15.1 & 15.2 Origin and Influences of Urbanization
A. Defining Urbanism
➢ Urbanization: process of development of dense concentrations of people into
settlements
➢ Urban area: city and its surrounding suburbs
Urbanized Area
- Many cities located close together
- Physical city = continuous, central city, and many cities, towns, suburbs
- Metropolitan Area = large-scale, integrated economic whole
➢ Metropolis: large and densely populated city, particularly capital/major city of
country/region
Urban Hierarchy: smallest to largest
a. Hamlet - small cluster of farmers houses, basic services
b. Village - dozens of services, specialty stores, competition
c. Town + bank, post office, hospital, hinterland (market)
d. City > population, CBD, suburbs
e. Megalopolis - multiple cities grown together (e.g. Boston to Washington DC =
Bosnywash)
➢ Metropolitan area: city and surrounding areas influenced economically and culturally by
the city
➢ Suburbs: less densely populated residential and commercial areas surrounding a city
B. What Factors Influence Urbanization?
1. Site and Situation Factor
- Site: natural environment, transportation, trade routes
- Situation: connections with other cities (e.g. easy access to trading partners,
resources, etc)
- Transportation and Communication Networks
- Street cars -> live by city center
- Cars -> people move to suburbs
- Highways -> businesses can move
- Landlines -> more options
- Cell phones -> international
- 5G -> limitless?
a. Bochert’s Epochs of American Urbanization
1. First Stage: The Sail-Wagon Epoch (1790~1830)
2. Second Stage: The Iron Horse Epoch (1830~1870)
- Steam-driven
- Rail network connected cities and resources to industrial sites
3. Third Stage: The Steel Rail Epoch (1870~1920)
- Transportational railways
- Population and industry grew, thrived due to SITUATIONAL
factors
, 4. Fourth Stage: Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch (1920~Present)
- Railroad decline and cars allowed cities to spread out
- Air travel
2. Population Growth and Migration
➢ Rural-to-Urban Migration
- High educated workers in Silicon Valley -> higher rents and demands for
housing -> homelessness becomes issue
➢ Suburbanization: movement of people from urban to core areas surrounding
outskirts of a city
➢ Sprawl (urban sprawl): tendency of cities to grow outward in unchecked manner
- Usually unorganized (e.g. Elk Grove)
➢ Decentralize: in urban context, to move business operations from core city area
to outlying areas such as suburbs
- No need to live in walking distance
- E.g. Elk Grove getting Costco
➢ Edge Cities: a concentration of business, shopping and entertainment that
developed in the suburbs, outside of a city’s traditional downtown or CBD
- Distinctly American
- E.g. Washington DC
➢ Boomburb: suburb grown rapidly into large sprawling city with more than 100,000
residents; often made up of planned communities merging together
- E.g. Anaheim
➢ Exurb: a semi-rural district located beyond the suburbs that is often inhabited by
“well-to-do” (rich) families
- Often found near farmland, beaches, or mountains
- More spread out and less walkable
- Low-density, fast-growing community
➢ Revitalization: instilling new life into community by reusing/renovating buildings
and beautifying area through landscaping
➢ Redevelopment: converting existing property to more desirable use
➢ Infill: redevelopment identifying and developing vacant parcels of land within
previously built areas
Case Study - Re-Urbanizing Liverpool
Issue: Liverpool experienced several decades of decline until 1980s when urban renewal
advocates began concerted effort to turn tide
- 1930s: population peak at 870,000
- 1980s: <500,000
- Unemployment rate rose to 21.6% (1991) from 10.6% (1971)
- Renewal efforts:
A. Defining Urbanism
➢ Urbanization: process of development of dense concentrations of people into
settlements
➢ Urban area: city and its surrounding suburbs
Urbanized Area
- Many cities located close together
- Physical city = continuous, central city, and many cities, towns, suburbs
- Metropolitan Area = large-scale, integrated economic whole
➢ Metropolis: large and densely populated city, particularly capital/major city of
country/region
Urban Hierarchy: smallest to largest
a. Hamlet - small cluster of farmers houses, basic services
b. Village - dozens of services, specialty stores, competition
c. Town + bank, post office, hospital, hinterland (market)
d. City > population, CBD, suburbs
e. Megalopolis - multiple cities grown together (e.g. Boston to Washington DC =
Bosnywash)
➢ Metropolitan area: city and surrounding areas influenced economically and culturally by
the city
➢ Suburbs: less densely populated residential and commercial areas surrounding a city
B. What Factors Influence Urbanization?
1. Site and Situation Factor
- Site: natural environment, transportation, trade routes
- Situation: connections with other cities (e.g. easy access to trading partners,
resources, etc)
- Transportation and Communication Networks
- Street cars -> live by city center
- Cars -> people move to suburbs
- Highways -> businesses can move
- Landlines -> more options
- Cell phones -> international
- 5G -> limitless?
a. Bochert’s Epochs of American Urbanization
1. First Stage: The Sail-Wagon Epoch (1790~1830)
2. Second Stage: The Iron Horse Epoch (1830~1870)
- Steam-driven
- Rail network connected cities and resources to industrial sites
3. Third Stage: The Steel Rail Epoch (1870~1920)
- Transportational railways
- Population and industry grew, thrived due to SITUATIONAL
factors
, 4. Fourth Stage: Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch (1920~Present)
- Railroad decline and cars allowed cities to spread out
- Air travel
2. Population Growth and Migration
➢ Rural-to-Urban Migration
- High educated workers in Silicon Valley -> higher rents and demands for
housing -> homelessness becomes issue
➢ Suburbanization: movement of people from urban to core areas surrounding
outskirts of a city
➢ Sprawl (urban sprawl): tendency of cities to grow outward in unchecked manner
- Usually unorganized (e.g. Elk Grove)
➢ Decentralize: in urban context, to move business operations from core city area
to outlying areas such as suburbs
- No need to live in walking distance
- E.g. Elk Grove getting Costco
➢ Edge Cities: a concentration of business, shopping and entertainment that
developed in the suburbs, outside of a city’s traditional downtown or CBD
- Distinctly American
- E.g. Washington DC
➢ Boomburb: suburb grown rapidly into large sprawling city with more than 100,000
residents; often made up of planned communities merging together
- E.g. Anaheim
➢ Exurb: a semi-rural district located beyond the suburbs that is often inhabited by
“well-to-do” (rich) families
- Often found near farmland, beaches, or mountains
- More spread out and less walkable
- Low-density, fast-growing community
➢ Revitalization: instilling new life into community by reusing/renovating buildings
and beautifying area through landscaping
➢ Redevelopment: converting existing property to more desirable use
➢ Infill: redevelopment identifying and developing vacant parcels of land within
previously built areas
Case Study - Re-Urbanizing Liverpool
Issue: Liverpool experienced several decades of decline until 1980s when urban renewal
advocates began concerted effort to turn tide
- 1930s: population peak at 870,000
- 1980s: <500,000
- Unemployment rate rose to 21.6% (1991) from 10.6% (1971)
- Renewal efforts:
