MODULE 4

Presentation by Ar. Dhanya Shaji

THREE MODELS OF URBAN STRUCTURE

Urban structure is the arrangement of land use in

urban areas.

Sociologists, economists and geographers have

developed several models, explaining where
different types of people and businesses tend to
exist within the urban setting.

Urban structure can also refer to the urban spatial

structure, which concerns the arrangement of public
and private space in cities and the degree of
connectivity and accessibility.
Early Models of Urban structure:

1. Burgess Concentric Ring Model

2. Sector Model

3. Multiple Nuclei Model (Ullman and Harris)

Concentric Ring Model
• The concentric ring model was formulated by sociologist Ernest
Burgess in 1924.

• It draws on human ecology theories, which compared the city

to an ecosystem.

• Ernest Burgess gave a model to define how different social

groups are located in a metropolitan area.

• Concentric Zone Model was developed between 1925 and

1929 based on the study of American cities.

• Chicago city was studied for which Burgess provided empirical

evidence.
Zone I (Central Business District)

• This is the center (innermost zone) where the

central business district is located and has highest
land value.

• The zone has tertiary activities and earns maximum

economic returns.

• This part has noticeably high density to maximize

the returns from land.

• Commercial activity taking place in the area results

in negligible residential activity in this zone.
Zone II (Transition Zone)

• The mixed residential and commercial use characterizes this

zone.

• This is located adjacent and around the CBD and is continuously

changing, i.e. transition takes place.

• Another feature is the range of activities taking place like mixed

land use, car parking, cafe, old buildings.

• This zone of transition is considered to “decay” because of a

large number of old structures as the buildings in the transition
zone were earlier used for factories and tenement housing
blocks.

• This zone had a high population density where manufacturing

and industrial activities were at their peak.

• Those residing in this zone were of the poorest segment and

had the lowest housing condition.
Zone III (Inner City/ Working Class zone)

• This area is occupied for residential purpose and

also known as “inner city” or “inner suburbs.”

• This area has a mix of new and old development

and generally requires orderly redevelopment.

• This zone is nearest to the working area with

modest living conditions, and this resulted in
reduced commuting cost.
Zone IV (Outer Suburbs/ White Collar Homes)

• This zone had bigger houses and new

development occupied by the middle class.
• Better facilities are available to the residents like
parks, open spaces, shops, large gardens but this
comes at an increased commuting cost.
• People living in this outer ring look for better
quality of life.

Zone V (Commuter Zone)

• This is the peripheral area and farthest from the

CBD, this resulted in highest commuting cost
when compared with other zones.

• Low rise development, large gardens, less

population density are some of the
characteristics of this zone.
Advantages of the Burgess Model
• The model has the advantage that it is simple
and comprehensive and significant land uses
and their relationship are pinpointed in a
generalized form.
• Remains useful as a first approximation of
urban land use.
Criticism of the Burgess Model
• Pointed out even though portions of each
zone did exist, rarely were totally surround
the city .
• Others felt Burgess, as a sociologist,
overemphasized residential patterns and did
not give proper credit to other land uses.
• It emphasizes clear cut boundaries which
cannot be justified by gradient study.
Sector Model
• The sector model, also known as the Hoyt model, is
a model of urban land use proposed in 1939 by land
economist Homer Hoyt.
• It is a modification of the concentric zone model of
city development.
• The benefits of the application of this model include
the fact it allows for an outward progression of
growth.
• Hoyt Model is somewhat similar to Burgess Model
and is often considered as its improvised version.
• Hoyt argued that cities do not develop in the form
of simple rings, instead they have “sectors.”
• Homer Hoyt in 1939 suggested that few activities
grow in the form of sectors which radiates out
along the main travel links.
1. CBD – Central Business District

• Central Business District is placed at the center.

• This area is often known as downtown and has high rise buildings.

• Inner city area or downtown area is a complex and dynamic organism.

• As the cities are expanding, modern technology and scientific innovations are
transforming the style of living and also the structure of the city.
2. Industry

• Industries are represented in the form of a sector

radiating out from the center.

• These forms sectors because of the presence of a

transport linkage along which the activities grew.

• Apart from the industries, this area also serves as a

residential area for lower class workers.
3. Low-Class Residential

• Low-income groups reside in this area.

• Roads are narrow and often connects to the industries

where most of the people in this sector work.

• Closeness to industries reduces the travel cost and thus

attracts industrial workers.
4. Middle-Class Residential

• This area has the most significant residential area.

• This area has middle income groups who can afford

more substantial travel cost and want better living
conditions.
5. High Class residential

• This is the outermost and farthest area from the

downtown.

• Wealthy and affluent people live in this area.

• This area is clean, has less traffic, quiet and has large
houses.
Advantages of the Hoyt Model
• Ecological factors + economic rent concept
to explain the land use pattern.
• Stress on the role of transport routes in
affecting the spatial arrangement of the city.
• Brings location of industrial and
environmental amenity values as
determinants in a residential place.
• Transport linkages profoundly influence
activities and their locations.
Criticism of the Hoyt Model
• Only Railway lines are considered for the
growth of sectors and do not make
allowances for private cars.
• It is a monocentric representation of cities;
multiple business centers are not accounted
for in this model.
• No reference to out of town development.
Multiple Nuclei Model

• The Multiple Nuclei Model was created in 1945 by C. D. Harris & E. L.

Ullman.

• This model was based on Concentric Zone Model & Sector Model.

• The model describes the layout of a city based on Chicago.

• “Multiple Nuclei Model” is a model of urban land use in which a city grows
from several independent points rather than from one central business
district.

• Each point acts as a growth center from a particular kind of land use, as
industry, retail, port, university or high quality housing.
1. Central Business
district (CBD)
• The CBD still exists as the primary
nucleus, but multiple small
business districts developed,
distributed around the
metropolitan area.
• Some of these newer areas
compete with the CBD for
traditional businesses like banks,
real estate and insurance
companies.
2. Wholesale Light Manufacturing
• These businesses are more consumer-
oriented and near residential areas.
• Manufacturing goods that need small
amounts of raw materials and space
develop in this area.
• Businesses that offer wholesale goods
like clothes, furniture and consumer
electronics are found in this node.
Residential Districts
Residential neighborhoods of
varying status - creating
“pockets” of housing for both
the rich and poor, alongside
large zones of middle-class
housing.
There is a sort of randomness to
multiple nuclei cities, making
the landscape less legible - for
those not familiar with the city,
unlike concentric ring cities that
are easy to read by outsiders.
3. Low-Class R
• Next to the industrial corridors are the lower- or
working-class residential zones.
• People who live here tend to be factory workers
and live in low-income housing.
• Housing is cheap due to its proximity to industry
where pollution, traffic, railroads, and
environmental hazards make living conditions poor.
• Those who live in this sector do so to reduce the
cost to commute to work.
• They are sometimes stereotyped as living on the
“other side of the tracks,” and may experience
discrimination.
4. Middle-Class R
• This residential area is a bit more
desirable because it is located
further from industry and
pollution.
• People who work in the CBD have
access to good transportation
lines, making their commute
easier.
• The middle-class sector is the
largest residential area.
5. High-Class R
• Elite zone, for the handful of upper-class
people who live in the city tends to be
quiet, clean, and have less traffic that the
other ones.
• In many cities, you will find the high-class
district on the west side, where prevailing
winds enter the city and are upwind from
industrial zones, which are dirty and
smelly. Unlikely that high-class residential
housing would be found near factories or
lower-class housing areas.
• Hoyt’s model suggests a distinct physical
separation between the wealthy and the
poor.
6. Heavy Manufacturing 7. Outlying Business District

• This node is occupied by factories • This district competes with the CBD for
that produce material that is residents who lived in nearby middle and
heavy like chemicals, steel, high-class neighborhoods offering similar
industrial machinery. services and products as the CBD.

• Mining and oil refining industries • Businesses found in this node are malls,
also can be found in this node. airports, colleges and community
businesses.
8. Residential Suburb
• These suburbs are usually single-
family homes on a small plot of
land on the outskirts of the city.
• They tend to be laid out on roads
with cul-de-sacs instead of
following the traditional grid
pattern.
9. Industrial Suburb
• This is a community created and zoned for
industrial sources on the outskirts of the
city.
• Industrial districts in these new cities, not
restricted by the need to access rail or
water corridors, rely instead on truck
freight to receive supplies and to ship
products, allowing them to occur
anywhere zoning laws permitted.
• Because industrial zones create pollution,
they are located away from residential
areas.
Assumptions of Burgess, Hoyt, and Harris and Ullman’s models of urban
structure in common:

1) Great variation in characteristics e.g. heterogeneity of the population in culture and

society.

2) Competition for centrality because of limited space leading to highest land value. The
opposite is true of peripheral areas.

3) City center being center of employment.

4) Commercial and industrial base to the economy of the city.

5) No historic survival in any district to influence the land-use pattern.

6) No districts being more attractive because of differences in terrain.

7) Hierarchical order of land use.

The Concentric, Sector models and multiple nuclei models have many features in common:

• The centrally located C.B.D. is the most accessible and its land value or rent-bid is the highest.

• Distance decay theory is applicable in these models. Land value and population density decline with distance
from the central places.

• There are clear-cut and abrupt boundaries between the land-use zones.

• Concerned about the study of ground-floor functions instead of the three-dimensional study as height of
buildings is neglected.

• Residential segregation.

Social-economic status segregates residential areas. The lower-income groups live in the inner city which is suffering
from urban decay or in areas near the factory zone. Nearness to working places reduces time and cost of transport,
but gives better working opportunities and easiness of obtaining various order of goods and services. In contrast, the
higher-income groups occupy the urban periphery with better living environment far away from the factory zone
and the lower-income groups.
Difference among Concentric, Sector and Multiple nuclei models

1) Concentric model with circular pattern of land use zones; while sector model with sectoral pattern of land
use zones.

2) Land use zones in sector model developed along transport routes radiating out from CBD; while concentric
model never mention the transport development.

3) Monocentric – concentric, sector model; Polycentric – multiple nuclei.

4) Multiple nuclei more complex in term of land use zones, e.g. industrial suburbs.

5) Multiple nuclei allows the suburbanization, transport development, and outward growth of city.