Extra information on urban models

Models are an attempt to explain general patterns in city shape, structure and land use. Over the
years different geographers and urban planners have suggested models that reflect a general
patterns of cities in some parts of the world. Early models were: the concentric zone model
(Burgess), and the sector model (Hoyt). These models reflected the city’s function as an industrial
and manufacturing centre.

1. Multiple nuclei model

After WW2, cities moved to being more service centres. Pattern of city changed and different
centres developed within the city. This led to Ulman and Harris developing the multiple nuclei
model.
2. Modern American-western city

Urban sprawl changed the shape of cities in America. Cities no longer conformed to the multiple-
nuclei model. The new model was really a mixture of concentric zones, sector and multiple
nuclei model. Walter Isard came up with American-western city model in 1955. This model
illustrates urban land use is an overlay of different transport effects that create zones, sectors
and nuclei.
 3. Third World City

Cities outside Europe and USA developed different patterns due to historical and economic
reasons. Many cities show the impact of colonial planning and administration. The central parts
of such cities were often quite rigidly planned by colonial planners

Example from Brazil – Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro shows influence of colonial era and modern unplanned phase of rapid urbanisation.

As a colonial city, Rio de Janeiro offers significant insights into the distinct pattern of
a colonial city. All Spanish cities in Latin America, for instance, were built according
to the Laws of the Indies, drafted in 1573. The laws explicitly outlined how colonial
cities were to be built, which is still apparent at current time. Normally it involved a
gridiron street plan centered on a church and central plaza, walls around individual
houses, and neighborhoods constructed around central, smaller plazas with parish
churches or monasteries (Rubenstein, 2008).

Model of Latin American City

(Source: Ford, 1996: Figure 1-A)

In general, residential quality declines as one moves from the center to the periphery. The
exception would be the elite spine, a newer commercial and business strip that extends from
the colonial core to newer parts of the city. Along the spine, one finds superior services,
roads, and transportation. The city’s best residential zones, as well as shopping malls, are
usually on either side of the spine. Most major urban centers also have a ring road or beltway
highway as the primary edge that circumscribes the city core. Straddling from the beltway is
a zone of peripheral squatter settlements where many of the urban poor live in the worst
housing. Services and infrastructure are extremely limited. The dense ring of squatter
settlements (called favelas) that encircle Latin American cities reflect the speed and intensity
with which these zones were created.

From: http://www.structural-communication.com/Cultural%20Space%20Theory/Rio-de-janeiro-
CST.html

In later years the shape and land use of Third World or Developing World cities shows the impact of
rapid urbanisation and increased globalisation. This model is also called the irregular pattern model.
The lack of planning and the growth of shanty towns mean that there is often no real pattern in
cities.

4. South African city model

Under colonialism and later apartheid laws, cities were planned along the strict racial segregation of
the population. The 1913 Land Act, and the apartheid laws of the 1950s, such as the Group Areas Act
divided the areas where people could live and work. Cities developed a distinct pattern based on
racial classification. It was possible to identify an apartheid city pattern of land use. This model
became known as the segregated city or the apartheid city.

The segregated South African city model

Since the early 1990s the apartheid city model has been gradually breaking down. There is a blurring
of divisions. The rapid expansion of cities has seen a growth of informal settlements often close to
the former poorer areas reserved for black residents. In many ways these developments still echo
the divisions of the apartheid city.

The spread of informal settlements is a feature of most modern South African cities