1. Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context, 5e
Chapter 10: Urbanization
Paul L. Knox & Sallie A. Marston
PowerPoint Author: Keith M. Bell
2. Overview
The world is becoming increasingly urbanized, and cities have come to
dominate even more aspects of modern life than they did in previous times.
Whether we live in one or not, cities have a strong influence on our lives—
especially, perhaps, for Americans. Most of the products people buy, the
services they use, and the fashions and cultural tastes they follow originate in
cities.
This chapter examines the impact and influence of cities and the factors leading
to their growth. Urban systems are ancient in origin, but became especially
important in Medieval Europe, where they were associated with the rise of
capitalism. The rise of merchant capitalism helped prompt colonialism, further
helping to spread the urban model to many other places around the world. After
considering the growth of urbanization, this chapter turns to the contemporary
urban process, looking at central place theory as well as the economic base of
cities and the problems of increasing urbanization.
3. Chapter Objectives
• The objectives of this chapter are to:
– Examine the roots of European urban
expansion
– Explore today’s urbanization, looking at
regional trends and projections, and their
urban systems
– Investigate urban growth processes
4. Chapter Outline
• Urban Geography and Urbanization (p. 390)
– Functions of urban settlement
• Urban Origins (p. 392)
– European urban expansion
– Industrialization
– Imperialism and colonial cities
• Urban Systems (p. 401)
– City-size distributions
– Primacy and centrality
• World cities
– Rapid growth of the world’s cities
– Overurbanization and megacities
– Mature cities and deindustrialization
• Globalization and Splintering Urbanism (p. 417)
– Differences between core and peripheral cities
• Conclusion (p. 419)
5. Geography Matters
• 10.1 Visualizing Geography—Shock City:
Manchester (p. 402)
– Manchester, England, was an early industrial city
• 10.2 Window on the World—Urban Terrorism
(p. 408)
– Cities have become the sites of terrorism
• 10.3 Window on the World—Pearl River
Delta: An Extended Metropolis (p. 412)
– How the greater Hong Kong area has become a
megacity
6. Urbanization
The urban areas of the world are the
linchpins of human geographies at the
local, regional, and global scales.
The earliest towns and cities developed
independently in the various hearth areas
of the first agricultural revolution.
The expansion of trade around the world
established numerous gateway cities.
The Industrial Revolution generated new
kinds of cities.
Today, there is a striking difference in
trends and projections between core and
peripheral regions in global urbanization.
A small number of “world cities” occupy
key roles in the organization of global
economies and culture.
Many megacities of the periphery are
primate and highly centralized.
7. Urban Geography and Urbanization
• The study of urban geography is concerned with
the development of towns and cities around the
world, with particular reference to the similarities
and differences both among and within urban
places.
• Experts on urbanization point to four fundamental
aspects of the role of towns and cities in human
economic and social organization:
– The mobilizing function of urban settlement
– The decision-making capacity of urban settlement
– The generative functions of urban settlement
– The transformative capacity of urban settlement
8. Urban Population/Urban
Settlements
• Towns and cities must be
viewed as part of the economies
and societies that maintain
them.
• Geographers analyze and
conceptualize urban systems to
understand the patterns and
regularities they find. (e.g.,
French urban system, African
urban system, Islamic urban
system, etc.).
• Urban form refers to the
physical structure and
organization of cities in their
land use, layout, and built
environment.
9. Urbanization Growth Rates, 2000–
2005
• Urban form refers to the
physical structure and
organization of cities.
• Urban ecology is the
social and demographic
composition of city
districts and
neighborhoods.
• Urbanism concerns
people’s attitudes and
behaviors about the city in
which they live.
10. The Roots of European Urban Expansion
• Greek and Roman influenced
• Feudalism gave rise to a fragmented landscape of
inflexible, introverted world-empires
• Economic and social organization based on the communal
chiefdoms of Germanic tribes
• An elaborate urban system developed, the largest of which
became nodal centers in a global world-system
• Self-sufficient regarding food and resources
• Existence of towns depended on their role:
– Ecclesiastical or university centers
– Defensive strongholds
– Administrative centers (for the upper tiers of the feudal hierarchy)
12. Ecclesiastical or University Centers: Chartres, France
Chartres was an important ecclesiastical center. The cathedral, built in the
thirteenth century, is widely considered to be the finest gothic cathedral
in France.
13. Defensive Strongholds: Aigues-Mortes, France
This walled medieval town in southern France is one of the best-
preserved examples of thirteenth-century military architecture. The town
of rectilinear streets is surrounded by a wall with five towers and ten
fortified gates.
14. Defensive Strongholds: Urbino, Italy
An important strategic center in the thirteenth century with a classic
hilltop defensive site, Urbino became a principal artistic center during the
Renaissance.
15. Administrative Centers: Cologne, Germany
In the late 1400s, Cologne had a population of less than 25,000 but was
already a critical commercial and manufacturing center, with an
important cathedral and a university that was more than 100 years of age.
16. The Towns and Cities of Europe, ca.
1350
• Cities with more than
10,000 residents were
uncommon in medieval
Europe except in northern
Italy and Flanders, such as
the cities of Florence and
Delft (Netherlands), where
the spread of cloth
production and the growth
of trade permitted
relatively intense
urbanization.
17. Towns and Cities of Europe, ca.
1350
Ghent, Belgium Venice, Italy
The regional specializations and trading patterns that emerged provided
the foundations for a new phase of urbanization based on merchant
capitalism.
18. Towns and Cities of Europe, ca.
1350
Florence, Italy Prague, Czech Republic
Merchant capitalism (e.g., the Hanseatic League in the North and Baltic
Seas) increased in scale and sophistication; economic and social
reorganization was stimulated by the Protestant Reformation and the
scientific revolution.
22. Imperialism and Peripheral Urbanization
Colonial cities are those that were deliberately established or developed as
administrative or commercial centers by colonial or imperial powers. This
painting of the Indian Peninsular Terminus in Mumbai (Bombay) shows
the influence of Victorian British architecture.
23. Shock City: Manchester
A shock city is one that embodies surprising and
disturbing changes in economic, social, and cultural life.
24. The Spanish Urban System
Smaller cities tend to be linked to middle-order cities, which are in turn
linked to regional metropolises, then national metropolises. These
linkages represent major flows of capital, information, and goods.
26. Slum Housing in Peripheral
Cities
Throughout much of the world, the scale and speed of urbanization,
combined with the scarcity of formal employment, have resulted in very
high proportions of slum housing, much of it erected by the squatters
themselves.
28. World Cities and the Global Urban
System
• World cities provide an interface between the global
and the local. They are also sites of:
– Most of the leading global markets
– Clusters of specialized, advanced business services
– Concentrations of corporate headquarters
– Concentrations of national and international headquarters
of trade and professional organizations
– Most of the leading NGOs and IGOs that are international
in scope
– The most powerful and internationally influential media
organizations
29. Urban Terrorism
The wreckage of a public train near Atocha train station in Madrid, Spain,
March 11, 2004. Thirteen bombs on four packed commuter trains killed
191 people and wounded more than 1500. The attack was attributed to
the Islamic militant group al-Qaeda.
30. World Cities in the Global Urban
System
The sphere of influence of world cities, based on an analysis of the regional
headquarter functions of the world’s largest advanced business services firms.
31. Megacities
Mexico City, Mexico Shanghai, China
Megacities’ most important common attribute is their sheer size—most of which
have ten million or more in population. Other examples include Bangkok,
Lagos, Manila, Dhaka, New Delhi, Jakarta, São Paulo, and Teheran.
32. Globalization and Splintering Urbanism
• Enclaves of Internet and digital multimedia technology
development, mostly in core-country world cities.
• Technopoles and clusters of high-tech industrial innovation.
• Places configured for foreign direct investment in
manufacturing, with customized infrastructure, expedited
development approval processes, tax concessions, and in some
cases exceptions to labor and environmental regulations.
• Enclaves of international banking, finance, and business
services in world cities and major regional centers.
• Enclaves of modernization in the megacities and major regional
centers of peripheral countries.
• Enclaves of back-office spaces, data-processing, e-commerce,
and call centers.
• Spaces customized as “logistics zones.”
34. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• What were some of the factors that led to the formation
of the earliest urban-based world-empires? What factors
might have contributed to the periodic collapse of these
early empires?
– Experts differ in their explanations of the first transitions from
subsistence minisystems to city-based world-empires. The
classic archeological interpretation emphasizes the availability of
an agricultural surplus large enough to allow the emergence of
specialized, nonagricultural workers. Some urbanization,
however, seems to have been the result of the pressure of
population growth. This growth caused some people to move to
marginal areas, where they set up an urban economy based on
trade, religion, or defense. Wars and epidemics contributed to
the periodic collapse of these empires.
35. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Compare and contrast lifestyles in rural and
urban areas. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each? Ask the students
which environment they prefer, and why. Might
their response explain the rapid growth of
urban areas in the late twentieth century, as
well as the corresponding back-to-the-land
movement?
– Many students may not have experienced life in
rural areas, and they may have romantic notions
about rural life. Population trends in the United
States indicate a greater move from rural to urban
environments, rather than the other way around.
36. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Give some examples of Medieval European
cities (especially those still flourishing today).
What factors contributed to the growth of these
cities?
– Examples of Medieval European cities include
Cambridge (England), Bruges (Belgium), and Mainz
(Germany) among many others. Medieval towns
were established for a variety of reasons, including
as ecclesiastical or university centers, as defensive
strongholds, and as administrative centers.
37. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• What is meant by a shock city? Can you think of some
examples of cities that might be considered shock
cities today? What makes them shocking?
– A shock city is a city that is seen as the embodiment of
surprising and disturbing changes in economic, social, and
cultural life. Examples might include Lagos (Nigeria) and Port
Moresby (Papua New Guinea). These cities have had to face
rapid growth and overurbanization, leading to squatter
settlements and the inability of the city government to provide
even basic services. Tensions also result from a constant
stream of in-migrants from many different ethnic groups who
seek better economic conditions in the city.
38. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Why were Manchester and Chicago
considered shock cities at one time? Are they
still shock cities today? Why not?
– Manchester and Chicago were both industrial cities
—a new purpose for a city and one that led to rapid
growth. They are no longer considered shock cities
today because they no longer embody surprising
and disturbing changes in economic, social, and
cultural life. See also the Geography Matters 10.1
boxed text for information about Manchester.
39. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• What are some of the distinctive features of colonial
cities? If the local community is a former colonial city,
what evidence of its colonial past is visible today?
– Colonial cities typically contain areas established by the
colonial power to fulfill colonial functions, with ceremonial
spaces, office, and depots for colonial traders, plantation
representatives, and government officials; barracks for a
garrison of soldiers; and housing for colonists. Structures
included churches, city halls, railway stations, palaces of
governors and archbishops, and houses of wealthy colonists.
Colonial cities also contained areas for housing and
commercial uses for the indigenous population. See pages
400–401 in the textbook for further information.
40. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• How has the growth of cities in the periphery
been different from the experience of core
cities? What particular problems do peripheral
cities face? Why are most of these cities
growing so rapidly?
– Cities in the periphery have grown much more
rapidly than cities in the core. Rural migrants to
cities in the periphery have poured into these cities
out of desperation and hope, rather than being
drawn in by jobs and opportunities, leading to
problems of overurbanization. See pages 409–417
in the textbook for further information.
41. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• What is the nearest world city to where
you live? What impacts does this city
have on life in the local community?
– The nearest world city may be fairly distant.
See pages 407–409 for a description of the
characteristics of world cities.
42. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Can you think of some examples of large cities
that are not world cities? What factors, other
than or despite their size, deny them status as
world cities?
– Some large cities, or megacities, that are not world
cities include Cairo, Jakarta, Lagos, and Shanghai.
These cities are not control centers of the world
economy; they are not places where critical
decision-making and interaction take place with
regard to global economic, cultural, and political
issues.
Editor's Notes
Figure 10.1
Figure 10.2
Figure 10.4
Figure 10.7
Figure 10.8 (map)
Figure 10.9
The purpose of the bombing may have been rooted in Spain’s involvement in the US-led Iraq War, or a long-held grievance from Muslims being expelled from Spain in 1492.
