Ak samenvatting
§1
A city has four characteristics:
a certain number of inhabitants, which differs per country;
densely built in comparison with the surrounding area;
a working population that works almost exclusively in the secondary and tertiary
sector;
a large number of facilities (shops, work, education, administration) for the area
around the city.
-A megacity has more than ten million inhabitants.
-A metropolis has many inhabitants and is, for a large part of the world, an important
centre in the area of economy, culture and politics
-The capital city is usually the most important city in a country
§2
An urban network: a group of cities linked in many ways within a country.
Primate city: a city that’s based on the number of inhabitants and its functions
Cities are not just randomly located. Three factors play a role:
1. Characteristics of the area in which a city is located. That is to say, its absolute location.
Cities often lie in flat, fertile areas; at junctions of trade routes, along rivers, on the coast or
at the location of raw materials. Just look at Paris: it lies on the Seine river, in a fertile, flat
area.
2. Characteristics of the location of a place relative to other places. That is the relative location.
Paris is conveniently located in the middle of the country and with excellent connections to
other cities.
3. Its past. In the (semi) periphery there are noticeably many cities along the coast. During
colonial times they formed the link of the colony to its western motherland. A city like Accra
in Ghana grew mainly as an export port of tropical hardwood and cocoa to England. Later,
the local population moved mainly to these conveniently located cities, so that some of
them evolved into megacities.
In rich countries you see that the urbanization degree is very high, and the urbanization rate is very
low that is because, in rich countries everyone already lives in the cities and not much people move
to the cities. But in poor countries it’s the opposite because everyone is now going to the cities and
not many people live in the cities.
- Urbanization degree: number of people that live in a city
- Urbanization rate: The annual growth in percentages,
- Urbanization: people that move from the countryside to the city
- Settlement surplus: The positive difference between the number of people coming and
leaving, so more people come then go. (that’s the reason why cities grow so fast)
§3
- The American city. When you drive to the centre of an American city, the environment
changes. Far outside the city there are already spacious residential areas with low-rise
buildings: the suburbs. People with higher incomes live here. You drive past a gigantic
shopping mall. Close to the centre you pass older residential areas with a much higher
§1
A city has four characteristics:
a certain number of inhabitants, which differs per country;
densely built in comparison with the surrounding area;
a working population that works almost exclusively in the secondary and tertiary
sector;
a large number of facilities (shops, work, education, administration) for the area
around the city.
-A megacity has more than ten million inhabitants.
-A metropolis has many inhabitants and is, for a large part of the world, an important
centre in the area of economy, culture and politics
-The capital city is usually the most important city in a country
§2
An urban network: a group of cities linked in many ways within a country.
Primate city: a city that’s based on the number of inhabitants and its functions
Cities are not just randomly located. Three factors play a role:
1. Characteristics of the area in which a city is located. That is to say, its absolute location.
Cities often lie in flat, fertile areas; at junctions of trade routes, along rivers, on the coast or
at the location of raw materials. Just look at Paris: it lies on the Seine river, in a fertile, flat
area.
2. Characteristics of the location of a place relative to other places. That is the relative location.
Paris is conveniently located in the middle of the country and with excellent connections to
other cities.
3. Its past. In the (semi) periphery there are noticeably many cities along the coast. During
colonial times they formed the link of the colony to its western motherland. A city like Accra
in Ghana grew mainly as an export port of tropical hardwood and cocoa to England. Later,
the local population moved mainly to these conveniently located cities, so that some of
them evolved into megacities.
In rich countries you see that the urbanization degree is very high, and the urbanization rate is very
low that is because, in rich countries everyone already lives in the cities and not much people move
to the cities. But in poor countries it’s the opposite because everyone is now going to the cities and
not many people live in the cities.
- Urbanization degree: number of people that live in a city
- Urbanization rate: The annual growth in percentages,
- Urbanization: people that move from the countryside to the city
- Settlement surplus: The positive difference between the number of people coming and
leaving, so more people come then go. (that’s the reason why cities grow so fast)
§3
- The American city. When you drive to the centre of an American city, the environment
changes. Far outside the city there are already spacious residential areas with low-rise
buildings: the suburbs. People with higher incomes live here. You drive past a gigantic
shopping mall. Close to the centre you pass older residential areas with a much higher
