Metacities, Megacities, and Urban Geography

• A metacity is a city with a population exceeding 20 million, guaranteeing it will be a world city with significant global influence and advancements.
• A megacity has a population exceeding 10 million and although it possess great influence, it may not serve as a model for other cities.

The Multiplier Effect

• For every basic job, 3-4 non-basic jobs are created to support it.
• This job creation results in increased housing, restaurants, and utility companies.

Range

• Range is the maximum distance a person will travel for a regular good or service.
• Specialized items, such as a CPU, have a different range than common goods.

Threshold

• Represents the minimum number of people required to sustain a business.
• The threshold may be 50 people due to product price or a lack of employees.
• It may also be 50,000 people due to the price of product and upkeep.

Rank-Size Rule

• Top cities in a country decrease in population following a specific trend.
• The second largest city has ½ the population of the largest, the third has ⅓, and so on.
• The rank-size rule is commonly found in core countries.

Urban Renewal

• The process of redeveloping rundown areas of a city into something greater.

Counter-Urbanization

• Counter-urbanization involves wealthy individuals moving from urban to rural areas.
• This is done to get away from people.

Suburbanization

• Suburbanization involves higher income people moving to wealthier areas.
• It does not involve any considerations about getting away from people.

Exurbs

• Low-density cities made up of suburban-style homes and neighborhoods with connections to the central city.
• Exurbs allow the wealthy to maintain connections to the city, while allowing them to separate themselves from the city.
• They create their own business districts separate from the central one.

Brownfields

• Areas of land contaminated by former industrial plants or parks, which impacts future use.

Gentrification Benefits

• Gentrification involves an increased presence of wealthy people in poorer areas with the goal of improving property value and overall quality of life.
• Modernization and increased land value are potential benefits.

Gentrification Issues

• Gentrification involves an increased presence of wealthy people in poorer areas with the goal of improving property value and overall quality of life.
• Potential problems include the "rich white savior" dynamic, where some people object to the changes and want to improve their situations independently.

Sunbelt

• The Sunbelt is the region of the U.S. from the Southeast to Southwest.
• Includes the area from Florida to California, and experienced the most immigration following the second urban revolution.

Bid-Rent Curve

• Land value decreases as distance from the CBD increases.
• Commercial land is very expensive near the CBD.
• Residential land is relatively inexpensive compared to commercial land.

Mixed-Use Development

• Attempts to use one piece of land for multiple purposes, like housing and businesses.
• It allows cities to use less space to accomplish the same goals.

New Urbanism

• Creates new mixed-use land with increased natural elements in transportation and the rest of the city.
• Uses a greenbelt to create defined green land, and allows a city to develop for the future.

Pre-Industrial Cities

• Clustered to show the city's size for military purposes.

Industrial Cities

• Characterized by an increase in industrial parks.
• These cities have a larger business and manufacturing base.
• A large number of poorer people move in and live in more clustered housing.

Post-Industrial Cities

• More spread-out cities with greenery to prepare for the future and incorporate carbon efficiency.

Primate City

• A city much larger than others in a country with significantly more access to resources.
• It has best hospitals, companies, resources, and opportunities.

World City

• A city that is large, advanced, and influential on the rest of the world.
• It may be a technological capital or have the largest global stock exchange.

Forward Thrust City

• A city strategically located in a country's center to increase development and spread it to surrounding cities.

Edge City

• Located near a central city as a branch of businesses seeking growth in a different area.

Basic Jobs

• Specialized jobs requiring college-level education or advanced job training.
• They deal with more valuable goods and services and are paid more.

Non-Basic Jobs

• More basic jobs that don't require high levels of education or specialization.
• They handle less advanced resources, are easily replicated, and are commonly minimum wage.

Economic Base Impact

• The economic base is the collection of non-basic and basic jobs within a city.
• Post-industrialization, the balance between basic and non-basic jobs has become uneven in favor of non-basic jobs.

Central Place Theory

• The central place is the area where the most goods and services can be obtained.
• It has the largest pull factor and tourist appeal.
• People will go to the closest comparable services, but the central place has a niche attracting people.

Borchert’s Model of Urban Evolution - Level 1

• Main mode of transportation is boat/waterway.
• 90% of major cities are port cities.

Borchert’s Model of Urban Evolution - Level 2

• Steam power and train influence cities.
• Steamboats allowed for faster travel between cities on the water.

Borchert’s Model of Urban Evolution - Level 3

• Post-industrial revolution, there was a high amount of large, industrial/manufacturing capitals.

Borchert’s Model of Urban Evolution - Level 4

• The development of the car and highways facilitated easier transportation.
• Shortened and personalized transportation increased carbon emissions, which prompted implementation of highways and interstates.
• There was also a shift of migration to the more southern and western United States.

Urban Growth Patterns

• Define how a city will look in the future, impacting its greenness, industrial base, and density.

Boomburbs

• Fast-growing suburban areas, often exurbs, with populations over 100,000.
• They are high-income, commuter-based areas that relieve pressure on the CBD and prevent urban sprawl.

Gravity Model

• Related to how far citizens will travel and which cities they will visit.
• Larger cities with specialized items have a further range than smaller cities.

Shock Cities

• Cities with rapid levels of change that can disrupt the culture and economic base.

U.S. Census Bureau and Census Tracts

• The Census Bureau measures demographics.
• Census tracts use this information for urban planning.

Annexation

• The forced leave of an area due to claiming by another country.

Industrial Revolution Significance

• It allowed for more rapid city growth with new styles of manufacturing and construction.

Prior to Urban Revolutions

• Families lived near each other for protection.
• Farming was accidental, without sustained agriculture.

First Urban Revolution

• Cities became larger with increased resources and continued growth.
• A class system emerged, with leaders having a superiority complex.

Second Urban Revolution

• After the Industrial Revolution, machinery became more widely available.
• There was a boom in city population and size, with connections to other large cities.

Sector Model (Hoyt Sector Model)

• Low-income areas are connected to industrial and transportation-oriented land.
• Middle-income residences are located in three separate parts of the model, either outside but connected to the CBD or sectioned off by transportation and industries.
• High-income residences are located in the CBD or edge city and have direct transportation, such as a highway, to the CBD.
• The wealthier parts of the community gravitate toward the edge of the city.

Multiple Nuclei Model

• No one wants to live near heavy industrial parks, as they are not aesthetically pleasing.
• Nodes bring people together, and all regions of the model have their own attraction to certain people.
• High class residential will be opposite to the industrial parks and low income residential areas.
• Nodes do not have a limit on their size or the number of them present in a model or city.

Concentric Rings Model (Burgess, Concentric Zone City Model)

• The first ring is the Central Business District, where most financial transactions are done.
• The second ring is the Zone of Transition, where the industrial centers and transportation hubs are.
• The third ring is the blue-collar residence, where those who do most of the hands-on labor live.
• The fourth ring is the middle-class residence, with larger and older homes.
• The fifth ring is the high-income commuter zone, where the rich live in the suburbs.

Southeast Asia Model (McGhee Model)

• The Port Zone is the primary economic base and main area of business.
• The Alien Commercial Zone is where Asian and core level countries have economic influence.
• The Market Gardening Zone is based on a long colonial history of agriculture.
• The new industrial estate was built on the outskirts as the city attempted to industrialize.
• Asian Tigers were Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Model (De Blij Model)

• Three levels to the CBD: the colonial CBD, bazaar/market zone, and traditional CBD.
• The impoverished outside ring is unregulated and disconnected.
• Roadways provide direct paths into and out of the CBD, especially to the colonial CBD.

Latin America Model (Griffin Ford Model)

• The Perifico is a commuter zone and dividing line with run-down homes.
• The Zone of Maturity is the upper middle class in old homes of the wealthy elite.
• Favelas are extreme poverty areas with little chance to succeed.
• Zone of In Situ Accretion is an area of incompleteness, has historically no urban planners, Supply chain issues, and few contract laws.
• Spines are roadways or walkways connecting the CBD to the rest of the city.
• The market caters to lower-income and the mall caters to high-income people.

Galactic Model (Harris’ Galactic City Model) (Peripheral Model)

• Beltways: Major highway systems that stretch around the city.
• Decentralization: Businesses are pulled out of the city center due to economic incentives.
• Secondary: Heavy manufacturing business owners are suggested to move to a new city.

European Model

• Most of the cities are small to mid-sized.
• Plazas are central open spaces for economic, public, and government functions.
• The landmarks that make up the skylines are the church and a government building.
• High population density downtown with old, generational buildings.
• Thin, walkable streets with access to essential businesses.
• Better and more available public transportation compared to the United States.

Urban Realms Model (Vance’s Urban Realms Model)

• New Growth: Businesses relocate outside of the CBD and build a new downtown.
• Edge Cities turn to Exurbs, businesses relocate first and then wealthier people follow.
• Central Place Theory guides the realms, with multiple CBDs creating a mixed market system.
• Unique outliers may not be within the central place, like waterparks or stadiums.