Introduction

This module is really the bread and butter of urban geography in that the models presented here attempt to capture and explain the spatial layout of the city.

There are 5 models that should catch your attention in this reading:

1. The von Thunen model of hinterland organization is a spatial land use model. It explains how land is put to economic use (or not) around a central market. Since the von Thunen model deals only with agricultural land uses (i.e., where to grow tomatoes, where to grow corn, etc.), you might be tempted to dismiss it as irrelevant. Don’t. The ideals formalized in the von Thunen model are at the core of all subsequent land use/land value models.
2. The Burgess concentric ring model looks a lot like the von Thunen model, but focuses on the social, not the economic.
3. Hoyt’s sector model is an outgrowth of the concentric ring model, and reflected the reality that landuse didn’t always (or even didn’t typically) line up so neatly in concentric rings around the city center.
4. The multiple nuclei model of Harris and Ullman goes a step further — land use isn’t even always centered upon a single city center! Multiple Nuclei
5. Garreau’s model of Edge Cities is a more modern take (1991) on Harris and Ullman’s model, formalizing the idea of a suburban economic agglomerations.

With these models as a foundation, we have a more formal context within which to think about suburbs, exurbs, sprawl, and “Levittown” style development

Reading

From the book Human Geography (2022), please read the chapter Urban and Suburban Spaces.