Urban Forms: Flashcards
Contemporary characteristics of megacities:
- Environmental problems - including increased levels of pollution.
- High density living
- Urban sprawl
- Lots of transport.
Spatial patterns of land use, economic inequality, social segregation and cultural diversity in contrasting urban areas, and the factors that influence them.
Mumbai vs LA
Mumbai, situated on the west coast of the Maharastra.
Land use: skyscrapers dominate the CBD, high tech industries have moved in to take advantage of cheap labour.
Economic inequality: cities growth is unsustainable. low taxes do not provide the necessary money for investment into urban infrastructure for the poor.
Cultural diversity:
- Each day Mumbai welcomes about 1000 new migrants
LA:
Land use: low density housing.
Economic inequality: Downtown LA is dominated by a few TNCS that offer few employment opportunities. Formation of edge cities has led to LA being known as a donut city.
Cultural diversity:
- China town and mexican hispanics.
Physical and human factors in urban forms:
Physical factors:
- Topography, mountains make land harder to build on. Attract tourists.
- Water, presence of lakes or rivers may limit urban growth in specific areas. Shops may be on waterfront.
- Natural resources from mining, may encourage growth in size and population of cities.
Human factors:
- Planning, urban expansion can be planned or unplanned. e.g slums
- Infrastructure, new developments are often built near transport links leading to linear growth.
- Land value, highest land value is inner city.
Urban form definition:
The physical characteristics that make up a city including size, shape, pop density and land use patterns.
Urban characteristics in contrasting settings:
Modern cities:
Reason for urban form = similar activities and similar people group together, which led to homogenous areas with each area being dominated by a particular land use or social group.
Functional zones, dominant CBD and Industrial zone. e.g Chicago
Post-industrial cities:
Reasons for urban form = looser structure with many smaller zones.
Functional zones = Multi-nodal structure and a less dominant CBD e.g Tokyo
6 New urban landscapes:
town centre mixed developments,
cultural and heritage quarters,
fortress developments,
gentrified areas,
edge cities.
The concept of the post-modern western city.
Definition of town centre mixed developments:
These are areas where the land use is mixed, so residential, commercial and leisure uses are combined.
They may be safely and easily accessed by pedestrians.
Developments are planned by the local council and aim to attract people back into the city centres.
Cultural and heritage quarters:
- Areas which focus on the history or character of a city e.g Southamptons SeaCity museum.
- Such areas are home to art galleries and historical buildings.
- Attract tourists and visitors which boosts local economy.
Fortress developments:
- Developments with lots of security, tend to have CCTV or gated housing.
Mainly only rich people can afford them
Local scale e.g private road
Gentrified areas:
- When wealthier people move into rundown inner city areas due to regeneration.
- Poorer residents may be displaced, social segregation.
Edge cities:
- New office, shops and leisure centres which tend to develop near major transport links
Majority developed since 1950s and 60s as car ownership has increased.
example: Canary Wharf
The concept of Post modern western cities:
Cities moving away from uniformity in architecture, prioritise the aesthetics of the city rather than practical use.
Higher social and economic inequality.
Focus on tertiary and quaternary sectors.
e.g London with Gherkin and Cheesegrater.
