Lesson 15.

1 - The Origin and Influence of Urbanization

1. Lesson 15.1 Summary

a. Many factors attract people to cities. Some are drawn by economic opportunities. Others come
for the excitement of life in the city. A city often serves as a region’s political, economic,
cultural, and educational center. Many cities are also cosmopolitan centers, home eto a variety
of ethnicities and vibrant cultures.
2. Learning Objectives
a. Explain the processes that initiate and drive urbanization and suburbanization.
3. The Growth of Cities
a. People mainly lived in rural areas until the Neolithic period when agricultural advancements
allowed for cities to form, creating trade, defense, and religion.
b. Urbanization is the process of the development of dense concentrations of people into
settlements.
c. The main regions where people settled first were the Nile River Valley, the Indus River Valley,
and the Wei River Valley in China.
d. Only a small number of people lived in urban areas until the Industrial Revolution, when people
clustered near factories for work.
e. Today, more than half of people live in cities, and the UN predicts that in 2050 68% of the
world’s population will be urban.
f. An urban area is defined as a city and its surrounding suburbs. The United States Census
Bureau classifies two types of urban areas:
i. Urbanized area, population of 50,000 or greater
ii. Urban cluster, population of between 2,500 and 49,999
g. Different countries have other definitions of urban areas, most at 5,000 or more, Mali at 30,000
or more, Japan at 50,000, China at 100,000, and India has no minimum number.
h. A rural area is usually defined as an open swath of land with few buildings or other structures,
and agriculture is usually the main industry.
i. Cities and towns provide its citizens with financial, medical, educational and more support
services as well as communication and other forms of infrastructure.
j. A metropolitan area includes a city and the surrounding areas that are influenced economically
and culturally by the city. Most people living in suburbs commute daily to the city for work and
to enjoy the city’s culture.
4. Site and Situation
a. A city depends on its site and situation for its function and growth. Site is the actual location of
a settlement and includes the landforms, climate, availability of water, soil quality and natural
 resources of the land. A settlement’s situation is its connection to other sites which determines
trading partners, resources and fuels growth and economic development.
b. Site
i. Certain cities attract more settlements. For example a flat topography is ideal for
building, but an elevated location could bring a defensive advantage, like Athens in
ancient Greece was built on a hill.
ii. Natural resources like water sources, coal and iron deposits can fuel the growth of a
settlement. For example, San Francisco grew after gold was discovered in the area.
iii. Access to transportation is important for defense, trade, travel and water availability.
Many cities are built on natural harbors or islands for its advantages. Cities used to be
built mainly on rivers for trade and transportation, but after the railroad system was
built, more settlement was based off of these.
iv. As technology changes, so does the site of settlements. When water power was invented,
cities started developing near fall lines where waterfalls and rapids could provide power
for factories. For example the Atlantic fall line, a 900-mile ribbon of land between the
Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain, became a prominent area of city growth in the
Industrial Revolution, developing places like Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond,
Raleigh, and Augusta.
c. Situation
i. Situation is as important as site in determining a cities origins, functions, and growth or
decline. The relative location determines the functions because of major trade networks.
For example, Aleppo, Syria, is one of the world’s oldest thriving cities because of its
situation at the crossroads of major trade networks including the Silk Road.
ii. Advances in technology can change the impact of a city’s city. For example, New York
city wasn’t as prominent until the Erie Canal was completed in 1825 connecting it to the
Great Lakes, giving it access to the Midwest, making it the commercial capital of the
U.S.
iii. A good example of how site and situation affects a city is Tenochtitlán, when the Aztecs
moved their city from a hill to a marshy island near Lake Texcoco in the 1300s. This was
the largest American city in the pre-Columbian era, and many technologies helped boost
the importance of the city. After colonization, Mexico City was built over Tenochtitlán
and thrives at the site and situation of this former city.
5. Geographic Questions
a. Explain some of the challenges geographers face when comparing the size of cities or urban
areas in different parts of the world. Geographers face challenges when comparing the size of
cities or urban areas in different parts of the world because different countries and regions have
 different definitions and types of cities. This diversity makes it hard to compare cities in
different parts of the world.
b. Compare a metropolitan area to a city. A metropolitan area is not only the city, but its
surrounding areas that are connected culturally and economically, while the city itself is just the
one area that functions under the same local government and operations.
c. Compare site and situation and describe factors related to each. Site and situation both play
important roles in determining a city’s origin, function, and growth. Site is simply the location
and physical characteristics of the location, while the situation is how that city’s site is
connected to other sites.
d. Describe the role that both site and situation played in the location of Tenochtitlán. Site and
situation both caused Tenochtitlán to be a very prominent city in the pre-Columbian era, and
still cause modern day Mexico City to be prominent. The site allowed the city to grow because
of natural resources and topography of the land, while the situation allowed the city to trade and
communicate with other parts of the world.
 Lesson 15.2 - Factors that Influence Urban Growth

1. Lesson 15.2 Summary

a. Cities grow, change, and evolve. Some changes occur rapidly, while others happen gradually.
Changes in transportation and communication networks, population, economic development,
and government policies all influence how cities grow– or sometimes decline. A city’s growth
can blur boundaries as it expands into surrounding areas.
2. Learning Objectives
a. Explain the processes that initiate and drive urbanization and suburbanization.
3. Transportation and Communication Networks
a. Transportation
i. Waterways, railroads, and highways provide a means for raw materials to get to
factories, for goods to get to markets, and for workers to access jobs. Transportation
systems make it possible for manufacturing facilities and other office environments to
relocate to suburban areas.
ii. Advances in transportation systems greatly affect settlement patterns. For example,
when the economy developed in the U.S many interior cities started to grow on rivers
like Philadelphia.
iii. Another example is Chicago which was chosen for its defensive position, but didn’t grow
as much economically until the Erie canal was finished, which connected the city to
trade connections with other cities. When railroads were developed, that also boosted
Chicago’s economy as it was a meeting point for several railroads.
b. Communication
i. For centuries, communication traveled with goods on transportation networks, but this
changed with the invention of telegraph, and later telephone which changed the way
businesses and therefore cities operated.
ii. With the invention of the telephone, many businesses were taking phone orders from
customers far from the market. This increased production, which raised the need for
more workers. Today, high-speed internet and wi-fi services allow businesses to
instantly communicate with other businesses and customers. This significantly reduced
the cost of communicating over long distances.
iii. Communication advancements do not spread equally, as communication companies
often serve urban areas first because there are more customers, which causes more
businesses to choose a location where there are stronger communication networks,
causing uneven development of access to internet services.
 iv. Telecommunication also contributes to urban growth as these large communication
companies are hiring lots of workers, bringing them to these urban areas as factories did
in the Industrial Revolution.
4. Population Growth and Migration
a. Rural-to-urban migration is a driver of urbanization, due to a combination of push and pull
factors. Fewer opportunities to make a living in rural areas, and physical challenges like drought
are push factors that push people, mainly farmers, out of rural areas. Job opportunities, greater
freedom, safety, schools, healthcare, and more are pull factors that pull people into urban areas.
As urban areas developed in the Industrial Revolution, so did urbanization.
b. Because of the computer manufacturers located in the region south of San Francisco, that
region experienced a massive population growth and the population became composed more of
highly educated and highly paid workers. This region became known as Silicon Valley, named
after the silicon chip used in computers. However, because of the large amount of high paid
tech workers, many people not working in the tech industry can no longer afford to live in the
area, and homelessness is a growing issue.
c. Another example is Shezen, China, a coastal city just north of Hong Kong. When the
government reduced restrictions on foreign investment, the city grew at a fast rate as workers
migrated there to take advantage of pharmaceutical and textile factory jobs. However, this made
it impossible for seasonal farmers to receive equal access to government resources when living
in the city for part of the year.
5. Economic Development and Government Policies
a. Economic Development
i. A city’s economic function depends on that city’s location and history. A capital city’s
function is mainly for the government , but other main city functions may include
military centers, processing sites for mines, or specific manufacturing. For example
Detroit, Michigan is the center of automobile manufacturing in the United States. Other
cities are consumer-oriented centers such as resorts like Cancún, Mexico, which attracts
retirees.
ii. The basic industry, or foundational economic activity of a city, creates secondary
industries which meet people’s needs for housing, food, transportation and other
goods/services.
iii. The functions of cities also change with technological advances and economic or
population trends.
iv. If a city’s economic function is no longer relevant, that city’s population and economy
can decline. For example, when automobile factories were being developed in other
areas of the country, Detroit’s population declined.
 b. Government Policies
i. One way government policies can affect urbanization is when local governments
compete for businesses to relocate by offering tax or financial incentives. Alternatively,
some local governments will work together to boost their region’s economy.
ii. Governments also enact land-use plans that separate industries from residential areas
while creating transportation methods for workers.
iii. Safety and security are important for governments to factor in when trying to increase
urban development. Cities with adequate policing, public safety, and judicial services
grow faster than cities with higher levels of crime and instability.
iv. Liveability also makes a city more attractive which includes housing, transportation, the
environment, health and public services, civic life, and economic opportunity.
Governments improve liveability by providing access to public transportation, quality
education, and reliable and efficient city services and ensuring the availability of
affordable housing.

6. Suburbanization, Sprawl, and Decentralization

a. Due to a change in transportation in the 19th and 29th centuries of the U.S, cities became
decentralized as residents were able to commute easily from the outer areas of a city to the city
center for work. This created “streetcar suburbs” and “railroad suburbs.”
b. Suburbanization causes a city’s land area to expand, but the central city’s population doesn’t
grow, which increases the amount of land per person and lowers the cost of living. Developers
were able to create many single-family homes often with similar building material and designs
that could be built quickly. Upper- and middle-class families were drawn to the suburbs by the
promise of low crime, good schools, and more land for larger homes and yards.
c. Urban sprawl is the process in which urban areas expand in an unplanned and uncontrolled
way, covering large expanses of land in housing, commercial development, and roads. Central
cities of metropolitan areas are typically compact and have meticulously planned infrastructure
systems, but as land is developed at the edges of an urban area, the infrastructure might not
keep up. Urban sprawl is most common in U.S. metropolitan areas that grew with the
automobile and freeway expansion like Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Dallas. The growing
popularity and affordability of the automobile meant that residential areas were not limited to
locations near streetcar or rail lines.
d. An edge city is a community located on the outskirts of a larger city. Edge cities are commercial
centers with office spaces, retail complexes, but over time more residential housing has been
built. For example, Tysons Corner, Virginia, outside of Washington D.C., started as a small
commercial center but has grown substantially.
 e. A boomburb is a suburb that has grown rapidly into a large and sprawling city with more than
100,000 residents. Boomburbs are made of planned communities that have merged together.
Anaheim, California is a booming example.
f. An exurb is a fast-growing community outside of or on the edge of a metropolitan area where
the residents and community are closely connected to the central city and suburbs. Exurbs often
include wealthy estates or small rural towns.
g. Critics of suburbs say they lack identity or sense of place, dependence on automobiles
contributes to traffic congestion and environmental issues, and contributes to the economic
decline of the central city.
h. Reducing Sprawl
i. Revitalization and Redevelopment of decaying areas have helped lure people back inside
city limits by reusing or renovating buildings and beautifying an area through
landscaping. Redevelopment can help address sprawl by creating new mixed-use
neighborhoods where people can walk to public transportation, retail, and entertainment
venues.
ii. Infill is redevelopment that identifies and develops vacant parcels of land within
previously built areas. Infill is used to counter sprawl because it focuses on areas already
served by transportation and other public infrastructure.
7. Geographic Thinking
a. Explain why many U.S. cities developed along rivers in the 19th century. Would you predict
these cities to experience future growth? Many U.S cities developed along rivers in the 19th
century because that gave them access to trade routes with other regions. I can predict that
these cities will experience future growth because these trade routes give them many economic
opportunities.
b. Compare the ways in which economic development and government policies drive
urbanization. Economic development and government policies both greatly affect how an
urban area can grow or decline. Economic development can determine the population and
wealth of a city, while government policies can determine the safety and liveability of a city.
c. Explain how the automobile has transformed modern American cities. How are American
cities that evolved after the automobile different from earlier cities? The automobile
transformed modern American cities by changing the way cities were distributed because of
transportation methods. American cities that evolved after the automobile are more
decentralized than earlier cities.
d. Describe how suburbanization relates to urban sprawl. Suburbanization relates to urban
sprawl because these both happen as a city expands outwards and often happen under
unplanned, cost-efficient circumstances.
 Lesson 15.3 - The Size and Distribution of Cities
1. Lesson 15.3 Summary
a. The distribution of cities occurs in predictable patterns. It is unusual, for instance, to find two
large cities located near one another. Geographers use different methods and models to identify
and explain how systems of cities are organized and what factors contribute to their size,
distribution, and interaction.
2. Learning Objectives
a. Identify the different urban concepts such as hierarchy, interdependence, relative size, and
spacing that are useful for explaining the distribution, suze, and interaction of cities.
3. Patterns of Urban Location
a. Cities and towns are part of an urban system that connects humans through the natural and
human-made environment, including transportation, and more recently communication
linkages.
b. Ancient cities like the Roman empire gained power through conquering surrounding areas,
therefore having more control over these urban systems.
c. Modern cities still have this urban hierarchy where larger, more influential cities are more likely
to become centers of finance, commerce, arts, education, and tourism.
d. Gravity Model
i. The gravity model is used to discuss the degree to which two places interact with one
another. Commerce, the flow of traffic, the number of visitors, and the number of phone
calls and other communication linkages between people in two or more cities is affected
by how large each city is. The gravity model can be used to predict whether people will
be more likely to visit, shop, or do business in one city over another. However, the model
doesn’t take into consideration cities that have natural, political, or cultural boundaries.
 e. Rank-Size Rule
i. The rank-size rule is a geographic concept that describes these relationships. The rule
explains how the population size of cities within a country may be distributed, using a
country’s largest city as a baseline and ranks all other cities in relation to it. It states that
the second largest city will be one-half the size of the largest city, the third largest city
will be one-third the size of the largest city, and so on.
ii. Libya, Nigeria, Australia, and Brazila are countries in which the rank-size rule is fairly
accurate.
iii. There can be exceptions to the rule based on real-world factors like size of a country or
the geographic distance between cities. Also, a city’s metropolitan area may be more
accurate than just the city itself when predicting city rank in the country’s hierarchy.
f. Primate-City Rule
i. In countries where the rank-size rule doesn’t apply, they use the primate city rule. A
primate city is a city that far exceeds, in population size and influence, the country’s
next largest city.
ii. The existence of a primate city indicates an unbalanced level of development in a
country because the population is disproportionately pulled to the city for economic
opportunities.
iii. A primate city example would be Mexico City with a metropolitan area population of
21.8 million, with the second largest city, Guadalajara at roughly 5 million.
iv. Many primate cities can trace their origin to a colonial past, when European colonizers
concentrated political and economic activities in one place.
4. Central Place Theory
a. Developed by German geographer Walter Christaller, the central place theory explains the
hierarchical patterns in the number, size, and location of cities and other settlements. It
describes a central place as a settlement that provides goods and services for the surrounding
area. The pattern of settlement is based on consumers’ behavior and decision-making regarding
the goods and services on which they spend their money.
b. The market’s threshold, which is the number of people needed to support a certain good or
service, and range, the distance that someone is willing to travel for a good or service,
determine the size and location of a central place.
c. High-order goods like luxury cars, high-end fashion, and works of art, and high-order services
like professional sports events, museums, and cultural festivals, draw people from the towns and
smaller settlements. Low-order goods like items found in grocery or common retail stores, and
low-order services like hair salons, barber shops, and post offices are things that consumers are
less willing to travel long distances for.
 d. The pattern that results is best illustrated as a series of hexagons with the highest order market
city in center, towns arranged around the center, equally spaced apart, villages distributed
around each town, and hamlets dispersed between each of the larger settlements.
e. Limitations of Central Place Theory
i. The theory doesn’t account for real-world geography and is based on a flat surface with
no natural, political, or other barriers. Natural features often act as deterrents and
transportation networks are not uniform between all settlements.
ii. The theory assumes that the retail market is the most important influencer, while many
cities service other functions like administrative or government center

5. Geographic Thinking
a. Explain which city people from a community located halfway between New York City and
Albany, New York, would be most likely to visit. Use the gravity model. According to the
gravity model, people from a community located halfway between New York City and Albany,
New York would be more likely to visit New York City because their population is larger.
b. Explain the rank-size rule for cities two through five given the largest city has a population
of 15 million. If the largest city has a population of 15 million, the second largest city would
have a population of 7.5 million, the third largest city would have a population of 2.5 million, the
fourth largest city would have a population of 625,000, and the fifth largest city would have a
population of 125,000.
c. Explain why high-order goods have larger thresholds and ranges than low-order goods.
High-order goods have larger thresholds and ranges than low-order goods because they are
more expensive, desirable and unique than the commonly found cheap low-order goods.
d. Identify and explain the limitations of central place theory. The limitations of central place
theory are that it assumes the land is flat with no natural or political barriers, and that the retail
market is the most important influencer. These are limitations because there could be other
barriers or their city function is for administration or government which don’t apply to the
central place theory.
 Lesson 15.4 - Cities and Globalization
1. Lesson 15.4 Summary
a. Cities are dynamic places that in many ways are driving the processes of globalization at work
in the world today. They exist within a hierarchy, with the largest and most influential cities at
the top. They are interconnected, not just with other cities within their country’s borders, but
internationally, by economic, political, social and technological networks.
2. Learning Objectives
a. Explain the processes that initiate and drive urbanization and suburbanization.
b. Explain how cities embody processes of globalization.
3. Cities Across the World
a. The number and size of urban places are increasing worldwide, mainly in peripheral and semi-
peripheral countries of Asia and Africa. A megacity is a metropolitan area with a population of
more than 10 million places. In 1950, Tokyo and New York City were the only megacities. In
2018, there were 33 megacities and by 2030 there will be 43. A metacity has more than 20
million people. As of 2020, there were nine metacities. (These populations are referring to
metropolitan areas, not just within city limits.)
b. The massive population growth in cities of peripheral countries is due to birth rates higher
than replacement rates and the rural-to-urban migration of young people looking for
employment and to start a family. Also, people who live in poverty in the city are better off than
those in poverty in rural areas.
4. What Makes a World City?
a. World cities, or global cities, have influence not only over their country or region, but also
across the globe and make up a network of economic, social, and information flows.
b. World cities are major centers for communications, banking, and finance as well as leading
global markets for commodities, investment, and foreign exchange. They are also headquarters
for many media organizations and fashion, design, entertainment, and cultural industries. They
also have international airports and serve as destinations of both visitors and migrants. These
cities are not always the largest in population, but are the most influential.
c. World cities are grouped into tiers based on the extent of their influence, with London and New
York City in the top tier, and debatedly Tokyo, Paris and Shanghai.
5. How Are World Cities Linked?
a. World cities drive globalization as multinational corporations often have a major presence in
several world cities, creating strong linkages among them, which attracts specialized banking
services, communication, and transportation networks.
b. These cities create new ideas, goods, and services which are then diffused to other parts of the
world. For example, hip-hop was created in New York City, but is now very popular worldwide.
Fast-food restaurants and global brands are an example of how world cities have influenced the
culture of smaller cities, towns, and rural areas. Global events like the Olympics and World’s
Fair are held in world cities.
c. Political and economic leaders of a city compete to attract more business, investment, and
human talent. Cities compete to host conferences, concerts, and sports championships because
they can increase a city’s stature and influence across the world.
d. All world cities have iconic places, or symbolic places that come to mind when people think
about these cities. Times Square in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Shibuya Crossing
in Tokyo, Buckingham Palace in London, and Merlion Park in Singapore are all great examples
of iconic buildings in world cities.
6. Geographic Thinking
a. Identify two factors driving urban growth in peripheral countries. Two factors that drive
urban growth in peripheral countries are population growth and a trend of rural-to-urban
migration.
b. Explain why most future megacities will be found in peripheral countries. Most future
megacities will be found in peripheral countries because peripheral countries are where there is
the most population growth in large cities.
c. Compare the characteristics of world cities with those of other cities. World cities and other
cities are both large and attract consumers and migrants from far away, but world cities have a
more worldwide influence on economy and culture.
d. Explain how world cities may influence the culture of people halfway around the world.
World cities may influence the culture of people halfway around the world because their
communication networks are very strong and wide that the ideas, goods, and services created in
these cities can reach many other regions around the world.
e. Describe steps that a city can take to attract attention on a global scale. A city can attract
attention on a global scale by working to attract more businesses and investment, host more
global events, and create strong cultural and symbolic structures that can be identified from
people all around the world.