Chapter 3: The Foundations of the American Urban System

Frontier Urbanization

The colonization of America by the British gradually led to the colonies establishing themselves in the trade system. Several cities became known as entrepots, which were intermediary centers of trade and transshipment. Some such cities included New York, Boston and Newport. These cities dominated the market area which were dependent on them, which became known as the hinterlands. 

Following the American Revolution, colonists created a Constitution that favored the growth of cities and allowed for a great deal of free trade amongst the states and people. With this new government came many important changes, including that there was more interstate commerce, rather than international trade back to a mother country. Also, as there was more westward expansion, new important cities developed, usually those close to rivers such as New Orleans and Buffalo. 

Furthermore, there became an increase in specialization of cities, as certain regions became known for specific exports. For example, eastern cities became known for manufacturing especially Newark, Providence and Lowell. This was due to their comparative advantage, which meant the best way for a place to efficiently utilize their resources (for example, the rivers which a city was located on would allow it to build factories). 

Vance's Mercantile Model

Urban geographer James Vance, Jr. came up with a theory of the evolution of America

n urban systems:

1. Exploration - this was time in which discoverers came to America from the Old World in search of new places to colonize and new trades in which to invest in 
2. Exploitation of natural resources - during this time, settlers discovered the natural resources available to them in their new habitats (New England - timber and beaver pelts, Newfoundland - codfish)
3. Farm based production - during this time, settlers began to produce many staple products (tobacco, cotton, grain) and the excess crop was sold for export. It was in this manner that many of the gateway cities began to emerge because of the great deal of goods that they exported. 
4. Establishment of interior depot centers - demand for staple exports remained steady, yet the population continued to grow. Thus there was a build-up of cities further from the waterfront, increasing the need for travel routes.  Gradually the interior cities became known as wholesale collection centers. 
5. Economic maturity and central place infilling - There are established areas for manufacturing, such as the inland gateway cities and the gateway ports. Agricultural settlements begin to be established further inland, along the trade routes, becoming market towns. 

Vance offers a clear and concise way to understand how American cities came about, from gateway ports to their gradual movement inland. It combines the central place model shown at right, and adds a history to it, to explain how the central place model could have come about. People are willing to travel a certain distance for certain goods, and that explains how the settlement patterns are formed. 

Principles of Urban Growth 

One theory is that existing cities enjoy certain benefits that newly formed cities do not, called their initial advantage. This is due in part to the fact that the earliest settled cities had the advantage of having settled in prime locations. 

One theory that was developed was that of the rank size rule, which shows the relationship between the cities size, their population and their rank within an urban system.  More information can be found here. 

A second theory that evolved was that of central place theory by Walter Christaller. This essentially is the theory of centralization of cities, and that there are numerous smaller settlements located outside of bigger more densely populated cities. 

Chapter 2: The Origins and Growth of Cities

Origins of a City

V. Gordon Childe attempted to define a city using several specific characteristics. Some of these characteristics included size, class structure, public capital (creating funds that allowed monuments and artists to be commissioned by the city), education meaning written language and mathematics, and trade routes being maintained and expanded upon.

These all seem accurate in defining a city. A city is substantially larger in size than a 

town, village, or hamlet; and this is usually the defining characteristic of whether a settlement can be deemed a "city". While this definition of what a city was seems very clear, there were many different and often conflicting theories about how these civilizations came about. Some of the theories that are offered include the agricultural surplus theory, which I think sounds entirely too simplistic. I don't really see the correlation between excess food and how that could lead to societal stratification and then urbanization. It seems more likely that the farmers would enjoy their success and stay on their farms, rather than move into urban centers.

It seems unlikely that any of these would create a fully functioning society, as population pressures, trade, defense needs and the other examples would all be too one-dimensional. However, taking all of these factors in conjunction with one another would be a much more rational explanation. Basically this shows that as all of these things were occurring, there was a gradual transformation from isolated settlements into a larger civilized and urbanized society.

Early Cities

The most important thing in learning about the early cities is how they established their class structure- class often dictated where in the city people were located. For example, the elite (the wealthy, political or religious figures) usually lived in the center of the city, and then as you move further from the center of the city, there was a marked decrease in income, to the outer limits of the city where the poorest members of society lived. This also reflects the fact that in case of military attack, the outer limits of the city (and thus the poor) would be most susceptible to attack, while the upper echelon of society would be best protected. 

This pattern of division within the cities is replicated in most of the early cities, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and Northern China to name a few. 

Urban Expansion 

Expansion owed a great deal to the trade routes that developed, because as the trade routes such as the Silk Road developed, not only did the exchange of goods occur, but also the exchange of culture and ideas- such as writing, new technology, art, religion. Furthermore, the Silk Road allowed certain cities to establish themselves and connected distant places from Europe, Southwest Asia, India, and China. 

Time Periods in City Development

• Dark Ages - Western European cities experienced a decline after the fall of the Roman Empire, allowing other cities (i.e., Constantinople) to move into the power vacuum that the fall of Rome Created. However, it also created a politically unstable and uncertain situation, making trade routes more dangerous and consequently forcing cities to become more isolated. 
• Medieval Times - Feudal system in Europe collapsed, and the nobility consequently began to levy higher taxes on the peasants. As a result, the peasants were forced to sell crops for cash, creating an increased dependency on the money market. 
• Renaissance and Baroque Periods - The major change during this time was the establishment of gateway cities and control centers. This allowed certain cities to become more dominant than others due to their prominence in the trade routes. Some of the most important cities became Buenos Aires, Calcutta, and Ghana.  During this time, there was a great deal of urban beautification, as more public capital was spent on sculptures and public buildings.
• Industrialization Revolution - With the Industrial Revolution came a complete restructuring of the urban landscape, as cities grew seemingly overnight. The factories created a completely different type of landscape, as they moved from agriculturally based to industrially based. Train tracks and stations were necessary to transport things quickly from one place to another, and rivers were necessary to power the factories. There was a population influx to cities as they needed more and more people to man the factories, and the central business district was created to allow companies to more easily control their assets. 

Key Concepts 

• Defining a city must take into account several different aspects, including: size, class structure and public capital
• Early cities all had similar layouts, as the elite often had the most protection because they were located in a central position, leaving the poor on the outskirts of the city in the most vulnerable position
• Trade routes became established, spreading goods and ideas throughout the empire
• Cities evolved throughout history, changing in time with society and cultural changes, culminating in the current world-system stage that we are in currently. 

External Sites

• Information on the Indus Valley civilization and its evolution
• Information on the Silk Road

Chapter 1: Urbanization and Urban Geography

Chapter Summary

The first chapter of Knox and McCarthy’s book Urbanization provides an overview of the study of urban geography as well as explaining the reasoning and necessity for studying the changing landscape of cities. It also describes the many different ways in which to approach the study of urban geography.

Urban geography first began to be studied in the 1950s, when urban geographers mainly studied the physical geography of the cities, known as the spatial description approach. This mainly concentrated on the physical attributes of a city and scientists theorized that the manner in which the city developed was a direct result of the topography of the land. This theory was gradually discarded in favor of the behavioral approach developed during the 1970s. This meant that urban geographers concentrated on the individual reasons behind movements into or out of cities. This could be because of a drop in real estate prices, thus making homes more affordable, or more jobs becoming available in the cities. Finally, in the late 1970s to the early 1980s, a new approach was conceived, called the structuralist approach. This approach shows how changed in urbanization can affect different classes of people and therefore how different constraints or opportunities will be available for people. Furthermore, the structuralist approach was the first to realize that the study of urban geography must be looked at in various other contexts, such as macroeconomic theory, social theory, and the effects of the current political atmosphere.

This chapter also demonstrates how greatly economics affect urbanization. During the late 18^th to early 19^th centuries, the economy was in a stage known as competitive capitalism. People had a great deal of freedom, business-wise, and laissez-faire was the main economic theory and people took advantage of the free enterprise system.

Following this stage came organized capitalism, as new and more efficient ways to run factories were discovered. The catalyst for this movement was Henry Ford’s invention of the assembly line, and thus the theory of mass production was discovered. Following this period of time was the Great Depression, and the government began to play a larger role in the economy, a much more regulatory role. Currently, the economy is in a stage of disorganized capitalism and has been since after World War II. This means that there has been a great deal of deindustrialization, meaning that there is just as much, if not more, manufacturing occuring, but there are significantly less jobs in the manufacturing industry.

Kondratiev and Kuznets cycles are two important keys to understanding how economics changes and shapes urbanization. Kondratiev cycles, also known as long waves, show the cyclical nature of the expansions and contractions of economic development. I believe that this is mainly as a result of overproduction and thus surpluses in the market, and then subsequently not enough production and shortages in the market. They are further influenced by technological, societal, political and many other types of changes. These cycles usually last about 50-60 years and are marked by a progressive increase in prices then a sudden, spiraling decline. Simultaneously occuring with the Kondratiev waves are the Kuznets cycle which is a cycle of regular changes in economic growth. These cycles generally take about 40 years to complete and are important to urban geographers because it is generally during times of economic growth that urban areas change the most dramatically.

Key Concepts

• Difference between space, territoriality, distance and place
• Kondratiev and Kuznets Cycles
• Approaches to urban geography- spatial analysis, behavioral, humanistic, structuralist
• Processes and outcomes of urbanization- (and how economics are the root of these changes and consequences)

First Post

This blog is for my PSC 440 class. I hope that within this blog, I will be able to adequately show my understanding of the course, as well as to complement what is learned through the book with external websites. Enjoy and feel free to offer feedback about how I can improve this site!