Human Settlements -- The Modern City

I.  The Modern City
   --transportaion, legislation (zoning), and planning
II.  The Postmodern City
   example: L.A.--the annihilation of space, importance of technology
III.  Video--Santiago, Chile
IV.  Urban Geography
   A.  What do urban geographers do?
       1.  Study how cities function, their internal systems and structure, and the external influences on them
       2.  Study the variation among cities and their internal and external relationships
   B.  Key Concepts and Trends
       1.  Agglomeration: clustering of like industry for mutual advantage
           a.  sharing of the labor pool and infrastructure
           b.  example: Silicon Valley
       2.  Specialization:  Manufactured product is associated with particular cities
           a.  Milwaukee--cheese and beer
           b.  Los Angeles--entertainment industry
           c.  Sheffield--coal
           d.  top 20 cities in the U.S. are highly specialized
       3.  Levels of urbanization:
           a.  Western Europe in the 1800's is 20% urbanized, in 2000 it is 75% urbanized
           b.  World is 3% urbanized in 1800, 55% urbanized in 2000
   C.  Urban Hierarchy and Typology
       1.  Hamlet:  a few 100 people, limited services or functions
       2.  Village:  several dozen services
       3.  Town:  services with more specialization; hinterland
       4.  City:  higher specialization; larger hinterland; CBD and centrality
           --Metropolitan area:  100,000 people
       5.  Megalopolis:  linked, proximate metropolitan areas (Eastern Seaboard)
       6.  Reach:  Range of attraction to the city (spatial market area)
       7.  Centrality:  Economic power relative to competing cities
           --major metropolitan cities: i.e. Chicago and St. Louis, used to be competitive
   D.  Place and Location:  Situation
       1.  Definition:  Relative characteristics of a city and its position in relation to other cities
          2.  Example:  Schenzhen, China near  border of Hong Kong--profits from its relative loaction to Hong Kong's booming  economy
       3.  Situation can change over time
           a.  Chicago: first nature and second nature
               --first nature: swampy but good potential as a port city
               --second nature:  grain, becomes entwined with New York, use river as transportation
           b.  Northeastern Manufacturing belt in the U.S.
                  --manufacturing  industry used to be concentrated in the Northeast but became unionized so  manufacturing centers  moved to the South for more competitive labor
   E.  Place and Location:  Urban Site
       1.  Definition:  Physical qualities of a particular place
       2.  Example:  Mexico City
           a.  Mountain flanked basin
           b.  on dry lake bed
           c.  vulnerability to earthquakes
           d.  trapped air pollution (also true in L.A. and Athens)
       3.  Example:  Bangkok, Thailand--sinking due to pumping water
       4.  Example:  Mayan ruins research at UCSB Geography/Anthropology