Martin's AP Human Geography

1. What is urban renewal? Why do cities undergo urban renewal, and what are the results?

1. Definition of urban renewal

Program in which cities identify blighted inner-city neighborhood, acquire the properties from private owners, build new roads and utilities, and turn the land over to private developers

2. Why do cities undergo urban renewal?

cities constantly face fiscal shortcomings, so they want to bring in richer residents into the city

attract tourists

to repair deteriorating neighborhoods that are either unsafe or under-utilized

Zoning – prevents certain services/types of residents from certain parts of the cities – keep people in certain neighborhoods

3. Results

Urban renewal can generate increased revenues for cities

Changes the demographics of the city – gentrification

Historical mis-use of urban renewal as “negro removal”

Example: Chicago – mostly whites live in the inner city

Example: Baltimore harborplace

city put money into harborplace, it was a relative success

it also attracted businesses from Sandtown, helping to contribute to the decline of that neighborhood

2. How are urban areas different in the US and in other countries?

North American Cities

• wealthier live in the suburbs
• CBD is focal point of city
• extensive public transportation – suburban based on commuting and suburbs

European cities

• public transportation is more expensive (why?)
• CBD is less dmoniated by
• low-rise structures and
• churches and
• wealthy live in inner-city
• poor people live clustered in the suburbs
• 50% more americans live in 30% of central cities.

Latin American Cities

• they were colonized, used as administrative centers
• some were torn down and rebuilt as colonial cities
• how do the urban structures differ

US

• the lower income live clustered in the inner cities
• the us offers public houses for low-income households
• sprawl wastes land, prime agricultural land may be lost from these developments
• do not recognize the impact of transportation (what is this?)

Other Countries

• In Europe, poor live in the suburbs, the wealthy live near the center of cities
• LDC’s are unable to house the growing number of people causing the poor to live in squatter settlements
• countries like Europe and Japan subsidize public transportation
• European cities, London, and other British cities are restricted on land use for sprawl; they have mandatory open space
• new developments are built in older suburbs or in planned extensions to small towns

What do they share – sprawl – public transportation

similar components but different locations

Possible Organization:

inner cities – compare/contrast these areas

suburbs/sprawl – how do these compare

transportation

lower class where do they live?

3. Discuss the possible reasons for the origin of settlements.

1. Human Enironmental Interactions
2. Place
3. Resources
   1. transportation
   2. job opportunity
   3. housing
   4. public services
   5. educational opportunities
   6. health care
4. Location

If you had to move, what types of features would you look for to decide where to move to?

transportation

location to services

price range

Settlements – A permanent collection of buildings where people reside, work, and obtain services

Services – Any activity that

Relationship between the two – settlements were built for the needs for services

Early Consumer Services

Burial of the deceased

housing

Home and hearth – production of pots, beds, clothing, etc

Early Business Services

transportation and warehousing – food was a must, but hunting and gathering got you what you needed

not everyone had access to the same services

varied distribution of vegetation

pg. 402

Early Public Services

security

residents were vulnerable to attacks from other groups

this inspired the public security

Conclusion – settlements were related to help “organize” living situations.  services such as burials, security, and warehousing were necessary for early settlements

4. What are the urban structures models that geographers use to understand how cities are organized?  How well do they apply to cities?

On this question, you should understand each layer of the models, and what types of activities go on in these layers, and whether or not these types of layers still exist in today’s urban renewal cities.

What are the models?

conceptual outlines of how cities are organized – all developed to explain Chicago

where are different people and activities are organized and arranged

how cities develop – to better explain how cities work

Concentric Zone Model – rings outward from the CBD
Sector Model – sectors not rings

Multiple Nuclei Model – there are more than 1 center of activity

How well do these models apply to cities?

General conclusions on the urban structure models

limited in their ability to explain cities

they do not cross the boundaries -  well

challenges – generalizations but you can’t really