URBAN AND URBANIZATION:

THEORY AND CONCEPT

Prepared by: Dr. Zaharah Mohd Yusoff

Introduction
What is urban? How do we know it when we see it?

Urban is a place-based characteristic that incorporates

elements of population density, social and economic
organization and the transformation of the natural
environment into a built environment (J.R Weeks,2008).
Urban is a fairly complex concept. It is function of (1) sheer
population size, (2) space (land area), (3) ratio of population
to space (density or concentration) and (4) economic and
social organization.

According to Michael Paccione (2001) Urban Area can be explain

as:
Quantitative: numeric definition
ex. The US Bureau of the Census defines urban areas as those
in which the human population reaches or exceeds densities
of 186 people/km2
Qualitative : based on flows and influences
Urban ecosystems comprise suburban and hinterland areas
linked by corridors (transportation, utilities) or affected by the
urban core

Urban Morphology
The Concentric Zone model is a model of the
internal structure of cities in which social
groups are spatially arranged in a series of
rings. The Concentric Zone model was the first
to explain the distribution of different social
groups within urban areas. It was originally
based off Chicago (although the model does
not apply well to Chicago today). The model
was created in 1923 by E.W. Burgess, Robert
Park, and Roderick McKenzie. The idea behind
this model is that the city grows outward from
a central area in a series of rings.
This model suggests that the social structure extends outwards from the central
business district, meaning that the lower classes live closer to the city center, while the
upper classes live farther from the city center because they can afford the commute. The
rent tends to increase as you get further away from the CBD and residents are more
likely to rent near the center. However, this model has its weaknesses. It does not take
into account any physical barriers and it does not take into account gentrification- which
may occur in these cities.

The Hoyt model has land use

concentrated in wedges or sectors
radiating out from the city centre.
For example, factories may be
concentrated along a river, canal or
road to form a zone of industry. This
would attract low-class housing, but
repel high-class residential land use.
The urban area expanded outwards from the original site which is where the city
centre is found today. Rents and rates in the CBD became too expensive for
people. In the suburbs there was more land and it was cheaper. Only businesses
could afford to stay in the CBD, but even they needed to make the most of
expensive land by building upwards.
One part of the urban area may have all the advantages for industrial location so
that a lot of factories want to locate there; but few people want to live next door
to a factory, so the residential areas are located elsewhere. Planners also prefer
this segregation of land uses into definite zones.

Multiple Nuclei Model 1945, by Harris and Ullman

that many cities did not fit the traditional
concentric zone or sector model. Cities of greater
size were developing substantial suburban areas
and some suburbs, having reached significant size,
were functioning like smaller business districts.
These smaller business districts acted as satellite
nodes, or nuclei, of activity around which land use
patterns formed. While Harris and Ullman still saw
the CBD as the major center of commerce, they
suggested that specialized cells of activity would
develop according to specific requirements of
certain activities, different rent-paying abilities,
and the tendency for some kinds of economic activity to cluster together. At
the center of their model is the CBD, with light manufacturing and wholesaling
located along transport routes. Heavy industry was thought to locate near the
outer edge of city, perhaps surrounded by lower-income households, and
suburbs of commuters and smaller service centers would occupy the urban
periphery

In the broadest sense, urban ecosystems comprise

suburban areas, exurbs, sparsely settled villages
connected by commuting corridors or by utilities, and
hinterlands directly managed or affected by the energy
and material from the urban core and suburban lands.
In approaching the concept of urban, it is useful to draw
a distinction between the question of what is an urban
place and what is urban. Michael Pacione (2001)
described:

1. Urban as a physical entity

2. Urban as a quality

Urban as a physical entity

Four principal methods are employed to identify urban places:

Population Size
Since urban places are generally larger than rural places, at some
point along the population size scale it should be possible to
decide when a village becomes a town. In practise, this urban
population threshold varies over time and space.
In the USA the population minimum for urban status is 2,500; in
Switzerland it is 10,000, Japan 30,000. While in Sweden, any
settlement with more than 200 inhabitants is classed as urban in
the national census.

 Economic base
In some countries population size is combined with other
diagnostic criteria to define an urban place. In India, for example,
a settlement must have more than 75% of the adult male
population engaged in non-agricultural work to be classified as
urban.
Administrative criteria
The majority of towns and cities in the world are defined
according to legal or administrative criteria. The definition of
urban places by national governments leads to great diversity
which creates difficulties for

comparative research that can be overcome only by urban

analysts constructing their own definitions and applying them
uniformly across the globe.
A second problem with the administrative definitions is that
these may have little correspondence with the actual physical
extent of the urban area. A frequent problem is under-bounding,
where the built-up area of the city extends beyond the urban
administrative boundary.

 Functional definitions
To address problems such as under-bounding, urban
researchers devised functional urban regions which reflect the
real extent of urban influence. The concept of the extended
urban area was first introduced by the US Bureau of Census in
1910.
Urban as a quality
The concept of the urban as a quality is related more to the
meaning of urban places and the effect of the urban milieu
on peoples lifestyle (vice versa)

 Understanding these subjective interpretations of

the urban is important because meanings inform us
not only about the places to which they refer but
also about the people who articulate them and the
social context in which they live.
Urban geographers and others have sought to
identify urban meaning through two main
approaches:

Cognitive mapping
Urbanism is a way of life.

Cognitive mapping:
Geographers,
planners
and
environmental
psychologists have employed mental maps or
cognitive mapping techniques to explore the
subjective world of urban places, with a view to
both obtaining a better understanding of human
behaviour in urban environment and improving the
quality of life.
Urbanism is a way of life
Identification of urban places in terms of distinctive
lifestyle were based on Wirths concept of urbanrural continuum. The process leading to the erosion
of the moral order of society due to the concomitant decline of community.

The Causes of Urban Growth

The increasing levels of urbanisation and urban
growth identified are the result of a combination of
natural increase of the urban population and net inmigration to urban areas.

The key role that cities play in dynamic and

competitive economies and the relationship between
the scale of a national economy and the level of
urbanisation is illustrated by the fact that most of the
worlds largest cities are in the worlds largest
economies.

Gradients show a range of urban effect and existence of thresholds

Slightly less than half of the worlds population now resides in cities,
but this is projected to rise to nearly 60% in the next 30 years
(United Nations 1993)
The developed nations have more urbanized populations;
for example, close to 80% of the US population is urban.

The resulting new forms of urban development, including housing

interspersed in forest, shrub land, and desert habits,
bring people expressing urban habits, and drawing upon urban
experiences, into daily contact with habitats formerly controlled by
agriculturalists, foresters, and conservationist (Bradley,1995).

The push and pull factors of migration activities

The migration activities do give impact to the

expansion of urban boundary to become a large
scale city:

Demographic changes are among the most direct

influences on urbanisation and urban change.

By 2007 or 2008, half of

the worlds population will
live in urban areas

Urbanization is increasing rapidly

Especially in developing countries
Worlds 10 largest cities are in developing countries

Urban Zoning

By drawing a transect of a city, you can quite easily identify the different zones, in much
the same way as Burgess and the other theorists did. Transects help you to identify and
classify zones, enabling you to compare the characteristics of each area. You can identify
the CBD, the older terraced housing, and as you move further from the city centre the
newer housing of the suburbs. The main zones to concentrate on are:
The CBD: The focal point of the city, with the highest land prices. The CBD is where
shops will locate as they know it is the most accessible point for the people of the city.
The high land prices mean that buildings tend to grow upwards, and this is why CBD's
often have tall skyscrapers, particularly in American cities. The main functions of the
CBD will include retail, entertainment, financial services and other professional services.

The Inner City: This is Burgess's zone of transition.

The inner city in the 19th Century would have been the centre of industry
for most cities. Low paid workers would have lived in the many rows of
terraced houses that were built beside the factories. Nowadays, although
the factories have gone, many of the terraced houses remain. The Inner city
of many urban areas has undergone great changes.
However once the industry moved out, the inner cities became areas in
need of redevelopment. The first plan was to build tall blocks of flats to
replace the terraces. This occurred in the 1960's and 1970's. During the
1990's Inner City redevelopment has taken the form of gentrification
schemes aimed at rejuvenating the area, producing more of a community
spirit, whilst trying to keep some of the old architecture.

The Suburbs: Many suburban houses were built in the period between the
two World Wars, during the first half of the 20th century. Estates full of
detached and semi-detached houses grew rapidly as public and private
transport improvements allowed people to live further away from their
place of work. During the 1960's and 1970's these areas also continued to
grow.
The Rural-Urban Fringe: The rural-urban fringe is where most of the post
war housing has been built. Usually in estates of mainly detached and semidetached houses, the emphasis has often been on making the houses as
spacious as possible. Again these housing developments were only possible
thanks to the fact that most families now own at least one car.

In-class discussion

Cities would not have appeared if the collective effect

of land use decisions were not beneficial. The effects of
land use decisions can either be positive or negative in
that they impose benefits or disbenefits on other land
uses.
Prepare a list of positive and negative externality
effects to urban development and relate these to event
in a city of your choice.