in Asia and Africa
