Human Geography (GEOG 1101)
Chapter 12: City Spaces: Urban Structure
Spatial Patterns in North American Cities
● Central Business District (CBD) (Los Angeles, Athens): city center that has
historically been the hub for commercial land uses and local/state government
institutions such as industries and corporate headquarters, city halls, libraries,
museums.
=> Usually the most dense areas of town and typically have important transportation nodes
(highways, trains)
=> Be surrounded by mixed land uses like different types of residential areas, apartments vs
single family homes, heavier industries, commercial services (hair salon, pet stores)
, ● Suburbs are mostly residential areas that have grown up outside of the CBD
and their own political jurisdictions (have their own local governments), not
part of the main city around which they grow
What do you want to live next to when you buy your first
house? (spatial arrangement of cities)
● What do you need to accomplish this?
Urban Land Use and Spatial Organization
● Certain patterns and processes have produced the city we recognize today
● Accessibility is a key function of urban organization, driving patterns of land use and
land value
+ Different land uses vary based on their proximity or accessibility to the city center. Different
parts of the city have different land values that correspond to socially produced utility of that
place based on its lad use
5 Models of Urban Forms
● What drives the organization of cities?
● Who lives where and why?
● What land uses are where and why?
● How has this changed through time?
=> The models build on each other through time (layered on each other in cities)
=> Not every city has every feature of all of these models but some do
Model 1: The ecological model of urban land use
Chapter 12: City Spaces: Urban Structure
Spatial Patterns in North American Cities
● Central Business District (CBD) (Los Angeles, Athens): city center that has
historically been the hub for commercial land uses and local/state government
institutions such as industries and corporate headquarters, city halls, libraries,
museums.
=> Usually the most dense areas of town and typically have important transportation nodes
(highways, trains)
=> Be surrounded by mixed land uses like different types of residential areas, apartments vs
single family homes, heavier industries, commercial services (hair salon, pet stores)
, ● Suburbs are mostly residential areas that have grown up outside of the CBD
and their own political jurisdictions (have their own local governments), not
part of the main city around which they grow
What do you want to live next to when you buy your first
house? (spatial arrangement of cities)
● What do you need to accomplish this?
Urban Land Use and Spatial Organization
● Certain patterns and processes have produced the city we recognize today
● Accessibility is a key function of urban organization, driving patterns of land use and
land value
+ Different land uses vary based on their proximity or accessibility to the city center. Different
parts of the city have different land values that correspond to socially produced utility of that
place based on its lad use
5 Models of Urban Forms
● What drives the organization of cities?
● Who lives where and why?
● What land uses are where and why?
● How has this changed through time?
=> The models build on each other through time (layered on each other in cities)
=> Not every city has every feature of all of these models but some do
Model 1: The ecological model of urban land use
