CHAPTER INTRODUCTION
The site of a city is essential to early success and long-term survival. Many early cities would find themselves losing their early site advantage as civilizations, and technology evolved and changed. Colonization and industrialization would transform ‘ Western Europe and the world from rural to urban with varying results. People migrate to cities, now and in the past, in response to factors that are often more perceptual than real. Lifestyle may in fact be worse, not better, for those participating in rural-to-urban movement hi many countries today. The birth of the world urban map of the late 1990s can be traced to the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the medieval ‘and mercantile cities of Europe . In less than two centuries, Western Europe ’s population went from overwhelmingly rural to 85 percent urban. This astonishing transformation was the beginning of a worldwide process set in motion by colonialism and the diffusion of industrial know-how. Important key points you will encounter in this chapter are discussed below.
Urban Geography
The study of how cities function, their internal systems and structures and the external influences on them is the field of urban geography. Urban geographers want to know how cities are arranged, what they look like, how their circulation systems function, how commuting patterns develop and change, how and why people move from one part of the city to another. In short, how and why a city and its residents look, act, and change as they do. To do these studies, of course, you need to have urban places.
All cities’ are not equally successful, An urban centers location strongly influences its fortunes, its position in a large and productive hinterland—surrounding service area—can ensure its well-being. The hinterland reveals the economic reach of each settlement, the maximum distance at which people are still attracted for business purposes.
Locational Factors
The answer to the question of why some urban centers are more successful than others is geography. When it comes to explaining the growth and success of certain cities, situation—the external locational attributes of an urban center; its relative location or regional position with reference to other non-local places—is often the key. A city’s situation can change, and the world’s largest and most enduring cities have seen their situation improve with the times. Conversely, a city’s situation can also deteriorate over time. Exhaustion of resources, repeated crop failures, climatic change, and political developments all can change a city’s situation.
A second locational factor affecting the development of cities and towns is their site—the actual physical qualities of the place a city occupies. An urban centers site may have played a key role in its original and early survival, for example, as a defensive locale; but in modern times that same site may limit its growth and expansion. Air stagnation, depleted water supplies, or changes in transportation routes and means can reduce a previously advantageous site to a liability.
Urbanization in the 1990s
As a percentage of total population, urban dwellers are most numerous in the core areas of Western Europe , North America , Japan , and Australia . There are also remarkably high percentages of urbanization in several countries in the periphery (Figure 18-6). In addition, urbanization is currently occurring rapidly in many peripheral countries, especially Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently this region has both the lowest percentage of its population classed as urban and the fastest growing urban population in the world. Taking 70 percent and higher as the highest category, Mexico and Cuba are on a par with France , and Mexico ’s level of urbanization is higher than that of several Eastern European countries.
The culturally and economically diverse realm of Southwest Asia and North Africa displays remarkable variation in levels of urbanization. This variation is related to differences in national economics and cultures. Much of the realm, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula , is quite highly urbanized. Nucleation resulting from the oil industry has much to do with this situation.
Urbanization in South Asia remains low. For the realm as a whole, urbanization remains well below 30 percent. Southeast Asia , as a realm, is markedly low levels of urbanization (the city-state of Singapore is 100 percent urban; the only such country in the world). As a whole, East Asia is only about 36 percent urban, despite the rapid economic growth on the western Pacific Rim .
The Great Cities
More than 300 cities in the world have populations exceeding 1 million. If you compare this map with text Figure 18-6, you will find that the former map shows the concentration of large cities in eastern North America , Western Europe , and Japan . Several of the great urban complexes in these regions are the products of megalopolitan coalescence. The fastest-growing megacities, however, are in South and East Asia .
Many of the worlds most populous cities are found in the poorer countries, and it also indicates how fast individual cities in poorer countries are growing compared to conurbations in richer countries. Despite wretched living conditions for many of their inhabitants, cities continue to attract new residents by the millions.
CHAPTER QUIZ
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. This term describes the spatial process of clustering by commercial enterprises for mutual advantage and benefit
a. specialization
b. industrialization
c. agglomeration
d. urbanization
2. In ranking urban places, which of the following is at the bottom of the urban hierarchy?
a. town
b. hamlet
c. village
d. suburb
3. In some parts of the world, large metropolises are coalescing to create megacities called megalopolises. One such is the so-called Bosnywash in the United States . It is located:
a. in southern Texas
b. around Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest
c. on the Eastern Slope of the Rocky Mountains
d. along the U.S. Northeast Coast
4. In the late 1990s, the world’s fastest-growing urban area is:
a. Shenzhen
b. Hong Kong
e. Mexico City
d. Tokyo
5. The city of Paris is located on which of the following rivers.
a. Rhine
b. Thames
c. Seine
d. Marne
6. The capital city of Thailand has some of the most polluted air in the world. This city is:
a. Singapore
b. (Jung How
c. Djakarta
4. Bangkok
7. Which of the following continents has the lowest level of urbanization.
a. Africa
b. Australia
c. South America
d. Asia
8. Outside North America and Western Europe , major megalopolitan development is occurring only in which of the following.
a. China
b. Japan
c. Australia
d. India
9. United Nations studies suggest that by 2025 there may be as many as ____ cities with populations over 20 million.
a. 15
b. 20
c. 25
d. 30
10. Cities in poorer parts of the world generally lack enforceable laws to ensure the orderly use of space. Such laws are called ____ laws.
a. planning
b. economic
c. zoning
d. population control
TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
1. Relative location played a big part in which cities grew during the industrialization of Europe . (TF)
2. While some hamlets may have no urban functions, all villages do. (TF)
3. The megalopolis of Bosnywash in the United States has a global economic reach. (TF)
4. All the fastest growing cities in today’s world have benefited from being located at a site which permits easy expansion. (TF)
5. South Africa ’s 57 percent urban level is representative of most other African countries. (TF)
6. Outside North American and Western Europe , only Japan has megalopolitan development. (TF)
7. Most of the worlds largest, and still growing cities, are found in developed countries. (TF)
8. By careful planning, the fastest growing cities are meeting the needs of their fast growing population. (TF)
9. Cities in developing countries lack zoning laws. (TF)
10. Cities the world over are culturally regionalized. (TF)
STUDY QUESTIONS
I. List and define the ranking system the urban places. What is a hinterland and why is it important?
2. List the positive and negative factors found in and around a city’s site. Do the same for a city’s relative location (situation). Give two example cities and explain how these factors have affected them. Have their relative locations (situations) changed over time?
3. Discuss urbanization by continent and region using the material in your text. Find the countries with the largest cities. Relating back to the text, which cities are growing the fastest? Which regions have the slowest growing cities? Why is this pattern emerging?
