CH-11-13 Industry and Energy – The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 11 to 13 Industry and Energy 11 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 11.1.1: Understand the causes of the Industrial Revolution. Learning Outcome 11.2.1: Describe the locations of the three principal industrial regions. Learning Outcome 11.2.1: Identify the two types of situation factors. Learning Outcome 11.2.2: Explain why some industries locate near markets. Learning Outcome 11.2.3: Describe how the optimal location for steel production has changed. Learning Outcome 11.2.4: Explain why industries use different modes of transportation. Learning Outcome 11.2.5: Understand the three types of site factors. Learning Outcome 11.2.6: Explain the distribution of clothing production. Learning Outcome 11.3.1: Describe the distribution of production of the three fossil fuels. Learning Outcome 11.3.2: Explain the principal sources of demand for fossil fuels. Learning Outcome 11.3.3: Understand the distinctive distributions of reserves of the three fossil fuels. Learning Outcome 11.3.4: Understand changing patterns of oil trade and demand. Learning Outcome 11.3.5: Describe the distribution of nuclear energy and challenges in using it. Learning Outcome 11.3.6: Identify alternative sources of energy and challenges to using them. Learning Outcome 11.3.7: Compare passive and active solar energy. Learning Outcome 11.3.8: Describe causes and effects of air pollution at global, regional, and local scales. Learning Outcome 11.3.9: Compare and contrast point and nonpoint sources of water pollution. Learning Outcome 11.3.10: Describe principal strategies for reducing solid waste pollution. Learning Outcome 11.4.1: Explain reasons for the emergence of new concentration of industries. Learning Outcome 11.4.2: Explain reasons for changing distribution of industry in developed regions. Learning Outcome 11.4.3: Understand the attraction of locations with skilled labor and those with unskilled labor. Learning Outcome 11.4.4: Understand the concepts of recycling and remanufacturing. Chapter Outline Key Issue 1: Where Is Industry Distributed? Introducing Industry and Energy The hearth of modern industry – meaning the manufacturing of goods in a factory – was in northern England and southern England during the second half of the eighteenth century. From these two locations, industry diffused to Europe and to North America in the nineteenth century and to other regions in the twentieth century. Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, people made household tools and agricultural equipment in their own homes or obtained them in the local village. Home-based manufacturing was known as the cottage industry system. Several inventions transformed the way in which goods were manufactured, beginning with the steam engine. The revolution in industrial technology created an unprecedented expansion in productivity, resulting in substantially higher standards of living. The Industrial Revolution resulted in new social, economic, and political inventions, not just traditional ones. The changes involved a gradual diffusion of new ideas and techniques over decades rather than an instantaneous revolution. Among the first industries impacted by the Industrial Revolution were iron, transportation, textiles, chemicals, and food processing. Fossil Fuels Historically, people relied primarily on power supplied by themselves or by animals, known as animate power. Supplementing animal power was energy flowing from water and burning biomass fuel, which is fuel derived from plant material and animal waste. Biomass remains an important sources of fuel in some developing countries, by during the past 200 years, developed countries have converted primarily to energy from fossil fuels. A fossil fuel is an energy source formed from the residue of plants and animals buried millions of years ago. As sediment accumulated over these remains, intense pressure and chemical reactions slowly converted them into fossil fuels that are used today. Five-sixths of the world’s energy needs are supplied by three fossil fuels: coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Industrial Regions Industry is concentrated in Europe, North America, and East Asia. European industrial areas tend to be located in regions with abundant energy, raw materials such as iron ore, and labor concentrations. North American industrial areas are located in a band from the Great Lakes to the East Coast and the California Coast. East Asia’s industrial areas are in China along the coast and in Japan. Key Issue 2: Why Are Situation and Site Factors Important? Geographers try to explain why one location may be more profitable for a factory than others. A company typically faces two costs centered around geography: Situation factors involve transporting materials to and from a factory. A firm seeks a location that minimizes the cost of transporting inputs to the factory and finished goods to consumers. Site factors result from the unique characteristics of a location. These labor, capital, and land. Situation Factors: Proximity to Inputs Manufacturers purchase from suppliers of inputs, such as minerals, materials, energy, machinery, and supporting services. They sell to companies and individuals who purchase the products. The farther a product is transported, the higher the cost, so a manufacturer tries to locate its factory as close as possible to its inputs and markets. The optimal plant location is as close as possible to inputs if the cost of transporting raw materials to the factory is greater than the cost of transporting the product to consumers. The optimal plant location is as close as possible to the customer if the cost of transporting raw materials to the factory is less than the cost of transporting the product to consumers. Mineral Resources Minerals are particularly important inputs for many industries. Minerals are either nonmetallic or metallic. In weight, more than 90 percent of minerals that humans use are nonmetallic. Building stones, gemstones, and fertilizers are examples of nonmetallic minerals that humans commonly use. Metallic minerals have properties that are especially valuable for fashioning machinery, vehicles, and other essential elements of contemporary society. Many metals are capable of combining with other metals to form alloys with distinctive properties important for industry. A ferrous alloy contains iron and a nonferrous one does not. Iron is extracted from iron ore, by far the world’s most widely used ore. Important metals used to make ferrous alloys include chromium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, tin, titanium, and tungsten. Important metals used to manufacture products that don’t contain iron and steel include aluminum, copper, lead, lithium, magnesium, zinc, precious metals, and rare earth metals. Proximity to Inputs: Copper Industry Copper production involves several steps. Mining copper ore is a bulk-reducing industry because the heavy, bulky ore that is extracted from the mines is mostly waste. The second step in copper production is the concentration mills that grind the ore into fine particles that produce copper. Copper smelters then remove more impurities. The purified copper produced by smelters is treated at refineries to produce copper cathodes, about 99.99 percent pure copper. Most refineries are located near smelters. Copper that is ready for use in other products is produced in foundries. As a bulk reducing industry, copper concentration mills and smelters are built near the mines to minimize transportation costs. Since so much waste has already been disposed of, proximity to the mines is a less critical factor in determining the location of the foundries. Situation Factors: Proximity to Markets For many firms, the optimal location is close to customers. Proximity to markets is a critical locational factor for three types of industries: bulk-gaining industries, single-market manufacturers, and perishable-products companies. Bulk-Gaining Industries A bulk-gaining industry makes something that gains volume or weight during production. To minimize transport costs, a bulk-gaining industry needs to locate near where the product is sold. A prominent example of a bulk gaining industry is the fabrication of parts and machinery from steel and other metals. For example, steelmakers have traditionally located near raw materials; steel fabricators have traditionally located near the markets. Beverage bottlers also locate near large markets to cut down on the cost of shipping. Single-Market Manufacturers A single-market manufacturer is a specialized manufacturer with only one or two customers. The optimal location for these factories is often close proximity to the customers. An example of a single-market manufacturer is a producer of buttons, zippers, clips, pins, or other specialized components attached to clothing. The makers of parts for motor vehicles are another example of specialized manufacturers with only one or two customers. Perishable-Products Companies To deliver their products to consumers as rapidly as possible, perishable-product industries must be located near their markets. Because few people want stale bread or sour milk, food producers such as bakers and milk bottlers must locate near their customers to assure rapid delivery. The daily newspaper is an example of a product other than food that is highly perishable because it contains dated information. Newspaper publishers must locate near the markets to minimize transportation costs. People demand their newspaper as soon after it’s printing as possible. Motor Vehicle Production and Sales The motor vehicle is a noted example of a fabricated metal product that is likely to be built near its market. Around 90 million new vehicles are sold every year worldwide. China accounts for 27 percent of those sales, other Asian countries 22 percent, North America 23 percent, and Europe 17 percent. China and the rest of Asia each have 26 percent of world production, and Europe and North America each have 19 percent. Most of the vehicles that are produced in these regions are sold in their respective markets. Changing Situation Factors: Steel The two principal inputs in steel production are iron ore and coal. The majority of steel was produced at large integrated mill complexes. They processed iron ore, converted coal into coke, converted the iron into steel, and formed the steel into sheets, beams, rods, or other shapes. Changing Distribution of U.S. Steel Because of the need for large quantities of bulky, heavy iron ore and coal, steelmaking traditionally clustered near sources of the two key raw materials. Within the United States, the distribution of steel production has changed several times because of changing inputs. As sources and importance of these inputs changed, so did the optimal location for steel production within the United States. The increasing importance of proximity to markets is demonstrated by the recent growth of steel minimills. Rather than iron ore and coal, the main input into minimill production is scrap metal. Minimills are less expensive to operate then traditional steel mills and they can locate near their markets because their main input—scrap metal—is widely available. World steel production is declining in developed countries and increasing in developing countries. Overall world steel production doubled between 1980 and 2013, with the biggest increase in production taking place in China. Truck, Train, Ship, or Plane? Inputs and products are transported in one of four ways: via ship, rail, truck, or air. Shipping costs are variable depending on the mode of transport used. The farther a product is transported, the lower the cost per unit distance. Longer-distance transportation is cheaper per unit distance in part because firms must pay workers to load goods on and off vehicles, whether the material travels 10 kilometers or 10,000. The cost per kilometer decreases at variable rates for each of the four modes because of the loading and unloading expenses differ for each mode: Trucks are primarily used for short-distance delivery because they can be loaded and unloaded quickly and at low costs. Trains are often used to ship to destinations that take longer than one day to reach, such as between the East and West coasts of the United States. Loading trains takes longer than loading trucks, but once under way, trains aren’t required to make daily rest stops like trucks. Ships are attractive for transport over very long distances because the cost per kilometer is very low. Ships are slower than land-based transportation, but unlike trains or trucks, they can cross oceans. Airplanes are most expensive for all distances, and are usually reserved for expedited delivery of small-bulk, high-value packages. Break-of-Bulk Points Mixed modes of transportation are often used. Industries which use a number of different shipping modes tend to locate at break-of-bulk points, which is a location where transfer among transportation modes is possible. Important break-of-bulk points include seaports and airports. Containerization has facilitated transfer of packages between modes. Containers may be packed into a rail car, transferred quickly to a container ship to cross the ocean and unloaded into trucks at the other end. Large ships have been specially built to accommodate large numbers of rectangular boxlike containers. Regardless of transportation mode, costs increase each time inputs or products are transferred from one mode to another. For example, workers must unload goods from a truck and then reload them onto a plane. Just-in-Time Delivery Proximity to market has become more relevant in recent years due to the emergence of just-in-time delivery. Just-in-time delivery is the shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed in the production process. Just-in-time delivery is especially important for delivery of inputs, such as parts and raw materials, to manufacturers of fabricated products, such as cars and computers. Under a just-in-time system, parts and materials arrive at a factory frequently, in many cases daily or even hourly. Just-in-time delivery minimizes the costs a manufacturer incurs in wasteful inventory, and in storage space. However, natural disasters, traffic, and labor unrest can disrupt just-in-time delivery systems. Site Factors in Industry Site factors are industrial location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside a plant. For some companies, site factors are more important than situation factors in deciding the location of a plant. Labor, capital, and land are three production factors that vary among locations. Labor Minimizing labor costs is important for some industries and the variation of labor costs around the world is large. A labor-intensive industry is an industry in which wages and other compensation paid to employees constitutes a high percentage of expenses. The reverse case, an industry with a much lowerthan-average percentage of expenditures on labor, is considered capital intensive. A labor intensive industry is not the same as a high-wage industry. Labor-intensive is measured as a percentage, whereas high-wage is measured in dollars. Motor vehicle workers are paid much higher hourly wages than textile workers, yet the textile industry is labor intensive and the auto industry is not. Capital The U.S. motor-vehicle industry concentrated in Michigan early in the twentieth century largely because that region’s financial institutions were more willing than eastern banks to lend money to the industry’s pioneers. High-tech industries have been risky propositions—roughly two-thirds of them fail— but Silicon Valley financial institutions have continued to lend money to engineers who have good ideas so that they can buy the software, communications, and networks they need to get started. The ability to borrow money has become a critical factor in the distribution of industry in developing countries. Land Contemporary factories operate most efficiently when laid out in one-story buildings. Raw materials are typically delivered at one end and moved through the factory in conveyors or forklift trucks. The land needed to build one-story factories is now more likely to be available in suburban and rural locations. With trucks now responsible for transporting most inputs and products, proximity to major highways is important for factories. Especially attractive is the proximity to the junction of a longdistance route and the beltway, or ring road that encircles most cities. Changing Site Factors: Clothing Production of textiles (woven fabrics) and apparel (clothing) is a prominent example of an industry that generally requires less-skilled, low-cost workers. Textile and apparel production involves three principal steps: spinning of fibers to make yarn; weaving or knitting of yarn into fabric; and assembly of fabric into products. Spinning, weaving, and sewing are all labor intensive compared to other industries, but the importance of labor varies somewhat among them. Textile and apparel production involves three principle steps: spinning, weaving, and assembly. Spinning Fibers can be spun from natural or synthetic elements. The primary natural fiber is cotton, and synthetics now account for three-quarters of world thread production. Because it is a labor-intensive industry, spinning is done primarily in low-wage countries. China produces one-quarter and India onefifth of the world’s cotton thread. Weaving For thousands of years, fabric has been woven or laced together by hand on a loom, which is a frame on which two sets of threads are place at right angles to each other. One set of threads, called the warp, is strung lengthwise. A second set of threads, called the weft, is carried in a shuttle that is inserted over and under the warp. For mechanized weaving, labor makes up a high percentage of the total production cost. As a result, weaving is primarily found on low-wage countries. Assembly Sewing by hand is a human activity with a past that stretches back tens of thousands of years. Textiles are cut and sewn to be assembled into four main types of products: garments, carpets, home products such as bed linens and curtains, and industrial items such as headliners for motor vehicles. Developed countries play a larger role in assembly than in spinning and weaving because most of the consumers of assembled products are located in developed countries. Key Issue 3: Why Do Industries Face Resource Challenges? Two issues are at the forefront for geographers when considering resources: We deplete scarce resources, especially petroleum, natural gas, and coal, for energy production. We destroy resources through pollution of air, water, and soil. Energy Supply Earth’s energy resources are not distributed evenly. Coal is formed in lush, swampy tropical areas rich in plants. Thanks to the slow movement of Earth’s drifting continents, the tropical swamps of 250 million years ago have relocated to the mid-latitudes. Petroleum and natural gas formed millions of years ago from residue deposited on the seafloor. Some still lies beneath such seas as the Persian Gulf and North Sea, but other reserves are located beneath land that was underwater millions of years ago. The United States is highly dependent on all three fossil fuels. Demand for Energy Industry relies on availability of abundant low-cost energy. Large quantities of energy are required to operate factories as well as to transport inputs into factories and products from factories to consumers. Energy is also required to produce food, keep homes comfortable, and transport people. Demand for energy comes from four primary types of consumption in the United States: Industries. Factories use approximately 40 percent natural gas and 30 percent each coal and petroleum. Transportation. Almost all transportation systems run on petroleum products. Homes. Natural gas and coal provide approximately equal shares of home needs. Commercial. Stores and offices have uses and sources similar to those of homes. Developing countries comprised more energy usage than developed countries for the first time in 2006. China is currently the world’s leader in energy demand. The highest per capita consumption of energy remains in developed countries. Petroleum Challenges Most of the world’s petroleum is produced in Southwest Asia and North Africa and Central Asia, regions where religious, ethnic, and political conflicts are common. Several developing countries possessing substantial petroleum reserves, principally in Southwest Asia and North Africa, created the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960. OPEC was originally formed to enable oil-rich countries to gain more control over their resources. U.S. and European transnational companies, which had originally explored and exploited the oil fields, were selling the petroleum at low prices to consumers in developed countries and keeping most of the profits. Countries possessing the oil reserves nationalized or more tightly controlled the fields, and prices were set by governments rather than by petroleum companies. Under OPEC, world oil prices have increased sharply on several occasions, although gas prices are currently low in the United States, especially when adjusted for inflation. Fossil Fuel Reserves The supply of energy remaining in deposits that have been discovered is called a proven reserve. Proven Reserves Developed countries have historically possessed a disproportionately high supply of the world’s proven fossil fuel reserves: Coal. World reserves are approximately 1 trillion metric tons. At current demand, proven coal reserves would last 130 years. Developed and developing regions each have about one-half of the supply of proven reserves. Natural Gas. World reserves are approximately 200 trillion cubic meters. At current demand, proven natural gas reserves would last 56 years. Less than 10 percent of proven reserves are in developed countries, primarily the United States. Petroleum. World reserves are approximately 1.6 trillion barrels. At current demand, proven petroleum reserves would last 55 years. Potential Reserves The supply in deposits that are undiscovered but thought to exist is a potential reserve. When a potential reserve is actually discovered, it is reclassified as a proven reserve. Potential reserves can be converted to proven reserves from fields that have yet to be developed, or from fields yet to be discovered. Extraction from both types of fields is relatively (and possibly prohibitively) expensive. Unconventional Resources Resources are considered unconventional if we lack economically feasible or environmentally sound technology with which to extract them. As demand increases for a resource and prices rise, exploiting an unconventional source can be profitable. Oil sands and hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking) are two current examples. Petroleum Futures Developed countries provide a large share of the world’s fossil fuels, but they demand more energy than they produce, so they must import fossil fuels, especially petroleum, from developing countries. World Oil Trade The largest flows of oil are from Russia to Europe and from Southwest Asia to Europe and to Japan. The United States and Europe import more than half their petroleum, and Japan imports more than 90 percent. Canada and Saudi Arabia now supply much higher shares of petroleum to the United States than in the past. With demand increasing rapidly in developing countries, developed countries face greater competition in obtaining the world’s remaining supplies of fossil fuels. Many of the developing countries with low HDIs also lack energy resources, and they lack the funds to pay for importing them Declining Demand Demand for petroleum has been dampened in developed countries through conservation. Factories have reduced their demand for petroleum, principally by consuming more natural gas. Higher gas mileage standards have been enacted by regulatory bodies in many countries to help ease demand for petroleum. While the world will not totally deplete petroleum reserves in the twenty-first century, at some point extracting the remaining reserves will be so expensive and environmentally damaging that use of alternative energy sources will accelerate, and dependence on petroleum will diminish. In the future, all countries will need to pursue sustainable development strategies based on increased reliance on renewable energy sources. Nuclear Energy While nuclear power is not renewable, some view it as an alternative to fossil fuels. The large amount of energy released from a small amount of material makes it an attractive alternative. One kilogram of enriched nuclear fuel contains more than 2 million time the energy in 1 kilogram of coal. Challenges are presented by nuclear power, though. Distribution of Nuclear Power Nuclear power supplies 14 percent of the world’s electricity. Two-thirds of the world’s nuclear power is generated in developed countries, with Europe and North America responsible for generating one-third each. Only 30 of the world’s nearly 200 countries employ nuclear power in some capacity, including 19 developed countries and only 11 developing countries. Potential Accidents A nuclear power plant produces electricity from energy released by splitting uranium atoms in a controlled environment in a process known as fission. One product of all nuclear reactions is radioactive waste, certain types of which are lethal to people exposed to it. While nuclear power plants cannot explode, it is possible to have a runaway reaction, which overheats the reactor, causing a meltdown, possible steam explosions, and scattering of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The nuclear incidents in Chernobyl and Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants are prominent examples of nuclear-related disasters. Radioactive Waste The waste from nuclear fission is highly radioactive and lethal, and it remains so for many years. Plutonium for making nuclear weapons can be harvested from this waste. Pipes, concrete, and water near the fissioning fuel also become “hot” with radioactivity. No one has yet devised permanent storage for radioactive waste. Bomb Material Nuclear power has been used in warfare twice, in August 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War II. No government has dared to use these bombs in conflicts since because leaders realize that a full-scale nuclear war could terminate human civilization. The United States and Russia each have several thousand nuclear weapons. China, France, and the United Kingdom have several hundred nuclear weapons each, India and Pakistan several dozen each, and North Korea a handful. Israel is suspected of possessing nuclear weapons but has not admitted to it, and Iran is developing the capability. Limited Reserves Like fossil fuels, uranium is a nonrenewable resource. Proven uranium reserves will last about 124 years at current rates of use. And they are not distributed evenly around the world: Australia has 23 percent of the world’s proven uranium reserves, Kazakhstan 15 percent, and Russia 10 percent. High Cost Nuclear power plants cost several billion dollars to build, primarily because of the elaborate safety measured required. Without double and triple backup systems at nuclear power plants, nuclear energy would be too dangerous to use. Uranium is mined in one place, refined in another, and used in still another. Mining uranium can pollute land and water and damage miners’ health. The complexities of secure transportation add to the cost. Consequently, generating electricity from nuclear plants is much more expensive than from coal-burning plants. Some nuclear power issues might be addressed through nuclear fusion, which is the fusing of hydrogen atoms to form helium. Fusion can occur only at very high temperatures (millions of degrees) that cannot be generated on a sustained basis in a power-plant reactor with current technology. Energy Alternatives Earth’s energy resources are divided between those that are renewable and those that are not. Nonrenewable energy resources form so slowly that for practical purposes, they cannot be renewed. Examples are the three fossil fuels that currently supply most of the world’s energy needs. Renewable energy resources have an essentially unlimited supply and are not depleted when used by people. Water, wind, and the Sun supply sources of renewable energy. Hydroelectric Power Generating electricity from the movement of water is called hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric is now the world’s second-most-popular source of electricity, after coal. Two-thirds of the world’s hydroelectric power is generated in developing countries and one-third in developed countries. A number of developing countries rely on hydroelectric power for most of their electricity. Biomass Biomass fuel is fuel derived from plant material and animal waste. Biomass energy sources include wood and crops. When carefully harvested in forests, wood is a renewable resource that can be utilized to generate electricity and heat. The waste from processing wood, such as for building construction and demolition, is also available. And crops such as sugarcane, corn, and soybeans can be processed into motor-vehicle fuels. The prospects for increasing the use of biomass for fuel is limited, for several reasons: Burning biomass may be inefficient, as the energy required to produce the crops may be as much as the energy supplied by the crops. Biomass already serves essential purposes other than energy, such as providing much of Earth’s food, clothing, and shelter. When wood is burned for fuel instead of being left in the forest, the fertility of the forest may be compromised. Wind Power Wind power has greater potential for increased use because only a fraction of the resource, wind, has been harnessed. Despite its perceived and actual benefits, wind power has been harnessed in only a few places. 90 percent of total world wind energy production is concentrated in China, North America, and Europe. A significant hurdle for developing countries in pursuing wind power is the high cost of wind turbine construction. Some critics oppose construction of wind turbines because they can be noisy, lethal for birds and bats, and may obscure the natural beauty of a landscape. Geothermal Energy Energy from hot water or steam is called geothermal energy. Natural nuclear reactions make Earth’s interior hot. Toward the surface, in volcanic areas, this heat is especially pronounced. The hot rocks can encounter groundwater and produce heated water or steam that can be tapped by wells. Harnessing geothermal energy is most feasible at sites along Earth’s surface where crustal plates meet, which are also the sites of many earthquakes and volcanoes. The United States, the Philippines, and Indonesia are the leading producers of geothermal power. Solar Energy The ultimate renewable resource for sustainable development is solar energy supplied by the Sun. Solar energy provides the possibility for countries at low levels of development to promote sustainable development. Solar energy may serve as a way for developing countries to obtain electricity needed to operate businesses, schools, and hospitals. Solar sources currently supply only 1 percent of the electricity generated in the United States, although the potential for growth is limitless. Passive Solar Energy Solar energy is harnessed through either passive or active methods. Passive solar energy systems capture energy without using special devices. These systems use south-facing windows and dark surfaces to heat and light building on sunny days. The Sun’s rays penetrate the windows and are converted to heat. Greenhouses are a prime example of the applications of passive solar energy. Active Solar Energy Active solar energy systems collect solar energy and convert it either to heat energy or to electricity. The conversion can be accomplished either directly or indirectly. In direct electric conversion, solar radiation is captured with photovoltaic cells, which convert light energy to electrical energy. The photovoltaic cell was invented by Bell Laboratories in 1954. In indirect electric conversion, solar radiation is first converted to heat and then to electricity. Solar Powered Electricity Solar power can be produced at a central station and distributed by an electric company, as coal- and nuclear-generated electricity are now supplied. There is little incentive for public and private utility companies to pursue solar technology, as coal remains cheap and significant investments in nuclear power have already been made. In developing countries, the largest and fastestgrowing market for photovoltaic includes the 2 billion people who lack electricity, especially residents of remote villages. In order for countries to justify the expense of adopting solar powered electricity technologies, the cost of cells must drop and their efficiency must improve. Air Pollution Pollution occurs when more waste is added than air, water, and land resources can handle. At ground level, Earth’s average atmosphere is made up of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and less than 1 percent argon. The remaining 0.04 percent includes several trace gases. Air pollution is a concentration of trace substances at a greater level than occurs in average air. These high concentrations of trace gases in the air can damage property and negatively affect the health of people, other animals, and vegetation. Most air pollution is caused by factories and power plants, in addition to motor vehicles. Factories and power plants produce sulfur dioxides and solid particulates, principally from burning coal. Carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere when motor vehicles burn petroleum. Global-Scale Air Pollution Geographers can examine air pollution at three scales: global, regional, and local. Climate change and ozone damage are both global-scale issues. Climate Change Between 1880 and 2014, the average temperature of Earth’s surface increased by 0.89°C (1.6°F). An international team of U.N. scientists has concluded that this temperature increase is directly linked to human actions, particularly the burning of fossil fuels in factories and vehicles. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned. According to U.N. scientists, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by more than one-fourth during the past 200 years. A concentration of trace gasses in the atmosphere can block or delay the return of some of the heat leaving the surface heading for space, thereby raising Earth’s temperature. When fossil fuels are burned, one of the trace gasses, carbon dioxide, is discharged into the atmosphere. The anticipated increase in Earth’s temperature, caused by carbon dioxide trapping some of the radiation emitted by the surface, is called the greenhouse effect. As a country’s per capita income increases, its per capita carbon dioxide emissions generally increase. Ozone Damage The stratosphere contains a concentration of ozone gas. The ozone layer absorbs dangerous ultraviolet rays from the Sun. Were it not for the ozone in the stratosphere, ultraviolet rays would damage plants, cause skin cancer, and disrupt food chains. Earth’s protective ozone layer is threatened by pollutants called chlorofluorocarbons. Regional-Scale Air Pollution Air pollution may damage a region’s vegetation and water supply through acid deposition. Acid deposition is the accumulation of acids on Earth’s surface. Sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides enter Earth’s atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels, combine with oxygen and water to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid, and are deposited on Earth’s surface. Acid precipitation is the conversion of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides to acids that return to Earth as rain, snow, or fog. Acid precipitation damages lakes, killing fish and plants. On land, concentrations of acid in the soil can injure plants by depriving them of nutrients and can harm worms and insects. Buildings and monuments made of marble and limestone have suffered corrosion from acid rain. Geographers are particularly interested in the effects of acid precipitation because the worst damage is not experienced at the same location as the emission of the pollutants. Local-Scale Air Pollution At the local scale, air pollution is especially severe in places where emission sources are concentrated, such as urban areas. Urban air pollution has three basic elements: Carbon monoxide. Breathing carbon monoxide reduces the oxygen level in blood, impairs vision and alertness, and threatens those with breathing problems. Hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight form photochemical smog, which causes respiratory problems, stinging in the eyes, and an ugly haze over cities. Particulates. These pollutants include dust and smoke particles. The dark plume of smoke from a factory stack and the exhaust of a diesel truck are examples of particulate emission. Water Pollution Water pollution is a widespread problem because it is easy to dump waste into a river and let the water carry it downstream, where it becomes someone else’s problem. Water can decompose some waste without negatively affected other activities, but the volume of waste often exceeds the capacity that many rivers and lakes can accommodate. Demand for Water Humans use approximately 3.6 trillion cubic meters (950 billion gallons) of water per year, or around 500 cubic meters (132,000) per capita. The most demand is for electricity, followed by agriculture and municipal sewage systems. Water usage is either nonconsumptive or consumptive. Nonconsumptive water usage is use of water that is returned to nature as a liquid. Most industrial and municipal uses of water are nonconsumptive because the wastewater is primarily discharged into lakes and streams. Consumptive water usage is use of water that evaporates rather than being returned to nature as a liquid. Most agricultural uses are consumptive because the water is used primarily to supply plants that transpire it and therefore cannot be treated and reused. Impact on Aquatic Life Polluted water can harm aquatic life. A commonly used measure of water pollution is biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which is the amount of oxygen required by aquatic bacteria to decompose a given amount of organic waste. Aquatic plants and animals consume oxygen and so does the decomposing organic waste that humans dump in the water. If too much waste is discharged into water, the water becomes oxygen starved and the fish die. Many factories and power plants use water for cooling and then discharge the warm water back into the river or lake. Fish adapted to cold water, such as salmon or trout, might not be able to survive the warmer water. Point Source Pollution The sources of pollution can be divided into point sources and nonpoint sources. Point source pollution enters a body of water at a specific location. Nonpoint source pollution comes from a large, diffuse area. Point source pollutants are usually smaller in quantity and much easier to control than nonpoint source pollutants. Water-using manufacturers and municipal sewage are the two main point sources of water pollution. Nonpoint Source Pollution Nonpoint sources usually pollute in greater quantities and are much harder to control than point sources of pollution. The principal nonpoint source is agriculture. Fertilizers and pesticides spread on fields to increase agricultural productivity are carried into rivers and lakes by irrigation systems or natural runoff. Solid Waste Pollution The average American generates about 2 kilograms (4 pounds) of solid waste per day. Residences generate around 60 percent of the solid waste, while businesses account for the remaining 40 percent. Paper products account for the largest share of solid waste in the United States, especially among residences and retailers. Manufacturers throw away large quantities of metals as well as paper. Sanitary Landfill Using a sanitary landfill is by far the most common strategy for disposal of solid waste in the United States. Thousands of small-town “dumps” have been closed and replaced by a small number of large regional ones. Given the shortage of landfills, alternatives have been sought to dispose of solid waste. A rapidly growing alternative is incineration. Burning releases some toxins into the air and some toxins also remain in ash. Thus solving one pollution problem may increase another. Hazardous Waste Disposing of hazardous waste is especially difficult. Hazardous waste includes heavy metals (including mercury, cadmium, and zinc), PCB oils from electrical equipment, cyanides, strong solvents, acids, and caustics. These may be unwanted by-products generated in manufacturing or waste to be discarded after usage. If poisonous industrial residuals are not carefully placed in protective containers, the chemicals may leach into the soil and contaminate groundwater or escape into the atmosphere. Key Issue 4: Why Are Industries Changing Locations? Emerging Industrial Regions In 1970, nearly one-half of world industry was in Europe and nearly one-third was in North America. Currently, these two regions constitute only one-quarter each of world industry. Industry’s share of total economic output has steadily declined in developed countries since the 1970s. The share of world industry in other regions has increased – from one-sixth in 1970 to onehalf in 2010. Outsourcing Transnational corporations have been particularly aggressive in using low-cost labor in developing countries. To remain competitive in the global economy, they identify steps in their production processes that can be performed by low-paid, low-skilled workers in developing countries. The new international division of labor is the selective transfer of some jobs to developing countries. Transnational corporations allocate production to low-wage countries through outsourcing, which is turning over much of the responsibility for production to independent suppliers. Outsourcing has led to intense scrutiny in the determination of optimal locations in the production process. Outsourcing contrasts with the approach typical of traditional mass production, called vertical integration, in which a company controls all phases of a highly complex production process. Mexico and NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), effective in 1994, eliminated barriers to moving goods among Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Because it is the nearest lowwage country to the United States, Mexico attracts labor-intensive industries that also need proximity to the U.S. market. Plants in Mexico near the U.S. border are known as maquiladoras, from the Spanish verb maqullar, which means “to receive payment for grinding or processing corn.” Under U.S. and Mexican laws, companies receive tax breaks if they ship materials from the United States, assemble the components at a maquiladora plant in Mexico, and export the finished product back to the United States. BRIC Countries Much of the world’s future growth in manufacturing is expected to locate outside the principle industrial regions described earlier. The financial analysis firm Goldman Sachs coined the acronym BRIC to indicate the countries it expects to dominate global manufacturing during the twentyfirst century: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The four BRIC countries together currently control onefourth of the world’s land area and contain 3 billion of the world’s 7 billion inhabitants. Their economies rank second (China), seventh (Brazil), ninth (Russia), and eleventh (India) in the world. Industrial Change in Developed Countries In developed countries, industry is shifting away from the traditional industrial areas of northwestern Europe and the northeastern United States. In the United States, industry has shifted from the Northeast toward the South and West. In Europe, government policies have encouraged relocation toward economically distressed peripheral areas. Intraregional Shifts in North America The United States lost 2.3 million manufacturing jobs between 1950 and 2015. The northeastern United States lost 3.7 million jobs in manufacturing in the same period. The South added 1.3 million manufacturing jobs, and the far western states gained 1.1 million. Industrial growth in the South since the 1930s has been stimulated in part by government policies to reduce historical disparities. The Tennessee Valley Authority brought electricity to much of the rural South, and roads were constructed in previously inaccessible sections of the Appalachians, the Piedmont, and Ozarks. Steel, textiles, tobacco products, and furniture industries have become dispersed through smaller communities in the South, many in search of a labor force willing to work for less pay than the North and forgo joining a union. Motor vehicle production is an example of an industry that has been attracted to the South on account of these factors. The principle lure for many manufacturers to locate in the South has been right-to-work laws. A right-to-work law requires a factory to maintain a so-called “open shop” and prohibits a “closed shop”. In a “closed shop” a company and union agree that everyone must join a union to work in the factory. The percentage of workers who are union members is much lower in the South than elsewhere in the United States. Twenty-five U.S. states have right-to-work laws that make it much more difficult for unions to organize factory workers, collect dues, and bargain with employers from a position of strength. More importantly, the region has been especially attractive for companies working hard to keep out the unions altogether. Intraregional Shifts in Europe Manufacturing has diffused from traditional industrial centers in northwestern Europe towards Southern and Eastern Europe. Several European countries situated east of Germany and west of Russia have become major centers of industrial investment since the fall of communism in the early 1990s. These countries offer manufactures an attractive combination of two important site and situation factors: labor and market proximity. The workers offer manufacturers good value for money; they are less skilled but much cheaper than in Western Europe and they are more skilled than workers in Asia and Latin America. The region is also close to the wealthy markets of Western Europe. Skilled or Unskilled Labor? Many manufacturers are torn between the benefits of locating in regions with low-skilled low-cost labor and those with highly skilled higher-cost labor. Skilled Labor Two location factors influence industries to remain in these traditional regions: availability of skilled labor and rapid delivery to market. Traditionally, factories assigned each worker one specific task to perform repeatedly. Some geographers call this approach Fordist production because the Ford Motor Company was one of the first companies to organize its production this way early in the twentieth century. Many industries now follow a lean, or flexible, production approach. The term post-Fordist production is sometimes used to describe lean production in contrasts with Fordist production. Four types of work rules distinguish post-Fordist lean production: teams, problem solving, leveling, and productivity. Recycling and Remanufacturing Recycling is the separation, collection, processing, marketing, and reuse of unwanted material. Remanufacturing is the rebuilding of a product to specifications of the original manufactured product using a combination of reused, repaired, and new parts. Recycling Recycling has increased in the United States from 7 percent of all solid waste in 1970 to 34 percent in 2013. As a result of recycling, about 87 million of the 254 million tons of solid waste generated in the United States in 2013 did not have to go to landfills and incinerators, compared to 34 million of the 200 million tons generated in 1990. The percentage of materials recovered by recycling varies widely by product: 50 percent of paper products and 24 percent of yard trimmings are recycled, compared to less than 10 percent for other sources of solid waste. Remanufacturing Recycled materials can be remanufactured into new products. Four major manufacturing sectors accounted for more than half of the recycling activity: paper mills, steel mills, plastic converters, and iron and steel foundries. Common household items that contain remanufactured materials include newspapers and paper towels; aluminum, plastic, and glass soft-drink containers; steel cans; and plastic laundry detergent bottles. Introducing the Chapter The chapter enters on a dark note: the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It’s a fine place to start for many of our students, and a great way to make what might otherwise be perceived as a boring subject matter very relevant. A similar approach to the outsourcing of service jobs can be used to introduce Chapter 12. Icebreaker: Rivers and Cities This exercise can also be used for Chapter 13, Urban Patterns. Using an online mapping service, challenge the students: Can you name a major North American city that is not located on a river or with access to the ocean? Las Vegas will invariably come up. Use the opportunity to discuss why Las Vegas is located where it is. Most other examples are on the ocean, on a river, or both. Enter the city name into the search tool to demonstrate this. Next ask the following: Can you think of any other cities in the world? Again, students will be hard pressed to find a city of significant size that is not served by a river, the ocean, or both. The availability of efficient transport (not to mention water supply) is fundamental to a city with industrial output at any appreciable scale. Challenges to Comprehension Other “Industries” Similar to the confusion over the meaning of “state”, students may have heard “industry” used in more general terms than the text’s strict definition. For clarity, simply explain that industry applies only to manufactured goods of some sort, and does not include the following “industries”: The recreation industry The restaurant industry The hospitality industry The travel industry Site vs. Situation Students usually grasp the reasons for an industry locating close to inputs vs. close to markets—but then they forget these reasons for industrial location as soon as they learn about site factors, or confuse the two. The review questions below may help students distinguish between these issues: Sometimes site factors are so overwhelming that situation factors are ignored, and vice versa. In other cases a combination of site and situation factors may be at play. Assignments Review/Reflection Questions Name some industries local to our town. Identify and explain the situation and site factors involved in each industry’s location. Now pick an industry and describe how its closing would affect the town’s economy. Would the jobs lost in the closing be the only effects? Explain. Give an example, not from the text, of an industry that is likely to locate closer to inputs, and explain. Give an example, not from the text, of an industry that is likely to locate closer to markets, and explain. If industrial location is chosen according to situation factors in order to minimize transportation costs, explain why many industries are locating in Southeast Asia and shipping goods to markets in North America. Given current trends in the movement and growth of industry, is industry likely to remain important as a source of employment in our country? Why or why not? Industry Assignment Americans are the number one consumers of goods on the face of the planet. We accumulate so much “stuff” that we fill up our garages, attics, and even rent storage units to house our excess. The purpose of this activity is to illustrate how the items in your house reflect the globalization of economic production. Based on the idea of spatially fixed and spatially varied costs, corporations will search for the lowest production costs in order to increase profits. Increasingly, the cost of labor is the driving force in the migration of projection centers to less developed countries. Keeping production costs low allows producers to sell goods at affordable costs to more developed countries and still realize a profit. Instructions Select 30 items in your home (electronics, appliances, clothing, furniture, etc.) and list the item, a general category (electronics, clothing, etc.), and where each was produced. Analyze the data you’ve collected. Where was most of your stuff produced? Is there a correlation between the types of items and the location of their production? Are there any results you did not expect? Is there a relationship between the costs of goods and the production location? How much of your stuff was made in the United States? Does quality influence the location of production? Does the type of item influence the location of production? Write up a description of how the items in your home reflect the globalization of economic production. Look at the countries that come up in your chart and refer to Chapters 9 and 11 in your textbook to find helpful information (for example, maquiladoras, Wal-Mart, and so forth). Fill in the map illustrating the flow of goods into your home. Add up the number of times that products in your household were manufactured in a particular country. Write the number on or next to that country. If a country did not produce any goods in your household, leave it blank. TURN IN THE FOLLOWING: Minimum 2-page written analysis of your items related to topics covered in text and class. Must be typed and double spaced. The filled out map. List of 30 items. Describe what the item is and what country it was manufactured in. This can be handwritten (please be neat). Services and Settlements 12 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 12.1.1: Describe the three types of services. Learning Outcome 12.2.1: Explain the concepts of market area, range, and threshold. Learning Outcome 12.2.2: Explain the distribution of different-sized settlements. Learning Outcome 12.2.3: Explain how to use threshold and range to find the optimal location for a service. Learning Outcome 12.2.4: Describe the concept of periodic markets in developing countries. Learning Outcome 12.3.1: Describe the factors that are used to indentify global cities. Learning Outcome 12.3.2: Explain two types of business services in developing countries. Learning Outcome 12.3.3: Explain the concept of economic base. Learning Outcome 12.4.1: Describe the differences between clustered and dispersed rural settlements. Learning Outcome 12.4.2: Identify important prehistoric, ancient, and medieval urban settlements. Learning Outcome 12.4.3: Explain the two dimensions of urbanization. Learning Outcome 12.4.4: Chapter Outline Describe the location of the fastest-growing cities. Key Issue 1: Where Are Services Distributed? Most people in developed countries work in such places as shops, offices, restaurants, universities, and hospitals. These are examples of the tertiary, or service, sector of the economy. A service is any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it. Introducing Services and Settlements Services account for more than two-thirds of GDP in most developed countries, compared to less than one-half in most developing countries. Services cluster in developed countries because more people who are able to buy services live there. Within developed countries, larger cities offer a larger scale of services than do small towns because more customers live there. Services are located in settlements – this connection between services and settlements is of keen interest to geographers. A settlement is a permanent collection of buildings where people reside, work, and obtain services. They occupy a very small percentage of Earth’s surface, well under 1 percent, but most people live in settlements as few choose to reside in isolation. Three Types of Services The service sector of the economy is subdivided into three types: consumer services, business services, and public services. Each of these sectors is divided into several major sub sectors: Consumer Services. The principle purpose of consumer services is to provide services to individual consumers who desire them and can afford to pay for them. Nearly half of all jobs in the United States are in consumer services. Four main types of consumer services are retail and wholesale services, leisure and hospitality services, health and social services, and education. Business Services. The principle purpose of business services is to facilitate the activities of other businesses. One-fourth of all jobs in the United States are in business services. The three main types of business services are transportation and information services, professional services, and financial services. Public Services. The purpose of public services is to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses. About 10 percent of all U.S. jobs are in the public sector. Excluding educators, one-sixth of public-sector employees work for the federal government, one-fourth for one of the 50 state governments, and three-fifths for one of the tens of thousands of local governments. Changing Service Employment All growth in employment in the United States has been in services, whereas employment in primary and secondary sector activities has declined. Within business services, jobs expanded most rapidly in professional services (such as engineering, management, and law), data processing, advertising, and temporary employment agencies. On the consumer services side, the most rapid increase has been in the provision of health care, but other large increases have been recorded in education, entertainment, and recreation. Key Issue 2: Where Are Consumer Services Distributed? Central Place Theory The concept of central place theory helps to explain how the most profitable location can be identified. Central place theory was first proposed by German geographer Walter Christaller in the 1930s, based on his studies in southern Germany. August Lösch in Germany and Brian Berry and other in the United States further developed the concept during the 1950s. Market Area of a Service A central place is a market center for the exchange of goods and services by people attracted from the surrounding area. The central place is so called because it is centrally located to maximize accessibility. Businesses in central places compete against each other to serve as markets for goods and services for the surrounding region. The area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted is the market area or hinterland. To establish a market area, a circle is drawn around the node of a service on a map. The territory around the circle is its market area. Because most people prefer to get services from the nearest location, consumers near the center of the circle obtain services from local establishment. The closer to the periphery of the circle, the greater the percentage of consumers who will choose to obtain services from other nodes. People on the circumference of the market-area circle are equally likely to use the service or go elsewhere. Range of a Service The range is the maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service. People are willing to go only a short distance for everyday consumer services, such as groceries and pharmacies. But they will travel longer distances for other services such as a concert or professional ball game. As a rule, people tend to go to the nearest available service. Therefore, the range of a service must be determined from the radius of a circle that is irregularly shaped rather than perfectly round. The irregularly shaped circle takes in the territory for which the proposed site is closer than competitors’ sites. Threshold of a Service The threshold of a service is the minimum number of people needed to support the service. Every enterprise has a minimum number of customers required to generate enough sales to make a profit. So once the range has been determined, a service provider must determine whether a location is suitable by counting the potential customers inside the irregularly shaped circle. How expected consumers inside the range are counted depends on the product. Convenience stores and fast-food restaurants appeal to nearly everyone, whereas other goods and services appeal primarily to certain consumer groups. Hierarchy of Consumer Service We spend as little time and effort as possible obtaining consumer services and therefore go to the nearest place that fulfills our needs. We travel greater distances only if the price is much lower or if the item is unavailable locally. Nesting of Services and Settlements According to central place theory, market areas across a developed country would be a series of hexagons of various sizes, unless interrupted by physical features such as mountains and bodies of water. There are four different levels of a market area: hamlet, village, town, and city. Larger settlements provide consumer services that have larger thresholds, ranges, and market areas. Only consumer services that have small thresholds and short ranges are found in hamlets or villages because too few people live in these areas to support many services. A large department store cannot survive in a hamlet or village because the threshold exceeds the population within range of the settlement. Towns and cities provide consumer services that have larger thresholds and ranges. A city has a much larger variety of services than you would find in a hamlet or village. The nesting pattern can be illustrated with overlapping hexagons of different sizes. Hamlets with very small market areas are represented by the smallest contiguous hexagons. Larger hexagons represent the market areas of larger settlements and are overlaid on the smaller hexagons because consumers from smaller settlements shop for some goods and services in larger settlements. Rank-Size Distribution In many developed countries, geographers observe that ranking settlements from largest to smallest (population) produces a regular pattern. This is called the rank-size rule, in which the country’s nth-largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement. The second-largest city is one-half the size of the largest, the fourth-largest city is one-fourth the size of the largest, and so on. When plotted on logarithmic paper, the rank-size distribution forms a fairly straight line. In the United States and a handful of other countries, the distribution of settlements closely follows the rank-size rule. If a country does not follow the rank-size rule, it may follow the primate city rule. A country’s largest city is called the primate city. If a country follows the primate city rule it means that the country’s largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement. The absence of ranksize distribution in many developing countries indicates that there is not enough wealth in the society to pay full variety of services. The absence of a rank-size distribution constitutes a hardship for people who must travel long distances to reach an urban settlement with shops and such services as hospitals. Market Area Analysis A suitable site is one with the potential for generating enough sales to justify using the company’s scarce capital to build it. Service providers often say that the three most important factors in determining whether a particular site will be profitable are, “location, location, and location.” One corner of an intersection can be profitable and another corner of the same intersection unprofitable. The gravity model predicts that the optimal location of a service is directly related to the number of people in an area and inversely related to the distance people must travel to access it. The best location will be the one that minimizes the distances that all potential customers must travel to reach the service. Periodic Markets A periodic market is typically set up in a street or other public space early in the morning, taken down at the end of the day, and set up in another location the next day. A periodic market provides goods to residents of developing countries, as well as rural areas in developing countries, where sparse populations and low incomes produce purchasing power too low to support full-time retailing. Many vendors in periodic markets are mobile, driving their trucks from farm to market, back to the farm to restock, then to another market. Other vendors, especially local residents who cannot or prefer not to travel to other villages, operate on a part-time basis, perhaps only a few times a year. Key Issue 3: Where Are Business Services Distributed? Hierarchy of Business Services Geographers identify a handful of urban settlements known as global cities (also called world cities) that play an especially important role in global business services. Global cities can be subdivided according to a number of criteria. Business Services in Global Cities Global cities are most closely integrated into the global economic system because they are at the center of the flow of information and capital. Business services (including financial institutions, headquarters of large corporations, and lawyers, accountants, and other professional services) concentrate in disproportionately large numbers in global cities. Ranking Global Cities Global cities are divided into three levels: alpha, beta, and gamma. A combination of economic, political, cultural, infrastructure, communications, and transportation factors are used to identify global cities and to distinguish among the various ranks. Consumer and Public Services in Global Cities Because of their large size, global cities have retail services with extensive market areas. A disproportionately large number of wealthy people live in global cities, so luxury and highly specialized products are especially likely to be sold there. Global cities are also centers of national and international political power. Most are national capitals, and they contain mansions or palaces for the head of state. Structures for national legislature and offices for government agencies are also located in global cities. Also clustered in global cities are offices for groups having business with the government, such as representatives of foreign countries, trade associations, labor unions, and professional organizations. Business Services in Developing Countries In the global economy, developing countries specialize in two distinctive types of business services: offshore financial services and back-office functions. These businesses typically located in developing countries for a number of reasons, including the presence of supportive laws, weak regulations, and low-wage workers. Offshore Financial Services Small countries exploit niches in the circulation of global capital by offering offshore financial services. The privacy laws and low tax rates in offshore centers can also provide havens to tax dodges and other illegal schemes. By definition, the extent of illegal activities is unknown and unknowable. A prominent example of an offshore banking center is the Cayman Islands. Several hundred banks with assets of more than $1 trillion are legally based in the Caymans. Most of these banks have only a handful of people, if any, actually working in the Caymans. Business-Process Outsourcing A second distinctive type of business service found in peripheral regions is back-office functions, also known as business-process outsourcing (BPO). Typical back-office functions include insurance claims processing, payroll management, transcription work, and other routine clerical activities. Traditionally, companies housed their back-office staff in the same office building downtown as their management staff, or at least in nearby buildings. Rising rents downtown have induced many business services to move routine work to lower-rent buildings elsewhere. For many business services, improved telecommunications have eliminated the need for spatial proximity. Selected countries have been able to attract back office work for two reasons related to labor: low wages and ability to speak English. Economic Specialization of Settlements Settlements can be classified by the distinctive types of economic activities that take place there. All sectors of the economy—be they the various types of agriculture, the various types of manufacturers, or the various types of services—have distinctive geographic distribution. Economic Base The economic activities in a settlement can be divided into two types: basic and nonbasic businesses. A settlement’s distinctive economic structure derives from its basic industries, which export primarily to consumers outside the settlement. Nonbasic industries are enterprises whose customers live in the same community. A community’s unique collection of basic industries defines its economic base. A settlement’s economic base is important because exporting by the basic industries brings money into the local economy, thus stimulating the provision of more nonbasic consumer services for the settlement. Settlements in the United States can be classified by their type of basic activity. In a postindustrial society, such as the United States, increasingly the basic economic activities are in business, consumer, or public services. The result can be a cluster of businesses that reinforce each other’s growth. For example, Boston’s basic sector in biotechnology consists of a cluster of business sectors that complement one another. Distribution of Talent Some cities have a higher percentage of talented individuals than others. Talented individuals are attracted to cities with the most job opportunities and financial incentives. Individuals with special talents also gravitate toward cities that offer more cultural diversity. Florida measured talent as a combination of the percentage of people in the city with college degrees, the percentage employed as scientists or engineers, and the percentage employed as professionals or technicians. Attracting talented individuals is important for a city because these individuals are responsible for promoting economic innovation. They are likely to start new businesses and infuse the local economy with fresh ideas. Key Issue 4: Why Do Services Cluster in Settlements? Services in Rural Settlements Rural settlements are either clustered or dispersed. A clustered rural settlement is an agricultural-based community in which a number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings. A dispersed rural settlement is characterized by farmers living on individual farms isolated from neighbors rather than alongside other farmers in settlements. Clustered Rural Settlements A clustered rural settlement typically includes homes, barns, tools, sheds, and other farm structures, plus consumer services, such as religious structures, schools, and shops. In common language, such a settlement is called a hamlet or village. Clustered rural settlements are often arranged in one of two types of patterns: circular or linear. New England colonists built clustered settlements centered on an open area called a common. Settlers grouped their homes and public buildings, such as the church and school, around a common. Each villager owned several discontinuous parcels on the periphery of the settlements to provide the variety of land types needed for different crops. Beyond the fields, the town held pastures and woodland for the common use of all residents. However, quaint New England towns are little more than picturesque shells of clustered rural settlements because today’s residents work in shops and office rather than on farms. Dispersed Rural Settlements A dispersed rural settlement, typical of the North American rural landscape, is characterized by farmers living on individual farms isolated from neighbors rather than alongside other farmers in settlements. The Middle Atlantic colonies were settled by more heterogeneous groups than those in New England. Most arrived in Middle Atlantic colonies individually rather as members of a cohesive religious or cultural groups. Dispersed rural settlement patterns dominated in the American Midwest in part because the early settlers came primarily from the Middle Atlantic colonies. Dispersed rural settlements were considered more efficient for agriculture than clustered settlements. A prominent example was the enclosure movement in Great Britain between 1750 and 1850. The British governments transformed the rural landscape by consolidating individually owned strips of land surrounding a village into a single large farm owned by an individual. When necessary, the government forced people to give up their former holdings. The enclosure movement brought greater agriculture efficiency, but it destroyed the self-contained world of village life. Services in Early Urban Settlements Before the establishment of permanent settlements as service centers, people lived as nomad, migrating in small groups across the landscape in search of food and water. At some point, groups decided to build permanent settlements. Several families clustered together in a rural location and obtained food in the surrounding area. No one knows the precise sequence of events through which settlements were established to provide services. Based on archaeological research, settlements probably originated to provide consumer and public services. Business services followed later. Prehistoric Urban Settlements The first ancient cities may have been in Mesopotamia. Ancient Ur, Athens, and later Rome were all centers of services more complex than those found in smaller rural settlements. Medieval cities represented an expansion of trade and increased liberty for residents compared to the life of rural serfs. Medieval cities lacked space for construction because they were surrounded by walls, so ordinary shops and houses were nestled into the side of the walls and large buildings. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, most of the world’s largest urban settlements were clustered in China. Early Consumer Services The earliest permanent settlements may have been established to offer consumer services, specifically places to bury the dead. Having established a permanent resting place for the dead, the group might then install priests at the site to perform the service of saying prayers for the deceased. This would have encouraged the building of structures—places for ceremonies and dwellings. Settlements also may have been places to house families, permitting unburdened males to travel farther in their search of food. Early Business Services Early urban settlements were places where groups could store surplus food and trade with other groups. People brought plants, animals, and minerals, as well as tools, clothing, and containers, to the urban settlements, and exchanged them for items brought by others. To facilitate this trade, officials in the settlement set fair prices, kept records, and created currency. Early Public Services Early settlements housed political leaders as well as defense forces to guard the residents of the settlement and defend the surrounding hinterland from conquest by others. Ancient Urban Settlements Settlements were first established in the eastern Mediterranean about 2500 B.C. These settlements were trading centers for the thousands of islands dotting the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean and provided the government, military protection, and other public services for their surrounding hinterlands. These settlements were organized into city-states, self-governing communities that included the settlement and nearby countryside. Athens, the largest city-state in ancient Greece, made substantial contributions to the development of culture, philosophy, and other elements of Western civilization. The rise of the Roman Empire engendered urban settlement. The fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century caused urban settlements to decline. Medieval Urban Settlements With the fall of the Roman Empire, the majority of the world’s largest urban settlements were clustered in China. Urban life began to revive in Europe in the eleventh century, as feudal lords established new urban settlements. The lords gave residents charters of rights with which to establish independent cities in exchange for their military service. After the end of serfdom, urban dwellers set about expanding trade. Surplus from the countryside was brought into the city for sale or exchange, and markets were expanded through trade with other free cities. By the fourteenth century, Europe was covered by a dense network of small market towns. The most important public services occupied palaces, churches, and other prominent buildings arrange around a central market square. Percent Urban The process by which the populations of urban settlements grow is known as urbanization. Urbanization has two dimensions: an increase in the percentage of people living in urban settlements and an increase in the number of people living urban settlements. These two factors have different global distributions and occur for different reasons. Differences Between Urban and Rural Settlements A century ago, social scientists observed striking differences between urban and rural residents. An urban dweller follows a different way of life than a rural dweller. These urban settlements differentiated from rural areas by their large size, high population density, and socially heterogeneous people. These characteristics produced differences in the social behavior of urban and rural residents. Large Size If you live in a rural settlement, you know most of the other inhabitants and may even be related to many of them. The people with whom you relax are probably the same ones you see in local ships and at church. In contrast, if you live in an urban settlement, you can know only a small percentage of the other residents. High Density High density also produces social consequences for urban residents. The only way that a large number of people can be supported in a small area is through specialization. Each person in an urban settlement plays a special role or performs a specific task to allow the complex, urban system to function smoothly. By the same token, high density also encourages social groups to compete to occupy the same territory. Social Heterogeneity The larger the settlement, the greater the variety of people. A person has greater freedom in an urban settlement than in rural settlement to pursue an unusual profession, sexual orientation, or cultural interest. In a rural settlement, unusual action might be noticed and scorned, but urban residents are more tolerant of diverse social behavior. Regardless of values and preferences, in a large urban settlement, individuals can find people with similar interests. Percentage in Urban Settlements The percentage of the world’s population living in urban settlements has increased rapidly, from 3 percent in 1800 to 6 percent in 1850, 14 percent in 1900, 30 percent in 1950, and 45 percent in 2000. The population of Earth’s urban settlements exceeded that of rural settlements for the first time in human history around 2008. The percentage of people living in urban settlements mirrors a country’s level of development. In developed countries, 77 percent live in urban areas, compared to 48 percent in developing countries. The gap in urbanization between developed and developing countries is closing rapidly. Site of Urban Settlements Developed countries have a higher percentage of urban residents, but developing countries have more of the very large urban settlements. Seven of the 10 most populous cities are in developing countries: Jakarta, Delhi, Manila, Shanghai, Karachi, Beijing, and Guangzhou. All but 3 of the 100 fastest-growing urban settlements are in developing countries. Five of the 13 growing at more than 4 percent per year are in Africa, 3 are in India, 4 are elsewhere in Asia, and 1 is in Latin America. The three exceptions are in the United States: Atlanta, Austin, and Las Vegas are among the top 100 fastest-growing urban settlements. In developing countries, migration from the countryside is fueling half of the increase in population in urban settlements, even though job opportunities may be scarce. Introducing the Chapter Students will have a familiarity born of direct experience with many jobs in this sector, thus, it does not warrant as lengthy an introduction. Try the following icebreaker to stimulate discussion and approach central place theory in a roundabout way. Icebreaker: Central Places Choose three close together (within 100 miles of each other) towns: the one your school is located in and two others, so that the relative sizes are at least 1:5:25 (each town is at least five times the size of the next of the next). Give students an overview of each town and the population size so they are familiar. Now ask the following: which towns would be likely to have a . . . gas station? fast-food restaurant? • general practitioner? shopping center? shopping mall? movie theater? theater for plays or performances? professional piano tuner? lawyer for traffic court? neurosurgeon? thrift store? lawyer for international litigation? luxury fashion shop (e.g., Fendi, Prada, Versace)? … etc. . . . The examples will lead students to the “obvious” answer that the more specialized services will be located in the larger city, while the basic services will be found in every town. However, students will probably not have considered why this pattern is so predictable. You could go back through the list and ask which services are more or less specialized to reveal this, or simply begin a discussion of threshold and range. Challenges to Comprehension Range vs. Threshold Though both are elementary concepts, students do not always grasp the difference between them. Here is a way to explain the distinction by comparing high-range services and high-threshold services. High-range services are specialized enough that people will travel great distances to use them. Because they are high-range, their range by default includes a large population (all the people within the range are potential customers). However, many services are so specialized that a low percentage of people within their range will use the service. Examples include specialized medicine, some artists, or specialized producer services. High-threshold activities can have low ranges, but need a large population to support the business. People would not travel very far for the service, so the service locates central to large populations. Examples include superstores, malls, and fast-food restaurants. False Hierarchies Students may assume that since services are presented as the tertiary sector of the economy, service jobs are intrinsically more valuable than those in the primary and secondary sectors. Disabuse them of this notion by pointing out that service jobs include low-paid, low-skill jobs like housekeeping and restaurant work. On the other hand, some students may feel that workers in the first two sectors are the ones doing “real work,” especially if they work in those sectors. Discussions of this topic can create debates about worker productivity, Marxism, and capitalism. Assignments Review/Reflection Questions Make a list of the service jobs you’ve had, and identity each by type according to the text. Describe the type of job you’re hoping to start after college. Is it a service? What does this, combined with your previous answer, tell you about the range of service jobs? Would it be difficult to do well at the job you’ve described above if you lived in a very small town? Use the concepts of threshold, range, and central place theory to describe why high-paying jobs are easier to find in large cities. Present the reasoning of a person who chooses to live downtown, near the central business district (CBD). Answer as though you’re explaining to a friend why you chose to live there. Reference concepts from the text in your answer. Now present the reasoning of a person who chooses to live in the suburbs while they work in the city. Again, answer as though you’re explaining your decision to a friend and reference concepts from the text. Urban Patterns 13 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 13.1.1: Understand various definitions of urban settlements. Learning Outcome 13.1.2: Describe the distinctive features of the CBD. Learning Outcome 13.1.3: Understand the use of vertical space in the CBD and the exclusion of some land uses. Learning Outcome 13.2.1: Describe models of internal structure of urban areas. Learning Outcome 13.2.2: Analyze how the three models help to explain where people live. Learning Outcome 13.2.3: Describe how the three models explain patterns in European cities. Learning Outcome 13.2.4: Describe patterns in precolonial and colonial cities in developing countries. Learning Outcome 13.2.5: Understand how the three models of urban structure describe patterns in cities in developing countries. Learning Outcome 13.2.6: Describe stages of development and apply urban models to Mexico City. Learning Outcome 13.3.1: Understand the impact of suburban growth on local government. Learning Outcome 13.3.2: Describe suburban sprawl. Learning Outcome 13.3.3: Explain ways in which suburbs are segregated. Learning Outcome 13.3.4: Describe the benefits and drawbacks of public transport. Learning Outcome 13.3.5: Describe the strategies to reduce the impact of motor vehicles in urban areas. Learning Outcome 13.4.1: Understand challenges faced by cities. Learning Outcome 13.4.2: Describe the process of gentrification. Learning Outcome 13.4.3: Consider contrasting trends in American cities. Learning Outcome 13.4.4: Strategies for improving city air. Learning Outcome 13.4.5: Consider alternative future vehicles for the city. Chapter Outline Key Issue 1: Why Are Downtowns Distinctive? Introducing Urban Patterns Models have been developed to explain why differences occur within urban areas. In developing countries people are migrating into cities in large numbers, whereas in developed countries people are increasingly likely to be moving out to suburbs. Central City Historically, urban settlements were very small and compact. As these settlements have rapidly increased in size, however, definitions have been created to describe their different parts: the central city, the urban area, and the metropolitan area. A central city (or simply city) is an urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit known as a municipality. Virtually all countries have a local government system that recognizes cities as legal entities with defined boundaries. Urban Area An urban area consists of a central city and its surrounding built-up suburbs. The U.S. census recognizes two types of urban areas. The urbanized area is an urban area with at least 50,000 inhabitants. An urban cluster is an urban area with between 2,500 and 50,000 inhabitants. Metropolitan Area The U.S. Bureau of the Census has created a method of measuring the larger functional area of a settlement, known as the metropolitan statistical area (MSA). An MSA includes an urbanized area with a population of at least 50,000, the county within which the city is located, and adjacent counties with a high population density and a large percentage of residents working in the central city’s county. The census has also designated smaller urban areas as micropolitan statistical areas (μSAs). A μSA includes an urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is located, and adjacent counties tied to the city. The census combines MSAs and μSAs in several ways. A core-based statistical area (CBSA) is any one MSA or μSA. A combined statistical area (CSA) is two or more contiguous CBSAs tied together by commuting patterns. A primary statistical area (PSA) is a CSA, an MSA not included in a CSA, or a μSA not included in a CSA. The Central Business District The central business district (CBD) is the core of the city where many services cluster. Services are attracted to the CBD because of its accessibility. The CBD is usually near the original site of settlement. The CBDs of older cities are often situated along a body of water. Public Services in CBDs Public services typically located in a CBD include city hall, courts, county and state agencies, and libraries. Public services are located in the CBD to facilitate access for people living in all parts of town. Sports facilities and convention centers are found in the CBD and attract many suburbanites and out-of-towners. Cities place these facilities in the CBD because they hope to stimulate business for downtown restaurants, bars, and hotels. Business Services in CBDs People in business services such as advertising, banking, journalism, and law depend on proximity for professional colleagues. Even with the diffusion of modern communications, many professionals still exchange information with colleagues primarily through face-to-face contact. A central location also helps businesses that employ workers from a variety of neighborhoods. Consumer Services in CBDs Retail services were once important to the CBD but are now less so. Changing shopping habits and residential patterns have reduced the importance of retail services in the CBD. Retailers with High Thresholds Retailers with a high range and threshold traditionally preferred a CBD location in order to be accessible to many people. Many large retail stores have moved to the suburbs. Changing shopping habits and residential habits have reduced the importance of retail services in the CBD. Retailers with High Ranges High-range retailers are often specialists, with customers who patronize them infrequently. These retailers once preferred CBD locations because their customers were scattered over a wide area. Some retailers with high ranges have located in CBDs because they are visited by tourists. Some local residents also patronize shops in the CBD as a leisure activity on evenings and weekends. Retailers Serving CBD Workers Specialized retailers and those serving downtown workers still remain in the CBD. Retailers selling office supplies, computers, and clothing or offering shoe repair, rapid photocopying, or dry cleaning are actually expanding in the CBD. The number of downtown office workers has increased and downtown offices are now requiring more services. The total volume of sales in downtown areas has been stable, but the pattern of demand has changed. Competition for Space in CBDs A CBD’s accessibility produces extreme competition for the limited available land. As a result, land values are very high in the CBD. As a result of intense competition for land, the CBD has distinctive features. The CBD has a three-dimensional character, with more space used below and above ground level than elsewhere in the urban area. Land uses commonly found elsewhere in the urban area are rare in the CBD. Activities Excluded from the CBD High rents and land shortage discourage two principal activities in the CBD – industrial and residential. Lack of Manufacturing in the CBD In the past, inner-city factories and retail establishments relied on waterfront CBDs that were once lined with piers for cargo ships to load and unload and unload and warehouses to store goods. Port facilities have moved to more modern facilities downstream. Port cities have transformed their waterfronts from industry to recreational activities. Derelict warehouses and rotting piers have been replaced with new offices, shops, parks, and museums, becoming major tourist attractions. Lack of Residents in the CBD Many people used to live downtown. Many people were pulled to suburbs that offered larger homes with private yards and modern schools. They were pushed from CBDs by high rents that businesses and retail services were willing to pay and by dirt, crime, congestion, and poverty that they experienced by living downtown. Downtown living has become attractive recently to people without school-age children. People without school-age children are attracted to the entertainment, restaurants, museums, and nightlife that is clustered downtown. Vertical Features of the CBD The CBD makes more intensive use of space below and above ground. The Underground CBD A vast underground network exists beneath most CBDs. The typical “underground city” includes garages, loading docks for deliveries to offices and shops, electric and telephone wires, and pipes for water and sewer service. Subway trains run beneath the streets of large CBS. Skyscrapers Skyscrapers develop to maximize the floor space in the highest-demand areas. Downtown skyscrapers give a city one of its most distinctive images and unifying symbols. The first high-rises caused great inconvenience to neighboring structures because they blocked light and air movements. Most North American and European cities enacted zoning ordinances early in the twentieth century in part to control the location and height of skyscrapers. CBDs outside North America Outside of North America, CBDs are less likely to be dominated by commercial services. They instead feature religious or historical structures and parks. CBDs outside of North America are also more likely to have residents. However, the 24-hour supermarket is rare outside of a North American CBD because of shopkeeper preferences, government regulations, and long-time shopping habits. Many CBDs outside of North America ban motor vehicles from busy shopping streets. Key Issue 2: Where Are People Distributed in Urban Areas? Models of Urban Structure Sociologists, economists, and geographers have developed three models to help explain where different types of people tend to live in an urban area – the concentric zone, sector, and multiple nuclei models. The peripheral model is a modification of the multiple nuclei model. The three models have been applied to cities in the United States and in other countries with varying levels of success. The three models describing the internal social structure of cities were developed in Chicago. Concentric Zone Model The concentric zone model, created in 1923 by sociologist E.W. Burgess, was the first model to explain the distribution of different social groups within urban areas. According to the concentric zone model, a city grows outward from a central area in a series of concentric rings, like growth rings of a tree. The precise size and width of the rings vary from one city to another, but the same basic types of rings appear in the same order. Sector Model In the sector model, developed in 1939 by land economist Homer Hoyt, the city develops in a series of sectors, not rings. Certain areas of the city are more attractive for various activities, originally because of an environmental or even by mere chance. Once a district with high-class housing is established, the most expensive new housing is built on the outer edge of that district, farther out from the center. The best housing is therefore found in a corridor extending from downtown to the outer edge of the city. To some extent the sector model is a refinement of the concentric zone model rather than a radical restatement. Multiple Nuclei Model According to the multiple nuclei model, developed by geographers C.D. Harris and E.L. Ullman in 1945, a city is a complex structure that includes more than one center around which activities revolve. Examples of these nodes include a port, a neighborhood business center, a university, an airport, and a park. The multiple nuclei theory states that some activities are attracted to particular nodes, whereas others try to avoid them. Heavy industry and high-class housing rarely exist in the same neighborhood. The nodes of consumer and business services around the beltway are called edge cities. Edge cities originated as suburban residences for people who worked in the central city, and then shopping malls were built to be near the residents. Applying the Models in North America The three models of urban structure help us understand where people with different social characteristics tend to live within and urban area. Social Area Analysis The study of where people of varying living standards, ethnic background, and lifestyle live within an urban area is social area analysis. Social area analysis helps to create an overall picture of where various types of people tend to live, depending on their particular personal characteristics. Effective use of the models depends on the availability of data at the scale of individual neighborhoods. Urban areas in the United States are divided into census tracts that each contain approximately 5,000 residents and correspond, where possible, to neighborhood boundaries. Each decade the U.S. Bureau of the Census publishes data summarizing the characteristics of the residents and housing in each tract. Social scientists can use social area analysis to compare the distribution of characteristics and create an overall picture of where various types of people tend to live. Limitations of the Models None of the three models taken individually completely explains why different types of people live in distinctive parts of a city. Critics view the models as too simple and fail to consider the variety of reasons that lead people to select particular residential locations. Because the three models are all based on conditions that existed in U.S. cities between the two world wars, critics also question their relevance to contemporary urban patterns in the United States or in other countries. Applying the Models in Europe American urban areas differ from those elsewhere in the world. These differences do not invalidate the three models of internal urban structure, but they do point out that social groups in other countries may not have the same reasons for selecting particular neighborhoods within their cities. CBDs in Europe Europe’s CBDs have a different mix of land uses than those in North America. Differences stem from the medieval origins of many of Europe’s CBDs. European cities display a legacy of low-rise structures and narrow streets, built as long ago as medieval times. More people live downtown in cities outside of North America. More people live in Europe’s CBDs in part because they are attracted to the concentration of consumer services, such as cultural activities and animated nightlife. The most prominent structures in Europe’s CBDs are often public and semipublic services, such as churches and former royal palaces, situated on the most important public squares. Europe’s CBDs contain professional and financial services. However, business services in Europe’s CBDs are less likely to be housed in skyscrapers than those in North America. The Three Models in Europe The urban structure in Paris can be used to illustrate similarities and differences in the distribution of people in U.S. and European cities: Concentric Zones. As in U.S. urban areas, the newer housing in the Paris region is in outer rings, and the older housing is closer to the center. Unlike in U.S. urban areas, though, much of the newer suburban housing is in high-rise apartments rather than single-family homes. Sectors. Again, as in U.S. urban areas, higher-income people cluster in a sector in the Paris region. The wealthy lived near the royal palace beginning in the twelfth century and the Palace of Versailles from the sixteenth century until the French Revolution in 1789. Multiple Nuclei. European urban areas, including Paris, have experienced a large increase in immigration from other regions of the world. In contrast to U.S. urban areas, most ethnic and racial minorities reside in the suburbs of Paris. Pre-modern Cities in Developing Countries Cities in developing countries may date from ancient times. For most of recorded history, the world’s largest cities have been in Asia. However, until modern times, most Asians lived in rural settlements. The ancient and medieval structure of these cities was influenced by the cultural values of the indigenous peoples living there. Ancient and Medieval City: Beijing Archaeological evidence of Beijing dates from 1045 B.C., although the city may have been founded thousands of years earlier. A succession of invaders and dynasties shaped what is now the central area of Beijing. Beijing During the Yuan Dynasty Kubla Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty, constructed a new city called Dadu beginning in 1267. The Drum Tower was constructed at the center of the city. The heart of Dadu was three palaces built on Qionghua Island in the middle of Taiye Lake. The two palaces to the west of the lake housed the imperial family, and the eastern one contained offices. Residential areas were laid out in a checkerboard pattern divided by wider roads and narrower alleys. Three markets were placed in the residential areas. Beijing in the Ming Dynasty After capturing Dadu in 1368, the Ming dynasty reconstructed it over the next several decades. The imperial palace was demolished and replaced with new structures, including the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Colonial Legacy When Europeans gained control of much of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, their colonial policies left an indelible mark on many cities. One feature of European control was the imposition of standardized plans for cities. For example, all Spanish cities in Latin America were built according to the Laws of the Indies, drafted in 1573. The laws explicitly outlined how colonial cities were to be constructed. In some places, European colonial powers built a new city next to the existing one. The new city was the location for colonial services, such as administration, military command, and international trade, as well as housing for European colonists. In other cases, European colonial powers simply demolished the precolonial city. Applying the Models in Developing Countries The three models of urban structure described earlier in this chapter help to explain contemporary patterns within the urban areas in developing countries. Rapid growth of population and land area has strengthened the applicability of the models in some cities but reduced their usefulness in other instances. Concentric Zones in Developing Countries The concentric zone model has been used to examine cities in developing countries most frequently, most notably by geographer Harm deBlij’s model of subSaharan African cities. The inner rings are inhabited by higher-income people, as they have the most attractive residential areas due to proximity to businesses and consumer services. These inner rings also offer vital public services, such as water, electricity, paved roads, and garbage pickup. As cities grow rapidly in developing countries, rings are constantly being added on the periphery to accommodate immigrants from rural areas attracted by job opportunities. Many residential areas in the outer rings take the form of informal settlements, also known as squatter settlements. The United Nations has identified an informal settlement as a residential area where housing has been built on land to which the occupants have no legal claim or has not been built to the city’s standard for legal buildings. Informal settlements have few services because neither the city nor the residents can afford them. Multiple Nuclei in Developing Countries T.G. McGee’s model of a Southeast Asian city superimposes on concentric zones several nodes of squatter settlements and what he called “alien” zones, where foreigners, usually Chinese, live and work. McGee found that Southeast Asian cities do not typically have a strong CBD. Instead, the various functions of the CBD are dispersed to several nodes. Cities in some developing countries show evidence of the multiple nuclei model by containing a complex mix of ethnic groups. Sectors in Developing Countries Geographers Ernest Griffin and Larry Ford show that in Latin American cities, wealthy people push out from the center in a well-defined elite residential sector. The elite sector forms on either side of a narrow spine that contains offices, shops, and amenities attractive to wealthy people, such as restaurants, theaters, parks, and zoos. The wealthy are also attracted to the center and spine because services such as water and electricity are more readily available and reliable there than elsewhere. Wealthy and middle-class residents avoid living near sectors of “disamenity,” which are land uses that may be noisy or polluting or that cater to low-income residents. Changing Urban Structure of Mexico City Mexico City provides an ideal example of a city in a developing country that has passed through three stages of development: pre-Europeans origin, the European colonial period, and postcolonial independence. The modern city also displays evidence of the models of urban structure. Precolonial Mexico City The Aztecs founded Mexico City—which the called Tenochtitlán—on a hill known as Chapultepec (“the hill of the grasshopper”). They eventually moved their settlement to a 10square-kilometer island in Lake Texcoco in 1325. The node of religious life was the Great Temple. Most food, merchandise, and building materials crossed from the mainland to the island by boat, and the island was laced with canals to facilitate movement. As the Aztecs conquered neighboring populations over the following two centuries, Tenochtitlán grew to a population of a half-million. Colonial Mexico City The Spanish conquered Tenochtitlán in 1521, after a two-year siege. They destroyed Tenochtitlán, dispersed or killed most of the inhabitants, and constructed a new city on the site. The Spanish built Mexico City around a main square, called the Zócalo, on the site of the Aztecs’ sacred precinct in the center of the island. Streets were laid out in a grid pattern extending from the Zócalo. Mexico City Since Independence At independence, Mexico City was a relatively small city. The population grew modestly during the nineteenth century, reaching around 500,000 in 1900. The population grew dramatically during the twentieth century, to 3 million in 1950 and 21 million in the urban area in 2015. Millions have migrated to the cities in search of work. In 1903, most of Lake Texcoco was drained by a gigantic canal and tunnel project, allowing the city to expand to the north and east. Key Issue 3: Why Do Urban Areas Expand? A suburb is a residential or commercial area situated within an urban area but outside the central city. Suburbs have existed on a small scale since ancient times; residential areas were often located outside the walls surrounding a city. As cities grew rapidly during the nineteenth century, as part of the Industrial Revolution, more extensive suburbs appeared. Origin and Growth of Suburbs In 1950, only 20 percent of Americans lived in suburbs compared to 40 percent in cities and 40 percent in small towns and rural areas. The percentage living in suburbs rose rapidly thereafter. Ten years after, one-third of Americans lived in cities, one-third in suburbs, and onethird in small towns and rural areas. Suburbs offer varied attractions – a detached single-family dwelling rather than a row house or an apartment, private land surrounding the house, space to park cars, and a greater opportunity for home ownership. Annexation The process of legally adding land area to a city is annexation. Normally, land can be annexed to a city only if a majority of the residents in the affected area vote in favor of the annexation. Peripheral residents generally desired annexation in the nineteenth century because the city offered better services, such as water supply, sewage disposal, trash pickup, paved streets, public transportation, and police and fire protection. Today, cities are less likely to annex peripheral land because residents prefer to organize their own services rather than pay the city taxes for them. Local Government Fragmentation Because MSAs in the United States are composed of many independent suburbs and central cities as well as counties, local governments are fragmented and less able to deal with regional problems. Most U.S. metropolitan areas have a council of government, which is a cooperative agency consisting of representatives of the various local governments in the region. The council of government may be empowered to do some overall planning for the area that local governments cannot logically do. Two kinds of strong metropolitan-wide governments have been established in a few places in North America: consolidations of city and county governments, and federations. Smart Growth Some U.S. cities have pursued smart growth laws to limit sprawl. Smart Growth is legislation and regulations to limit suburban growth and preserve farmland. Suburban Sprawl Sprawl is the development of suburbs at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area. When private developers select new housing sites, they seek cheap land that can easily be prepared for construction – land often contiguous to the existing builtup area. The Peripheral Model According to the peripheral model, an urban area consists of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road. Density Gradient North American cities once followed a density gradient where density decreased consistently with increasing distance from the city center. Two changes have impacted the density gradient in recent years: fewer people living in the center, and fewer differences in density within urban areas. These two changes flatten the density gradient and reduce the extremes of density between inner and outer areas traditionally found within cities. Overlapping Metropolitan Areas In the northeastern United States, large metropolitan areas are so close together that they now form one continuous urban complex, extending north of Boston to south of Washington, D.C., this region is known as Megalopolis. Other continuous urban complexes exist in the United States—the southern Great Lakes between Chicago and Milwaukee on the west and Pittsburgh on the east, and southern California from Los Angeles to Tijuana. Suburban Segregation Many suburbs display two forms of segregation: Segregation of social classes. Housing in given suburban community is usually built for people of a single social class, with others excluded by virtue of the cost, size, or location of the housing. Segregation by race and ethnicity also persists in some suburbs. Segregation of land uses. Residents are separated from commercial and manufacturing activities that are confined to compact, distinct areas. U.S. and U.K. Suburbs The supply of land for the construction of new housing is more severely restricted in European urban areas than in the United States. Officials try to limit sprawl by designating areas of mandatory open space. Several British cities are surrounded by greenbelts, or rings of open space. New housing is built either in older suburbs inside the greenbelts or in planned extensions to small towns and new towns beyond the greenbelts. Residential Segregation Low-income people and minorities are unable to live in many U.S. suburbs because of the high cost of the housing and unwelcoming attitudes of established residents. Suburban communities discourage the entry of those with lower incomes and minorities because of fear that property values will decline if the high-status composition of the neighborhood is altered. The homogeneity in suburban communities is legally protected through zoning ordinances. A zoning ordinance is a law that limits the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a community. Zoning ordinances typically identify districts designed only for single-family houses, apartments, industry, or commerce. Suburban Services Consumer and business services are also expanding in suburbs. A number of actors account for this trend. Suburbanization of Consumer Services The suburbs created segregated land uses, with residential areas separate from retail and manufacturing activities, with the consequence of requiring automobile ownership for all trips. Retailing has been increasingly concentrated in planned suburban shopping malls. Corner shops have been replaced by supermarkets in small shopping centers. Generous parking lots surround stores. Malls have become centers for activities in suburban areas that lack other types of community facilities. Suburbanization of Business Services Offices that do not require face-to-face contact are increasingly moving to suburbs, where rents are lower than in the CBD. For some workers suburban office locations can pose hardships. Secretaries, custodians, and other lower-status office workers may not have cars and public transportation may not serve the site. Factories and warehouses have migrated to suburbia for more space, cheaper land, and better truck access. Suburban locations facilitate truck shipments by providing good access to main highways and no central city traffic congestion. Legacy of Public Transport The intense concentration of people in the CBD during working hours strains transportation systems because a large number of people must reach a small area of land at the same time in the morning and disperse at the same time in the afternoon. Rush hour is the four consecutive 15-minute periods that have the heaviest traffic. Public transit is better suited than motor vehicles to moving large numbers of people because each transit traveler takes up far less space. Public Transport in the United States In the United States public transit service in minimal or nonresistant in many cities. Only 5 percent of commuting trips in the United States take place using public transport. The minimal level of public transit service in most U.S. cities means that low-income people may not be able to reach places of employment. Rapid transit (subways or fixed light-rail) is increasing in some U.S. cities. Public transportation in the United States is caught in a vicious circle because fares do not cover operating costs. As patronage declines and expenses rise, the fares are increased, which drives away passengers and leads to service reductions and still higher fares. Public expenditures to subsidize construction and operating costs have increased, but the United States does not fully recognize that public transportation is a vital utility deserving of a large subsidy. Public Transit in Other Countries In hundreds of cities around the world, extensive networks of bus, tram, and subway lines have been maintained, and funds for new construction have been provided in recent years. Wikipedia lists 148 cities with underground heavy-rail systems and 371 cities with light-rail systems in operation as of 2014. Another 36 heavy-rail systems were scheduled to open between 2015 and 2020, including 16 in China. Cities with existing service have been expanding them, also. Reliance on Motor Vehicles The average American travels 36 miles per day. In urban areas, public transport is better suited than motor vehicles to moving large numbers of people because each transit traveler takes up far less space. Public transport is cheaper, less polluting, and more energy efficient than privately owned motor vehicles. Nonetheless, 83 percent of trips in the United States are by car or truck, 12 percent are by walking or biking, 2 percent each are by public transport or school bus, and 1 percent is by other means. Transportation Epochs Transportation improvements have played a crucial role in the changing structure of urban areas. Geographer John Borchert identified five eras of U.S. urban areas resulting from changing transportation systems: Sail-Wagon Epoch (1790-1830) Iron Horse Epoch (1830-1870) Steel Rail Epoch (1870-1920) Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch (1920-1970) Satellite-Electronic Jet Propulsion (1970-?) Cities have prospered or suffered during the various epochs, depending on their proximity to economically important resources and migration patterns. Parallel to this, cities retain physical features from the earlier eras that may be assets or liabilities in subsequent eras. Benefits and Costs of Motor Vehicles There are around 1.2 billion motor vehicles in the world, including 255 million in the United States. The perceived cost and comfort, choice, and flexibility of motor vehicles has maintained the mode of transportation’s dominance in the United States. The U.S. government encourage the use of cars and trucks by paying 90 percent of the cost of limited-access, highspeed interstate highways, which stretch for 48,000 miles across the country. U.S. policies also keep fuel prices cheaper than those found in Europe, further supporting the use of motor vehicles. The consumption of land is one unseen costs of motor vehicle culture. An average city allocates about one-fourth of its land to roads and parking lots. Congestion is an issue not often considered by motorists as well; the average American wastes about 18 gallons of fuel and loses 42 hours per year sitting in traffic jams. Autonomous Driving Vehicles Future transportation systems are likely to include various forms of autonomous vehicles. Vehicles currently possess technological capabilities supportive of hands-free driving, such as sensors and GPS, and they can perform hands-free functions, such as automatic braking, parallel parking, and prevention of unsafe lane changes. Autonomous vehicles are likely to result in fewer accidents caused by human error, provide mobility for people who are too young to drive or have a disability, and decrease the safe distance between vehicles and therefore increase the number of vehicles that can fit on a road. Still unsettled are many practical problems created by autonomous vehicles, such as liability and insurance. Key Issue 4: Why Do Cities Face Sustainability Challenges? The City Challenged One hundred years ago, low-income inner-city neighborhoods in the United States teemed with throngs of recent immigrants from Europe. Such neighborhoods that housed perhaps 100,000 a century ago may contain fewer than 5,000 inhabitants today. Those remaining may face significant challenges, distinct from those faced by suburban inhabitants. Social Challenges The underclass is a group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic hardships. A disproportionately large share of the underclass live in inner-city neighborhoods, where they are trapped in an unending cycle of hardships. Inadequate job skills, a culture of poverty, homelessness, the presence of drugs, crime, inadequate social and consumer services, and municipal finances that cannot meet budgetary needs due to low tax revenues are some of the issues the underclass deal with in this environment. Physical Challenges Large houses built by wealthy families in the nineteenth century are subdivided by absentee landlords into smaller dwellings for low-income families. This process of subdivision of houses by successive waves of lower-income people is known as filtering. Landlords stop maintaining houses when the rent they collect becomes less than the maintenance cost. The building will soon deteriorate and grows unfit for occupancy. The owner at this point may abandon the property because the rents that can be collected are less than the cost of taxes and upkeep. Some banks engage in redlining—drawing lines on a map to identify areas in which they will refuse to loan money. The City Renewed The process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income, renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class, owner-occupied area is known as gentrification. Most cities have at least one substantially renovated inner-city neighborhood that has attracted higherincome residents. A deteriorated inner-city neighborhood is attractive for several reasons. The houses located there may be larger and more substantially constructed, containing attractive architectural details. These dwellings are also conveniently located near offices downtown, and cultural and recreational amenities. Removing Public Housing Many substandard inner-city houses have been demolished and replaced with public housing. Public housing is government-owned housing rented to low-income individuals, with rents set at 30 percent of the tenant’s income. A housing authority, established by the local government, manages the buildings, and the federal government pays the cost of construction and maintenance, repair, and management that are not covered by rent. The U.S. government has stopped funding construction of new public housing. Because of poor conditions, high-rise public housing projects have been demolished in many U.S. cities. As a result of lower allocated funds, the supply of public housing and other government-subsidized housing in the United States decreased by roughly 1 million units between 1980 and 2010. During that same period, the number of people in need of low-rent dwellings increased by more than 2 million. Reviving Consumer Services Some consumer services are returning to the inner city, in part to meet day-to-day needs of residents of gentrified neighborhoods. Inner-city consumer services are also attracting people looking for leisure activities, such as unusual shops in a dramatic downtown setting or view of a harbor. Several North American CBDs have combined new retail services with leisure services. The City Contrasted Contemporary American cities display ever-sharper contrasts. In some places, young, white, and wealthy people are moving back into the city. In other places, cities face significant problems. The City Cleaned According to the United Nations, sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The future sustainability of cities depends largely on how we structure our future transport. U.S. scientists working with the U.N. devised a strategy with three key elements to promote sustainable changes in future transportation. Sharp decrease in the use of the three fossil fuels. Increase in the use of renewable energy. Use of carbon capture and storage (CCS), which involves capturing waste CO2, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere. The City Controlled The future health of urban areas depends on relieving traffic congestion. Geographic tools, such as the Geographic Positioning System (GPS) and electronic mapping, are playing key roles in the design of intelligent transportation systems, either through increasing road capacity or through reducing demand. Controlling Vehicles The current generation of innovative techniques to increase road capacity is aimed at providing drivers with information so that they can make intelligent decisions about avoiding congestion. Demand to use congested roads is being reduced in a number of way, primarily through congestion charges, tolls, permits, and bans of vehicle from certain portions of central areas of cities. Alternative Fuel Vehicles Consumers in developed countries are reluctant to give up their motor vehicles, and demand for vehicles is soaring in developing countries. One of the greatest challenges to reducing pollution and conserving nonrenewable resources is reliance on petroleum as automotive fuel, so carmakers are scrambling to bring alternative-fuel vehicles to the market. Diesel, hybrid, ethanol, full electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell technologies are all technologies being researched and developed by automotive companies to help solve this enduring problem. Introducing the Chapter The chapter begins with two major themes of urban geography: diversity and spatial inequality. Consider starting the chapter discussing what factors and processes lead to the formation of cities, a natural segue from Chapter 12. Icebreaker: The Cultures of Cities Start a brainstorm on what we think of when we think of cities. Write words or phrases that students generate on the board. Depending on the background of your students, there may be a leaning in the words towards pleasant or unpleasant associations. Discuss the list you’ve created, including the questions: Why do people live in cities? What problems do we associate with cities? What differences are there between the city and the countryside, that is, in politics, recreation, cost of living? How is the city changing? This discussion will start the class thinking about the North American city. Challenges to Comprehension Costs of Sprawl Students from a suburban setting frequently do not grasp the inefficiencies of sprawl, as it is the only model of urban life they have known. For example, many students in an introductory human geography class answer the question “Why do people live in the suburbs?” with “Because everything is close and convenient, you can drive anywhere you need to go.” True enough, if you don’t mind paying for the car and gas. A great way to demonstrate alternative models is through a look in the “coordinate questions” below, where two cities of the same population are contrasted. Assignments Review/Reflection Questions Why do people live in cities? Why do people live in suburbs? Indentify whether you live in the city or in the suburbs and explain why you live there (if you live with your parents or on campus, explain your parent’s choice of house). How are cities in North America different from cities in Europe? How are cities in Europe similar to cities in less developed countries? Describe the issues associated with suburban “leapfrog” development. How could these issues be resolved in North America? Coordinate Questions Look at the following locations in Google Earth. You may want to use two windows so you can switch back and forth between the two easily. 52 N, 0.99 W (Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England) 43.7 N, 116.35 W (Eagle, Idaho, USA) Answer the following questions: Each of these small towns is to the north and west of a larger city. Find these larger cities and name them. Describe the land uses beside housing and their distribution in each of the cities. Estimate the population of each town. Make sure your scale is similar for each town. Now look up the population for each town using a simple Internet search. Report what you find. Describe the approach to land use and planning taken in each town. Which represents a greater infrastructure cost, and why? Which represents a greater impact on the environment and why? Which represents a greater impact on the aesthetic appeal of the countryside, and why? Alternate: Write a three-to-four page (750–1,000 word) paper discussing the differences between the two locations. Your paper should include reference to the population size and regional location of each place. Also compare the land-use planning, infrastructure costs, and environmental impact of each town based on your observations from the satellite photos. Instructor Manual for The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography James M. Rubenstein 9780321831583, 9780321956712, 9780321831576, 9780132435734