Urban Models Modeling the North American City • Concentric zone model (Ernest Burgess) • Sector model (Homer Hoyt) • Multiple Nuclei Model (Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman) Classic Models of Urban Structure
• Ernest Burgess-1925 Concentric Zone Model based on studies of Chicago. • CBD-financial, retail, theater, museums etc. • Transition to residential with deterioration-some light industry • Blue collar labor housing • Middle class residential • Suburban ring Classic Models of Urban Structure • Homer Hoyt-1939 Sector Model based on studies of 142 US cities. • Pie-shaped wedges created by Hoyt compensated for the drawbacks of the Ring Model • Low Rent areas & High Rent areas could extend to the outer edge • Transportation and industrial zones accounted for the sectors • Multiple Nuclei Model • Chauncy Harris & Edward Ullman (1945); neither of two models are accurate • CBD was losing its dominant position as the nucleus of the urban area • Separate nuclei become specialized and differentiated, not located in relation to any distance attribute Post WWII-rapid expansion of cities and suburbs led to Edge Cities with their own CBD such as Tyson’s Corner VA outside of Washington D.C. DALLAS
Highland Park
Rail lines
Major roads with industrial zones highlighted FORT WORTH
Major roads with industrial zones highlighted
Bus Lines Christaller’s Hierarchy of Settlements & Service Areas Not all urban areas fit Christaller’s model. These are often referred to as twinned or paired cities.
Ft. Worth and Dallas
30 miles The arrows show Minneapolis the route of the Mississippi River. and St. Paul
14 miles San Francisco and Oakland
12 miles Seattle and Tacoma
34 miles Tampa and St. Petersburg
22 miles