Republic of the Philippines

BOHOL ISLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

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Bohol and the country.
Mission: BISU is committed to provide quality higher education in the arts and sciences, as well as in the professional and
technological fields; undertake research and development, and extension services for the sustainable development of Bohol and the
Country.

Geography 3
Topic: Classification of Urban Environments and Urban Ecological Processes

Objectives

At the end of the 2 hours session, 85% of the students are expected to:
a. identify urban environments and urban ecological processes;
b. present the economic activities and the conditions of the residents from the
different urban environments through role-playing; and
c. give insights on how urban ecological processes influence the social and
environmental factors of urban regions through open discussion.

*Classification of Urban Environments

- Urban Land Use/Location Theory The sector model of Burgess and Hoyt represents
aspects of location theory. In the location theory, which has evolved over time, the value
of land is predicted based on distance from the city center, industrial areas,
transportation routes, prevailing winds and the relief of land.
Ernest Burgess Model- Ernest Burgess concentric zone model suggested that cities
have zones arranged in a series of concentric bands that expand outward from the
CBD. A series of rings composed of the CBD, Inner City and Suburbs.
- Ernest Burgess was an American sociologist, famous for his work on urban
sociology at the University of Chicago. He pioneered efforts to establish
sociology as a scientific discipline, with the goal of being able to predict social
phenomena. In 1925, Burgess proposed a descriptive urban land use model that
divided cities into concentric circles expanding from downtown to the suburbs.
This representation was built from Burgess’s observations of several American
cities, notably Chicago, for which he provided empirical evidence.  According to
Burgess, urban growth is a process of expansion and reconversion of land
uses, with a tendency for each inner zone to expand towards the outer zone.
  Central Business District- the commercial and business site/heart of a city.
Buildings are usually built higher in the CBD than other districts due to high cost
of land. Due to higher volume of footfall, CBD buildings often have shops on the
first floor, often high visibility boutique shops.
- Office buildings for banks, insurance firms and the like are likely to want CBD
addresses.
- Low profit margin businesses like grocery stores may be located underground
or be small with excellent space efficiency. Department stores make have are
multiple floors.
- It is often the historic and tourist center as well.
 Inner City- a term used to describe a specific area of the Burgess model of
urban land use. It refers to an area of generally low-income housing perhaps
even public housing projects that were designed for workers of the factory district
on the outskirts of CBD.
- Are distressed urban areas of concentrated poverty and low income.
- Population density is very high.
 Suburbs- a residential area just outside the boundaries of a city.
- the outward growth of towns and cities to engulf surrounding villages and
rural areas. This may result from the out-migration of population from the
inner urban areas to the suburbs. Eventually, they become part of the urban
area as most of the people work in the city rather than the suburban area
(village/ town) they live in.
- as cities develop ring roads and access routs from the far reaches of the
suburbs, it become easier to commute and if the economy of the city can
support it, urban sprawl can grow and grow.
Homer Hoyt’s model- suggests that people live in different sectors based on income
levels.  Instead of concentric sets of neighborhoods, cities are primarily laid out in pie or
wedge-shaped zones and corridors developed from the core of the city to the outskirts. 
CBD
As with all classic models of urban land use, the Hoyt Sector Model has at its core the
central business district (CBD). Every older city has one such district at its center;
typically, it is the area with the high-rise buildings, banks, and large business
headquarters. It is the commercial and business center of a city. In bigger cities, the
CDB is often referred to as the “financial district.”
 Industrial Sector

According to this model, in regions of the city with significant industrial transportation
routes (rail, barge, freight), industrial corridors will develop. The noise and pollution of
these zones drive all but the poorest residents away from these areas. In these zones,
almost everyone rents. In Chicago, several of these industrial corridors stretched
outward from the CBD along railroad lines and the Illinois-Michigan industrial canal.

Residential Sectors

Hoyt’s model suggests that people will live in the different sectors based on income
levels. Since desirable land (near lakes, hills, places away from the smells of the
factories) was more expensive, the elite class neighborhoods were built in zones
separated from lower, working-class zones.
Low-Class Residential

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.  
Middle Class
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.
High Class

Hoyt’s model also identified an elite zone, for the handful of upper-class people who live
in the city. Michigan Avenue was that elite district in Chicago. High-class residential
sectors tend to be quiet, clean, and have less traffic that the other ones. There is also a
corridor that extends from the CBD to the edge of the city, where the prime real estate is
found.
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. It
is unlikely that high-class residential housing would be found near factories or lower-
class housing areas. In this way, Hoyt’s model suggests a distinct physical separation
between the wealthy and the poor.

Limitations of the Hoyt Sector Model

Hoyt’s model is based on outdated rail transportation and does not consider the
existence of personal cars that lets people commute from low-cost land outside the city
boundaries. The model also does not take into account the new concepts of edge cities.
Edge cities are urban complexes consisting of a large node of office buildings with more
workers than residents.
The CBD has lost some of its importance since it was created, as many retail and office
buildings have moved into the suburbs. If you look at older cities, they tend to follow the
Hoyt Segment Model, whereas newer cities follow Burgess’s concentric zone model.

*Urban Ecological Processes

 Concentration is the tendency for people and activities to gather where
conditions are favorable. It produces the growth of cities.
 Centralization is the clustering together of the economic and service functions
within the city. People come together to work, to play, to shop; then they return to
other areas to live. The shopping district, the factory district, and the
entertainment district are empty of people for a part of each day or night.
The central business district is a prime example of centralization.
 Decentralization is the tendency of people and organizations to desert the
center of the city for outlying areas where congestion is less and land values are
lower. The automobile and motor truck and electric power have greatly
encouraged residential, commercial, and industrial decentralization tendency
which greatly complicates the task of anyone who seeks to diagram the pattern
of the city. 
 Segregation - refers to the concentration of certain types of people or activities
within a particular area. The “Gold Coast,” the ghetto,
 and the produce market areas are examples, along with the hotel and banking
districts, the theater district, and “used-car row.”
- Segregation may be either voluntary or involuntary’. Most immigrant groups
voluntarily segregated themselves, for life was more-comfortable that way.
The ethnic neighborhood in the large American cities was partly voluntary and
partly involuntary [Wirth, 1928]. The ghetto is an example of involuntary
segregation, as low income, shortages of moderately priced housing, and a
variety-of threats and intimidations combine to confine most blacks to certain
residential areas [Abrams, 1955; Grier and Grier, 1960; Foley, 1973].

 Invasion takes place when a new kind of people, organization, or activity

enters an area. Residential area’> may be invaded by business, a business
area may be invaded by a new kind of business residents or a different class
level or ethnic group may move into a residential area. Generally, the invasion
is of a higher-status area by a lower-status group or activity. This direction of
invasion is a normal outcome of the process of city growth and of aging. A
once-exclusive residential area of homes which are no longer fashionable is
invaded by people a class level below the present occupants. A generation
later the same area may be invaded by persons still another class level lower,
or by blacks or other ethnics, or by secondhand stores and other business
houses. Some areas have therefore traveled the complete cycle of upper-
class residence to slum to upper-class residence. In all likelihood, the cycle
will now be repeated.
 Succession is the final stage, in which the changeover to new people or
activities becomes completed. The area may remain’ in a disorganized and
chaotic state or may become well organized around it. Like, new residents
or land use. 

References:
Sociology Assignments. Urban Ecological Processes. Retrieved date: March 07, 2023
from https://bit.ly/3mrMzwD
The Geographer Online. Urban Environments. Retrieved date: March 07, 2023 from
https://bit.ly/3ZzeFV
 ALBERT. Hoyt Sector Model: AP Human Geography Crash Course. Retrieved date:
March 08, 2023 from https://bit.ly/3YA9zXV