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Selected Theories of Urban Growth and Structure

F. Stuart Chapin Jr.
Published online: 18 Dec 2007.

To cite this article: F. Stuart Chapin Jr. (1964) Selected Theories of Urban Growth and Structure, Journal of the American Institute of
Planners, 30:1, 51-58, DOI: 10.1080/01944366408978091

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 Review Articles we are concerned not only with the conventions of formu-
lating theory, but also with specifying performance cri-
teria. W e wish to insure that theory meets the require-
ments we foresee will be important in its application in
the field.
SELECTED THEORIES OF There are at least four criteria of adequacy which will
be useful to bear in mind in reviewing the work sum-
U R B A N GRQWTH marized below.’ One criterion holds that a theory must
have a dynamic aspect if it is to have utility in representing
the processes by which cities are structured and by which
AND STRUCTURE they grow. A second requirement is that the theory be
susceptible of empirical verification, that it be capable of
E Stuart Chapin, Jr. being tested. A third requirement is that the theory have
an internal logic and consistency. The rigor of the logic
and consistency may vary from a very general and some-
A COMMUNICATIONS THEORY OF U R B A N GROWTH what summary form where concepts and relationships are
M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, 1962. by Richard L. Meies very broadly stated to a very formalized presentation
where all propositions and relationships are spelled out in
“THE URBAN PLACE A N D T H E NONPLACE URBAN REALM” detail. Finally, the theory must not be so abstract as to
by Melvin M . Webber have no relation to reality. Indeed, it should seek to rep-
in Webber (ed.), EXPLORATIONS lNTO URBAN STRUCTURE, University resent the phenomena under study as they actually occur
of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1963. or appear to function in reality.
There are undoubtedly other criteria and certainly
“A THEORY OF URBAN FORM”
other ways of reviewing theoretical concepts. However,
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by Kevin Lynch and Lloyd Rodcuin

these general criteria may be helpful in determining how
lournat of the American Institute of Planners, XXIV (November, 1958), 201-214.
far advanced the planning field is in theoretical research.
For each of six approaches, I shall give a capsule summary
“URBAN STRUCTURE A N D URBAN GROWTH”
by Albert Z . Guttenberg of the conceptual framework as I understand it, and then
lournal of the American lnstitute of Planners, XXV (May, 1960), 104-110. examine it in terms of these four criteria.

TRANSPORTATION A N D U R B A N L A N D
by Lotudon Wingo, I r .
A Communications Theory Approach to
Resources for the Future, Inc., Washington, D. C., 1961. Urban Growth
Meier approaches the task of a theory of urban spatial
structure by asking: What, after all, is the quintessence
U R B A N GROWTH DYNAMICS
of the city? Is there a common pattern that holds through
by F. Stuart Chapin, 1.. and Shirley F. Weiss, eds.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1962. (Especially initial part of Chapter 1 time, one perspective in the behavioral sciences that pro-
and Chapter 13.) vides a logical basis €or building a theory of urban devel-
opment? After examining human settlements as they
emerged from the beginnings of civilization, following
the changes as they might be seen by an archaeologist,
At the present stage in the field’s development,
anthropologist, historian, and natural scientist, and after
theoretical research for planning is developing along two
considering man’s behavior in cities, looking at human
related lines. One major emphasis is on the process of
activities as the economist, social psychologist, human
planning and its relationship to decision-making theory,
ecologist, and political behaviorist might, Meier concludes
and the other focuses on the subject matter of this process:
that the one common element in all of these perspectives
urban clusters, regions, and sometimes entire nations.
is human communication. Whether viewed in very con-
This review is concerned mainly with the second area
crete terms of market place transactions or in the more
of specialization, and particularly with urban spatial struc-
abstract notion of the transmission of culture, he is saying
ture and urban growth. Below I shall first make some
that the human communications process possesses all the
general observations on the formulation of theory and on
requirements of an organizing concept for a theory.
criteria of an adequate theory and then briefly examine
Meier conceptualizes the city in terms of systems of
six areas in which work has appeared recently. Finally
interaction prompted by man’s urge to maintain com-
I shall indicate a few of the similarities and distinctive
munications (in the general sense) with his fellow man.
differences in these approaches. It should be noted that
At the present stage in man’s state of development, trans-
utopian concepts are excluded from this review. While
portation and communications technology supply the prin-
constituting an importght area of study in the planning
cipal media of interaction. While noting that cities have
field, this area of inquiry does not constitute theory in
always exerted a strong attraction for growth because of
the usage of this article.
the opportunities for face-to-face transactions they offer,

Criteria for an Adequate Theory

F . Stuart Chapin, [Y., AIP, is Professor of Planning and Director
Where the objective of theory building is not simply a
of the Center for Urban and Regional Stirdies, Unizwsity of North
quest for truth for Own sake, but the Carolina at Chapel Hill, H e is a formn-Vice-president and mem-
eventuality of the theory in improving the lot of her of the Board of Gouernors of AIP and is presently President of
man (an objective which is characteristic of a profession), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.
 Meier holds that technological developments are reducing
the necessity for face-to-face interaction, and transporta-
tion overloads are imposing limiting conditions on oppor-
tunities for interaction through transportation systems.
With the substitution of communications for transporta-
tion, communication becomes increasingly important as a
focus for studying the city. In noting that overload crises
in communications systems are in prospect, Meier antici-
pates control mechanisms being invoked to correct for
these overload conditions. Thus, the communications
system (in the narrow sense) offers what he considers to
be the basis for understanding human communications
(in the general sense) and the activity systems that arise
out of human relations involved.
Having satisfied himself on the validity of using a
communications system as a basis for building a theory of
urban growth, Meier develops a set of requirements for
the communications process. Specifying that there must
be one, a sender, two, a message, three, a channel, four,
a receiver, five, an attention span on the part of the re-
ceiver, six, a common language, seven, time for the pro-
cess to take place, and eight, one or more purposes to be
served, he proposes to construct a representation of the
city from the information content of communications
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flows. Information would be measured and recorded in a
double-entry accounting system in much the same manner
as origin and destination traffic studies record traffic flows
today. The unit of measurement for information trans-
mitted would be the “hubit” which Meier defines as “a
bit of meaningful information received by a single human
being”-a per capita concept of units of information re-
ceived. According to Meier, by obtaining a sample of
communications flows in a metropolitan area, information
theory can be used to construct a set of social accounts
which can then become the basis for explaining activity
systems.
Meier does not indicate fully the manner in which the
framework would be used by a planner in a predictive
application, say for the year 2000. However, he suggests
that his concept of the “urban time budget,” which esti-
mates the proportions of a day’s time a person would
spend in various forms of public communication (as op-
posed to private or personal communication), would pro-
vide a means of making projections. Given an estimate of
the population for the year 2000 for a particular metro-
politan area, one surmises he would construct a set of
sender-receiver accounts of information flows or transac-
tions broken down into “activity sectors”-for example,
leisure activity patterns of various forms, wholesale-to-
producer or wholesale-to-retailer activity patterns of vari-
ous types. On the basis of assumed states of technology,
presumably he would trace out spatial loci of activities,
and once location relationships were established, he would
assign space to activities and modes of movement accord-
ing to standards developed to correspond to the tech-
nology assumed. This aspect of his framework will un-
doubtedly be made clearer as he extends his work further.
On the basis of this all too brief report on Meier’s work,
it is clear that it possesses a distinct behavioral emphasis
on the study of the city, and tends more toward the ex-
planatory than the normative emphasis. His work surely
reflects a very strong feeling for the dynamic, not only in
the usual time sense but also in his concern for construct-
ing the evolutionary sequence in human behavior pat-
terns. Clearly he is intent on empirical verification of this
52
conceptual framework and builds it with this end in view.
Surely there is a compelling logic in this system of thought
concerning spatial organization and growth of cities.
There is every indication that a formal and rigorous state-
ment of theory will emerge. Perhaps because it is in a
working stage of formulation, the internal continuity of
the way in which the framework is eventually to be put
to use is not entirely clear. How the analysis would pro-
ceed from sampling information flows, to identifying
transactions, to constructing activity patterns, to defining
space use patterns is not yet clearly established. As is per-
haps true of any work which is still in progress, there are
parts of the schema which are more developed and there-
fore more easily understood than other parts. Until the
work nears a more precise stage of formulation, the expo-
sition of concepts and analytical sequences is likely to
remain uneven.
A Framework Emphasizing Human Interaction
Webber also utilizes interaction as the basic organizing
concept of his theoretical system? H e views urban com-
munities in two related perspectives-ane in which human
interaction occurs in a particular metropolitan community,
and one in which it extends to widely scattered places over
the face of the earth. H e calls the first a “place com-
munity” and the second a “nonplace community.” With
modern transportation and communications development
having the effect of stretching distances, he notes that
individuals, firms, organizations, and institutions more
and more have contacts, conduct transactions, and main-
tain communications on a global basis. Thus their ties
may extend to a variety of nonplace communities as well
as exist within a particular urban place. T o distinguish
them from the urban place, he calls these nonplace com-
munities “urban realms.”
It is this total concept of the urban community which is
the distinctive flavor of Webber’s approach. H e calls for
an understanding of the interaction systems which extend
into larger urban realms as well as those which fall within
a particular metropolitan area. Thus he holds that the
study of systems of interaction within the urban region is
no longer a complete and sufkient scope for metropolitan
planning. According to Webber’s concept, what goes on
within the spatial confines of an urban place must be
interpreted in the framework of all the ties that the com-
munity may have with the world at large. H e notes that
individuals may or may not engage in all their activities
in a place community and, according to whether they are
scientists, manufacturers, or writers, their interest com-
munities extend to differing realms. These same individ-
uals may participate in several non work-related interest
communities-in the arts, in recreation, in public service,
and so on. In contrast, some persons such as the butcher,
the factory worker, or the clerk may have interest com-
munities which at present are completely contained within
the place community. So today, metropolitan planning
requires a view which considers how the place popula-
tion may also be a part of various realm populations, each
with what Webber refers to as its own “space field” for
interaction, some global, some national, and some in
various regional contexts.
In both the place and nonplace view of the urban com-
munity, Webber emphasizes the importance of viewing
the city as a “dynamic system in action.” This dynamic
feature is traced through “linkages,” which he defines as
 “dependency ties” relating individuals, groups, firms, and Review Article: Chapin
other entities to one another. He terms these “the invisi-
ble relations that bring various interdependent business activities and flows on the one hand and adapted space
and flow systems on the other, so far they have devoted
establishments, households, voluntary groups, and personal
friends into working associations with each other-into their main effort to the latter level of analysis which they
operating systems.” His spatial counterpart of this aspa-equate with the study of “urban form.” The distinctive
feature of their conceptual system is the emphasis they
tial view of linkages involves three related perspectives.
place on the formulation of goals as an integral part of
First is a view of the city in terms of spatial patterns of
human interactions-the flow of communications, people, their framework. Their work begins with the study of
urban form; it then focuses on the specification of goals;
goods, and so on; second is a view of the physical fot-m of
the city-the space adapted for various human activities and finally it draws upon the goal-form analysis to indi-
and the pattern of networks of communication and chan- cate the nature of the planner’s task in efforts aimed at
shaping urban form in line with the goals that have been
nels of transportation; and third is a view of the city as a
configuration of activity locations-the spatial distribu-identified.
tion of various types of activities by economic functions, In their conceptual framework they are concerned first
social roles, or other ways of classifying activities. with a system for analyzing urban form. (Were they
Using these three perspectives of the city, Webber de-starting with activities and flows, they might well focus
velops a cross-classification system for describing urbaninitially on a system for analyzing interaction.) Lynch
and Rodwin propose evaluating urban form by six ana-
spatial structure. The interaction, physical, and activity
components are classified according to one, size of phe- lytical categories: element types, quantity, density, grain,
nomenon; two, degree to which phenomenon piles up in focal organization, and generalized spatial distribution.
major concentric forms around a point; three, propensity “Element types” is a category for differentiating qualita-
for phenomenon to pile up at points of lesser concentra- tively between basic types of spaces and flow systems; and,
as might be expected, “quantity” has to do with aniounts-
tion; four, degree of pile-up per unit (for example, pile-up
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a measure of the size of particular types of adapted spaces

per 100 contacts between people, per square mile of area);
five, relative “togetherness” of like phenomena; and six,of flow systems. “Density,” expressed either as a single
relative degrees of mixture. With the elements of the measure or as a range of measures, has to do with com-
metropolitan community thus identified, measured, and paction (of people, facilities, vehicles) per unit of space
classified, Webber provides a descriptive framework. But or capacity of channel. ‘‘Grain” is their term to indicate
how various elements of urban form are differentiated and
he recognizes that there is still a step beyond, one of using
this framework in the investigation of the directions thatseparated. Adapted spaces and flow systems may be fine-
future growth and development must take. While this grained or coarse-grained according to the extent of com-
paction or separation in their internal components (houses,
step is still to be made, he indicates it would involve an
skyscrapers, streets) and how sharp or blurred these form
analysis of interaction in terms of the locational behavior
of various types of establishments. elements are at the edges where transition occurs from
In Webber’s work we have a conceptual system which is one element to another. “Focal organization” is con-
cerned with the spatial disposition and interrelations
extremely broad in scope but still in a very early stage of
development. Presently it consists of a framework for among key points in the city (density peaks, dominant
describing the city, one that is explanatory rather than building types, major breaks between forms of transporta-
normative. Webber emphasizes the importance of the tion). “Generalized spatial distribution” is the patterned
dynamic aspect of a theory, but how his classification organization oi space as it might be seen from the air at a
system will be used and how he will develop it in the high altitude. This six-part classification system is the
behavioral approach he favors for the analysis of inter- basic analytical tool they propose for classifying urban
action systems is not yet entirely clear. We know that heform.
places a high premium on making these systems con- The second major conceptual problem which the Lynch-
tinuous and dynamic, and so we anticipate that some kind Rodwin framework seeks to deal with is the formulation
of interaction model to represent these as operating sys-of goals utilizing this analytical tool. They point out that
tems will become a central concern in the next stages of the problem is not alone one of identifying out of the
his theory building. It is premature to examine the em- multitude of possible goals those that have significance for
pirical content of his work in its present stage, but hisurban form, but it is also one of specifying the goals in
concern for the problem of measurement in both the place concrete terms which leave no doubt as to how they are
to be realized. The identification of goals is one aspect of
and nonplace aspects of his schema indicates that empirical
tests are very much in his thinking. Certainly Webber the problem, and the specification of content is a second
places heavy emphasis on achieving an internal logical aspect. With respect to the first, Lynch and Rodwin point
consistency to his conceptual framework, and his concern out that goals must to some extent be determined in the
normal democratic processes, with community-held goals
for the study of locational behavior of the principal agents
of interaction would indicate that as his work progressesbeing differentiated carefully from the planner’s personal
he will be seeking a close representation of reality. goals (which would tend to emphasize the goals of only
one segment of society). But at the same time they would
give careful attention to the planner’s goals as a pro-
A Conceptzcal System Focusing on Urban Form fessional and urban designer where, they point out, he has
Lynch and Rodwin view the city as being made up of a proper role to play in seeing that more advanced values
what they call “adapted space” for the accommodation of take their place in the community value system beside the
human activities and “flow systems” for handling flows familiar ones of long standing. They suggest that the
of people and goods? Although they differentiate between choice of goals have first a human and then an economic
52
 basis. Thus, goals relating to urban form are fundamen- bility as an element inherent in the physical organization
tally concerned on the one hand with relationships be- of space and movement systems, some work gives this
tween man and his environment and between man and concept a more central role in building theory. Much of
man, and on the other hand, with the efficiency of these the recent work on accessibility concepts has been pri-
relationships-maximizing the return and minimizing the marily focused on tran~portation.~Although this work
cost in both a social and an economic sense. The specifica- has had a very considerable impact on research in urban
tion of goal content derives from the analytical framework spatial structure, I do not attempt to include in this sum-
they devised in the first instance. Thus the goals would be mary any report on work which is primarily oriented to
specified in terms of type of adapted space and flow sys- transportation.
tem, quantity, density, grain, focal organization, and the Guttenberg develops a theoretical approach to urban
spatial distribution pattern. Some would have quantita- structure and city growth which utilizes accessibility as
tive emphases, some would deal more in qualitative con- an organizing concept-what he calls “a community effort
cepts, and all would be subject to continuing checks as to to overcome distance.”6 In the sense that human inter-
relevance and reasonableness. action is the underlying reason for minimizing distance,
The final aspect of the Lynch-Rodwin framework is he is implicitly viewing interaction as the basic determi-
concerned with the application of the goal-form state- nant of urban spatial structure. However, his work focuses
ments in the study of the city and in establishing what primarily on the physical facility aspect of a total system
emphases will be needed in the plan that eventually is to of theory. In place of the simple two-part view (space use
emerge. Through the use of simple cross-classificationsof for activities and interconnecting systems of transport and
the six components of their system of analysis applied to communications), he identifies three components. He sub-
both adapted spaces and flow systems, they demonstrate divides the first into “distributed facilities” and “undis-
how these two elements of urban form interact under tributed facilities,” with these being a function of the
different goal emphases. In sum, Lynch and Rodwin view third component, “transportation.” The rationale states
the framework as a means for analyzing the urban form that if transportation is poort the work places, trade cen-
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in a systematic and logical manner. They think of it as ters, and community services will tend to assume a pat-
a means of posing the problems for planning but they tern of distributed facilities; if it is good, these activities
leave the solution to the planning task which follows from will assume more concentrated patterns in the form of
their framework. undistributed facilities. Thus, Guttenberg maintains that
This conceptual system has been developed to deal with urban spatial structure is intimately tied up with the aggre-
a particular aspect of what we look for in a total system of gate effort in the community to overcome distance.
theory. Although they acknowledge the important role In his framework, he sees the spatial gradation of
which the interaction level of study has in theoretical density outward from distributed and undistributed faci-
formulations, presently Lynch and Rodwin have limited lities as a function of access. H e points out that his dis-
themselves to urban form, directing their attention to the tributed centers of activity acquire a value in accordance
physical implications of human interaction. Their work with the substitutability of that place for the chief place,
is concerned with the rationale of planning for the city with the physical density gradient outward from these
rather than a framework for analyzing the structure of the centers corresponding closely with, but not necessarily
city and explaining how growth occurs. In this sense, directly coincident with the economic density gradient.
they are providing a framework which has special signifi- In the context of his framework, therefore, the slope of
cance for plan-making. In focusing on goal formulation, the economic density of gradient is closely related to
they have injected an essentially normative emphasis into transport efficiency as it enables outlying locations to
their schema. However, they do not specify “what should substitute for more central locations.
be”; but rather they indicate how goal combinations can In examining the implications of growth for his concept
be analyzed in deriving “what should be” in a particular of urban structure, he points out that the transportation
locality and how these in turn may be integrated syste- system holds the key to the way in which growth proceeds.
matically into the planning process. The importance of a The transportation decisions made from one year to an-
theory being a dynamic one is recognized by Lynch and other will result in a constantly changing urban structure,
Rodwin, and in the sense that the sequence from goal with the emphasis shifting along the continuum between
formulation to form analysis in their conceptual system is the situation with highly distributed centers to the situa-
seen as a continuous and dynamic interrelationship it tion with one major undistributed facility. He implies
is dynamic in conception. But in the sense we have been that there is some limit in the ability of the undistributed
using “dynamic” to signify the organizing aspect of facility to continue indefinitely to function as the only
theory which takes account of the evolutionary process of major center as compared to the capacity that distributed
urban development, their framework is as yet incomplete. centers have for absorbing growth. As growth occurs,
Their work reflects sensitivity to the importance of em- structural adjustments to overcome distance can take the
pirical verification. This has since become particularly form of either new centers or improved transportation
evident in Lynch’s studies of the perceptual form of the facilities. Commonly both occur. With the enlarged scale
city. They have given careful attention to the logical and resulting changed relationships between home, work,
continuity of their conceptual system, and there is clearly and various activity centers, population movements ensue.
a great sense of responsibility for tying their work closely With these shifts the areas which do offer the accessibility
to reality. that people seek, develop, and those which do not, decline
in a social and an economic sense. With growth, the
Accessibility Concepts and Urban Structure enlarged scale alters the density gradient. If transport
Although all conceptual systems of the kind we have been eficiency is improved, favoring the substitution of out-
discussing sooner or later become concerned with accessi- lying for central locations (as has been the case in Los
54
 Angeles), the slope of the density gradient is flattened,
the region spreads out and, depending upon the amount of
population influx in relation to the area added, the den-
sity may go down.
How may such a view of urban structure and urban
growth be used in anticipating urban form in the future?
Guttenberg acknowledges that transport efficiency is not
the sole variable. H e notes that activities may choose a
location in relation to a central place for reasons other
than time-distance. For example, a change of economic
composition in the region may produce new location pat-
terns. However, assuming such other things are constant
(similar economic conditions, terrain, tastes, and SO on),
he maintains that accessibility in terms of time-distance
serves to sort activities spatially. If the additional assump-
tion is introduced that the transportation system remains
similar over time, he points out that there will be com-
parable accessibility and that therefore we may anticipate
similar patterns in the distribution of activities in the
region. He does not discuss the complexities of predic-
tion involved when constraints are relaxed and one by
one the elements held constant are allowed to vary, but it
is clear that by introducing differing combinations of
assumptions the interplay of these elements quickly be-
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comes exceedingly complex.
In the present stage of its development, this con-
ceptual framework centers mainly on the physical aspects
of a theoretical system of urban structure and growth.
Its distinctive feature is the emphasis it gives to the inter-
play between the location of urban activities and transport
efficiency. In the sense that activity concentrations and
transportation are continuously interacting and that ac-
cessibility provides an organizing rationale for urban
structure and a regulating concept for urban growth, the
framework is a dynamic one, supplying an evolutionary
basis for explaining urban form. While it has a well
developed logical context and a direct relation to reality,
Guttenberg’s statement gives no indication as to how this
framework is to be translated into an analytical system
and given empirical form.
Other works which should be cited here are Hansen’s
use of the accessibility concept in the analysis of the
growth of residential areas and Voorhees’ use of the con-
cept in the analysis of other use a~tivities.~ However, both
are primarily concerned with the pragmatic aspects of pre-
diction rather than the formulation of a general system of
thought governing urban spatial structure.
Economic Models of Spatial Structure
In some respects quite different from the approaches dis-
cussed so far, economic models approach the conceptualiza-
tion of urban spatial structure in the traditions of economic
theory. The roots of this work go back to an agricultural
land development concept advanced by Von Thiinen in
the early 1800’s and include work in more recent times
by Alfred Weber, Losch, Isard, and others.’ The eco-
nomic approaches discussed here make use of what is
known in economics as equilibrium theory. Since forms
of notation used in equilibrium theory are specialized
and some of the technical aspects of the concepts involved
in this theory are outside the scope of this discussion, this
work is presented in somewhat abridged form. The
reader versed in economic theory will want to pursue this
line of theoretical development in the original sources of
work cited here.
55
Review Article: Chapin
Essentially the view taken in these approaches sees
urban development processes as economic phenomena.
The organizing concept is the market mechanism and the
sorting process it provides in the allocation of space to
activities. In the work on urban spatial structure this
involves allocation of space in both quantitative and lo-
cational aspects to various users according to supply and
demand relationships and a least-cost concept in an equi-
librium system.
Wingo’s work provides perhaps the most systematic and
rigorous statement of urban spatial structure in the frame-
work of equilibrium theory.’ Traditionally economists
have dealt with location as a constant, and there has been
a disinterest or an unwillingness to examine location as a
variable. In his work, Wingo lifts this constraint. H e
seeks to give explicit recognition to the way in which
policy affects the market and how in turn these effects are
reflected in urban spatial structure. In this sense, he is
seeking to relate theory to real world situations. However,
in addition he seeks to bring developments in spatial
models into closer harmony with general economic theory
and to relate theoretical work on location to the broader
concepts of the urban economy.
Directing his attention mainly to residential develop-
ment, Wingo develops first a concept of transportation
demand, considering the spatial relationship between home
and work. With the journey to work viewed as “the
technological link between the labor force and the produc-
tion process,” he defines demand for movement as the
total employment of an urban area multiplied by the fre-
quency of work-in other words, the number of trips re-
quired to support the production process. As Meier has
done, Wingo recognizes the propensity for urban society
to substitute communications for transportation and
stresses the necessity for taking into account techno-
logical developments in this respect. The supply aspect
is expressed in terms of the capacity of a movement
system-a measure of its ability to accommodate move-
ments between home and work. Drawing on a concept of
accessibility somewhat similar to that discussed above, he
uses as a unit of measurement the cost of transportation
based on the time spent in movement between points and
the out-of-pocket costs for these movements expressed in
money equivalents for distance and number of trips.
The central problem of this kind of economic model is
to achieve an equilibrium distribution of households of
particular rent-paying abilities to sites with a particular
structure of rents. Wingo achieves this location equili-
brium by substituting transportation costs for space costs.
Thus, on the supply side, he utilizes transport costs to
establish the distribution of household sites at varying posi-
tion rents. H e defines position rent as “the annual savings
in transportation costs compared to the highest cost loca-
tion in use.” On the demand side, if prices for other goods
competing for the household dollar are held constant, the
rents households are willing to pay are based on the
marginal utility concept, which holds that the greater the
unit rent, the fewer the units of space consumed. Clearly
this view of space use immediately involves density, and
the smaller the quantity of space consumed in the more ac-
cessible locations, the higher the density. The spatial
distribution of these densities in the urban area involves
the density gradient concept noted earlier, with the slope
 falling off from the center of the city to the outskirts.
T o get at the characteristics of demand in the spatial con-
text, Wingo constructs a demand schedule and utilizes
appropriate position rents from this schedule to determine
the point at which prices and densities are in equilibrium.
The economic model Wingo advances functions under
the usual behavioral axiom that those who control resi-
dential space and households which seek space will each
behave to maximize their returns. He specifies as givens:
the locations of employment centers, a particular trans-
portation technology, a set of urban households, the
marginal value the worker places on leisure, and the
marginal value households place on residential space.
Wingo then uses his model to determine the spatial dis-
tribution of densities and rents, and the spatial distribu-
tion, value, and extent of land required for residential
use. For the derivation of the elements to the model
as well as the mathematical form, and for his discussion
of the empirical advantages and limitations of the model,
the reader is referred to the source.1o
Although it is beyond the scope of this discussion to go
further into this work as it relates to economic theory, we
may note that as a theoretical system it is the most
developed one considered so far. The market mechanism
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furnishes the dynamic aspect and organizing concept for
the theoretical framework. The conceptual system is
rigorously stated, and logical consistency is carefully
observed throughout. Wingo has sought to maintain a
close contact with the real world, and although empirical
tests of this work are still to be made, we do have indica-
tions from experimentation going on in the use of mathe-
matical models in generating land use patterns that this
kind of economic model can be made operational.”
Decision Analysis and the Structure of Cities
As still another approach to urban spatial structure, the
author has proposed that a conceptual system based on the
values-behavior patterns-consequences framework devel-
oped by a group at the University of North Carolina offers
a basic organizing concept for theory development.” In
its most basic form, and viewing the components in reverse
order, this framework seeks explanations for any particular
man-induced phenomenon being studied (in this instance,
urban growth and development) in terms of human be-
havior (patterns of activity), with behavior patterns being
a function in turn of people’s values (or the attitudes held
concerning these activities). A fourth element in the
framework has to do with control processes (strategies or
plans) that influence the interplay among the first three
components.
In common with the view taken by several of the fore-
going conceptual systems, under this framework, it is a
behavioral axiom that human beings tend to concentrate
at various places on the earth’s surface in the satisfaction
of needs and desires for interaction which, in the frame-
work of the above values-action-outcomes sequence, may
be viewed as the middle component (behavior patterns).
The term “behavior patterns” is used to refer to rational
and overt forms of interaction, both the forms which
cluster spatially into duplicating or near-duplicating
patterns and remain relatively unchanged for extended
periods of time, and the forms which take variable spatial
patterns and appear in different locations from one day to
the next. Although planners are concerned with both
clustering and non-clustering patterns of behavior, to get
56
at the elements of urban spatial structure they are
particularly interested in the way duplicating or clustered
patterns build up in space. Out of the universe of behavior
patterns to be found in a metropolitan area, certain ones
have a spatial importance, show a tendency to duplicate
in clusters, and occur in rhythmical and repetitive forms
in the course of the week, month, or season. These
behavior patterns are constantly undergoing adjustments
and reformation in response to value orientations, but at
the same time some of these behavior patterns have
sufficient importance in their spatial, duplicating, repetitive
characteristics to produce outcomes in physical structure
and form. As in most of the other conceptual systems
reviewed here, these physical forms are composed of one,
spaces adapted to the various forms of place-related inter-
action, and two, interconnecting channels for the various
forms of movement-related or communications-related
interaction. The means by which interaction patterns
become translated into these structure-form outcomes is
found in the location behavior of households, firms,
government, and institutional entities.
Location behavior, then, may be thought of as growing
out of needs and desires of day-to-day forms of interaction.
While location actions occur on a day-in-and-day-out basis,
for any particular household or firm, they tend to occur
infrequently. The location action constitutes a different
type of behavior pattern from the daily activity patterns.
But at the same time, the location action is the instru-
mentality by which the activity patterns of the first type
are accommodated in physical form.
The framework we have been developing at the Uni-
versity of North Carolina focuses on the decision as the
critical point in the behavioral sequence in a location
action. Of the many kinds of decisions by which space is
adapted and put to use and movement systems established,
two groups are differentiated. One group is invoIved in
what are called “priming decisions” in the sense that they
are seen to trigger the other group, what are called
“secondary decisions,” with the two together accounting
for development as a whole. Priming decisions are made
in both the public sector (for example, those involved in
major highway locations or utility locations) and in the
private sector (for example, decisions on large-scale invest-
ment in land, on the location of industries with large
employment or the location of major shopping centers or
Levittown-type developments). They set the stage for
secondary decisions-for example, park acquisition or
street widening decisions in the public sector, or small-
scale subdivision, mortgage-financing, lot-purchasing, or
home-building decisions in the private sector.
Priming actions tend to develop from single decisions
or a mix of discrete decisions of some strategic importance
in setting off a chain reaction of development, and
secondary actions usually consist of clusters of decisions
(for example, clusters of household decisions) stimulated
by, but following from the strategic actions. Because it
would be impractical to unravel and deal with the separate
effects of all kinds of decisions, the emphasis in this frame-
work is on priming decisions-discovering what mix of
these actions tends to trigger other actions and thus
influence the course of events which accounts for the
pattern of development that subsequently emerges. There-
fore, under our conceptual system, land development is
viewed as the consequence first of certain strategic
decisions which structure the pattern of growth and devel-
 opment and then of the myriads of household, business,
and governmental decisions which follow from the first
key decisions.
An experimental model has been developed for testing
this conceptual approach.13 The initial emphasis of this
work is on experimentation with household location. In
its present form, priming decisions are “givens,” and the
task of the model is to simulate secondary location
decisions-essentially a distribution of households to avail-
able land-following an evolutionary sequence of priming
actions. While serving to induce secondary location
decisions, the “given” priming decisions are seen in part as
the result of pressures which arise from daily needs and
desires of urban residents, firms, and other entities. Since
location behavior is thus viewed as an outgrowth of needs
and desires developing from daily-weekly-seasonal forms
of interaction, the author places a premium on studying
not only prevailing activity patterns but also attitudes of
different population groups for insights they supply into
the likely future stability of these patterns. It may be
anticipated that future work on this conceptual system will
emphasize two lines of research development: one, the
analysis of activity patterns from data obtained by home
interviews, firm interviews, and so on, and two, the
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analysis of attitudes from a paralleling line of inquiry
in the course of these interviews. These areas of inquiry
are seen as supplying parameters for the location model.
If the author may presume to apply to his work the
same criteria used in the other five approaches, it may be
stated that this conceptual system is an explanatory one.
It seeks an explanation of urban spatial structure through
the study of location behavior and more particularly
through the analysis of selected classes of location decisions
and their sequence over time, and it seeks an explanation
of location behavior in terms of daily activity systems and
related value systems. In this kind of approach norms may
be introduced in the form of alternative choices in the
decision process, but the normative aspect is not an integral
part of the conceptual system. Particular stress is placed
on the use of models in making empirical tests of aspects
of the system and in making the approach dynamic,
with a direct relation to reality. In its present early stage
of development, the framework is still loosely conceived
and not only requires a more rigorous formulation but
considerably more testing before it can be considered of
operational utility.
Comparative Aspects of Theoretical Approaches
There are some important similarities in these systems of
thought I have been reviewing and some significant dif-
ferences. Explicitly or implicitly each system is directly
concerned with the development of a framework which
identifies and describes regularities in patterns of human
interaction in space and explains their origins and trans-
formations in time wherever population aggregates in
urban areas. Along with these rather fundamental rela-
tionships in space and time is a common concern for acces-
sibility, a concept of great importance in spatial relation-
ships. In describing interaction patterns, most of these
conceptual systems make a distinction between patterns of
intra-place and inter-place interaction, the former having
importance for the adaptation of space and the latter
involving communications between spaces. “Space adapta-
tion” and “communications,” of course, are counterparts
for “land use” and “circulation” which are terms common
57
Review Article: Chapin
in the vocabulary of the practitioner.
While there is this fundamental common base, other
similarities may be found when comparisons are narrowed
to two or three approaches. Some similarities are based
on acknowledged cross-ties as in Meier’s acceptance of
Webber’s urban realm concept, or Webber’s adoption of
Meier’s communications emphasis. Some appear to be
simply parallelisms among the conceptual systems. Thus,
while Wingo sees man’s economic behavior in the market
place as the medium which regulates location decisions,
with adjustments introduced to take account of non-
economic factors influencing these decisions, the author’s
work in effect substitutes the urban social system for the
market place as the medium which regulates location
decisions, these being determined by the day-to-day inter-
action needs and desires of urban residents, firms, and
other entities.
Yet, with these similarities and parallelisms, there are
distinctive differences in approach. The differences are in
part a function of the background, specialization, and
research biases of the person advancing the approach. Be-
yond this, one senses differences in conception of what
would constitute a proper set of criteria for theory building
whether or not they are consciously considered in any
particular approach. Meier’s work reflects a unique per-
spective across the expanse of both physical and social
sciences, and drawing on this broad scope of interest, he
directs attention to the opportunities for synthesizing
elements from different fields in a theory of urban spatial
structure. Deeply concerned with the implications of
technological and social change for patterns of human
interaction, Webber emphasizes the placelessness of many
new forms of activities and the importance of the dynamic
aspect of theory building to take these changes into ac-
count. Lynch and Rodwin have focused their attention
on one part of the broad area we have been discussing,
dealing with this part in some depth and laying particular
stress on a normative approach. Wingo’s work reflects a
strong inclination toward a rigorously classical and sys-
tematic approach to theory building. Guttenberg has a
sensitivity to the policy implications of theory and the
alternatives open to metropolitan areas in making a choice.
The author’s work with his associates at North Carolina
places a strong emphasis on relating theory on urban
structure and growth to theoretical work in public policy
and decision-making.
It should be clear by this time that there is a significant
effort going into theoretical research, a healthy variety
to approaches being explored, and a developing emphasis
on an experimental view. Some question the present day
emphasis in the social sciences on the use of experimental
designs. This is in part a reaction against the heavy
emphasis in these times on the natural sciences. The
advent of symbolic logic and mathematical models is seen
by some as a hocus pocus and a dream world of fadism
seeking to mystify with esoteric language and mathe-
matical learning. There may be some excesses of this kind,
but the real difficulties are more likely to come from the
blind hope of formula-hunters who use models without
looking into the qualifying conditions which apply in any
particular situation. It should be noted, too, that the
distrust and occasional eruption of impatience with the
use of mathematics in theory building is not peculiar
 to the planning field. Old-line theorists in economics,
political science, and sociology have frequently spoken
out on this matter.14 The planning field has come to
this controversy more recently, but the arguments are not
too different. Harris offers a cogent brief for the place of
models in city planning, and the reader would do well to
look up his comments on this subject if he has lingering
doubts about the utility of mathematics in planning
theory.15
Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted from a chapter prepared
for the author’s reoised edition of Urban Land Use Planning to be
published in the fall of 1964 by the Uniuersity of Illinois Press, and
reproduced here with the permission of the publisher.
NOTES
1Adapted from the work of Rosalyn B. Post for the Center for
Urban and Regipnal Studies, University of North Carolina, and
summarized in a manuscript entitled “Criteria for Theories of
Urban Spatial Structure: An Evaluation of Current Research,”
1962.
2 Richard L. Meier, A Communications T h e w y of Urban
Growth (Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press, 1962).
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3Melvin M. Webber, “The Urban Place and the Nonplace
Urban Realm,” Explorations into Urban Structure, ed. Webber
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963).
4 Kevin Lynch and Lloyd Rodwin, “A Theory of Urban Form,”
lournal of the American Institute of Planners, XXIV (November,
1958), 201-214.
5 See the work of J. Douglas Carroll and his associates in
Detroit, Chicago, and Pittsburgh on metropolitan area transporta-
tion studies (for example, i.
R. Hamburg, “Land Use Projection and
Predicting Future Traffic,” Trip Characteristics and Traffic Assign-
ment, Highway Research Board Bulletin 224, National Academy of
Sciences, 1959); see also the work of Alan M. Voorhees in the
Baltimore, Hartford, and Los Angeles transportation studies (for
example, C. F. Barnes, “Integrating Land Use and Traffic Fore-
casting,” Forecasting Highway Trips, Highway Research Board
STUDIES IN COMMUNITY
DECISION-MAKING
Lawrence D. Mann
A generation or two ago, many planners con-
sidered themselves aloof from politics. Indeed, planning
was supposed to provide a better way than “dirty” politics
to decide on important questions of a community’s physi-
cal (and, by implication, social) pattern of the future.
A Traditional Model 1
In a benevolent model of community deciding behavior, a
group of interested local citizens (non-politicians) would
58
Bulletin 297, National Academy of Sciences, 1961).
6 Albert Z. Guttenberg, “Urban Structure and Urban Growth,”
lournu1 of the Anierican Institute of Planners, XXVI (May, 1960),
104-1 10.
7 Walter G. Hansen, “How Accessibility Shapes Land Use,”
Journal of the American Institute of Planners, XXV (May, 1959),
73-76; Alan M. Voorhees, “Development Patterns in American
Cities,” Urban Transportation Planning: Concepts and Application,
Highway Research Board Bulletin 293, National Academy of
Sciences, 1961.
8 J. H. von Thiinen, Der lsolierte Staat in Beziehung auf Land-
wirtschaft und Nationalo&momie (Hamburg, 1826) ; C. 1. Friedrich,
Alfred Webey’s Theory of Location of Industries (Chicago: Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, 1928); August Losch, T h e Economics of
Location (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954); Walter Isard,
Location and Space-Economy (New York and Cambridge: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., and Technology Press, 1956).
9 Lowdon Wingo, Jr., Transportation and Urban Land (Wash-
ington. D. C.: Resources for the Future, Inc., 1961). William
Alonso’s work provides another conceptual framework based on
economic theory. With the publication of his Location and Land
Use: Toward A General Theory of Land Rent by the Harvard
University Press, his work will become more generally available.
lolbid. See p. 87 for the general form of the model.
11For example, see Ira S. Lowry, “Location Parameters in the
Pittsburgh Model,” XI (1962); Roland Artle, Studies in the
Structure of the Stockholm Economy (Stockholm: The Business
Research Institute at the Stockholm School of Economics, 1959);
and Britton Harris, “Experiments in Projection of Transportation
and Land Use,” Trafic Quarterly, April, 1962.
12Parts of this approach to urban spatial structure are covered
in the “Introduction” and Chapter 13 of Urban Growth Dynamics,
ed. F. Stuart Chapin, Jr., and Shirley F. Weiss (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1962). A fuller statement from which this
statement is excerpted will appear in the revised edition of Urban
Land Use Planning, scheduled for publication by the University
of Illinois Press late in 1964.
13F. Stuart Chapin, Jr., and Shirley F. Weiss, Factors Influ-
encing Land Deoelopnzent (Chapel Hill: Institute for Research in
Social Science, University of North Carolina, in co-operation with
the Bureau of Public Roads, U. S. Department of Commerce,
August, 1962).
14 For arguments pro and con, see James C. Charlesworth, ed.,
Mathematics and the Social Sciences, a symposium (Philadelphia:
American Academy of Political and Social Science, June, 1963).
15 Britton Harris, “Plan or Projection: An Examination of the
Use of Models in Planning,” lournal of the American Institute of
Flannels, XXVZ (November, 1960), 265-272.
be appointed to a planning board. These impartially in-
terested worthies would, assisted by a professional plan-
ning consultant or a hired staff, decide the future pattern
of the community. Then they would get ordinances for
zoning, subdivision control, housing and building codes,
drafted and passed. And the town would grow (aestheti-
cally) beautiful and therefore (socially) nice. Politics did
not have to be involved at all. Certainly the professional
planner (whether consultant or permanent staff-man) did
not have to be concerned with politics. He had only to
carry out the appropriate “social surveys,” create the
“noble diagram” of the master plan, and then aid in the
drafting of the necessary ordinances. If he stayed on in
the community, he might act as a technician to show how
these implementation devices applied to specific cases. But
progress toward the brave new world need have no such
people as politicians in it.
Perhaps even today a few students come out of plan-
ning school with a similar picture of the way communities
decide. But it seems safe to say that not many experienced
planners can long maintain this view of the way things