Settlement » Urban land use models and CBD functions

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Urban land use models and how they explain city structure
The Burgess Concentric Zone Model and its applications
The Hoyt Sector Model and how it differs from Burgess
The Multiple Nuclei Model and its relevance to modern cities
Functions of the Central Business District (CBD)
How to apply these models to real-world cities

Urban Land Use Models

Cities aren't just random collections of buildings and streets. They have patterns to how they're organised. Urban land use models help us understand these patterns and explain why different activities happen in different parts of a city.

Key Definitions:

Urban land use model: A simplified representation that explains how cities are organised and how land is used in different areas.
CBD (Central Business District): The commercial and business centre of a city, usually located in the middle.
Land value: The worth of a piece of land, which typically decreases as you move away from the city centre.

The Burgess Concentric Zone Model

Developed by Ernest Burgess in 1925, this was the first major model to explain how cities grow. Burgess studied Chicago and noticed that the city grew outwards from the centre in a series of rings or zones.

📍 The Five Zones

Zone 1: CBD - The heart of the city with businesses, shops and offices.

Zone 2: Transition Zone - Mixed-use area with factories, poor housing and immigrants.

Zone 3: Working Class Housing - Better quality homes for factory workers.

Zone 4: Middle Class Housing - Larger homes for wealthier families.

Zone 5: Commuter Zone - Suburbs and satellite towns where people travel from.

💡 Key Ideas

Bid-rent theory: Land is most expensive in the centre and gets cheaper as you move outwards.

Competition for space: Businesses that need central locations pay the highest prices.

Succession: As the city grows, each zone expands outwards into the next zone.

Invasion: When a new group moves into an area and changes its character.

📄 Case Study: Chicago

Chicago was the perfect city for Burgess to study because:

It grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution
It had a clear centre around which development spread
It had natural barriers (Lake Michigan) that affected growth
It received waves of immigrants who settled in different areas

In Chicago, you can still see elements of the concentric zone pattern, with the Loop (CBD) at the centre, followed by older industrial areas, working-class neighbourhoods and suburbs further out.

The Hoyt Sector Model (1939)

Homer Hoyt realised that Burgess's model wasn't perfect. He noticed that cities often grow outwards along transport routes in wedge-shaped sectors.

📶 Key Features

Transport routes: Development follows major roads, railways and tramlines.

Sectors: Similar land uses develop in wedge-shaped sectors rather than rings.

High-class residential: Wealthy areas often develop in one sector, usually away from industry.

Industry: Industrial areas develop along transport routes and waterfronts.

🔬 Improvements over Burgess

The Hoyt model explains why:

Cities don't grow evenly in all directions
Similar land uses cluster together (like industrial zones)
Wealthy areas often develop in one direction from the CBD
Physical features (rivers, hills) affect city growth

The Multiple Nuclei Model (Harris and Ullman, 1945)

As cities grew larger and more complex, Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman noticed that many modern cities don't have just one centre. Instead, they develop multiple centres or 'nuclei' for different activities.

🏠 Key Features

Multiple centres: Cities have several nodes of activity, not just one CBD.

Specialised areas: Different nuclei serve different functions (shopping, education, industry).

Similar activities: Similar businesses and services group together.

Incompatible activities: Some land uses avoid each other (e.g., wealthy housing and heavy industry).

💻 Modern Relevance

This model best explains many modern cities because:

Shopping malls and retail parks create new centres
Business parks develop outside the traditional CBD
Universities, hospitals and airports form their own activity nodes
Cities often merge with surrounding settlements

Functions of the Central Business District (CBD)

The CBD is the heart of most cities and serves several important functions. Understanding these helps explain why certain activities locate there despite high land costs.

💰 Commercial Functions

• Major department stores

• Specialist retailers

• Banks and financial services

• Professional services (legal, accounting)

• Corporate headquarters

🏢 Administrative Functions

• Government offices

• Council buildings

• Courts and legal services

• Transport hubs and terminals

• Information centres

🎭 Entertainment Functions

• Restaurants and cafés

• Theatres and cinemas

• Museums and galleries

• Nightlife venues

• Hotels and tourism facilities

Characteristics of the CBD

The CBD has several distinctive features that set it apart from other parts of the city:

📈 Physical Characteristics

Tall buildings: High land values encourage vertical development
High density: Buildings packed closely together
Transport hub: Major roads, railways and bus routes converge
Limited residential use: Few people live in the CBD
Older buildings: Historic structures often preserved

💲 Economic Characteristics

Highest land values: Most expensive land in the city
Peak land value intersection: The most valuable point, often at major crossroads
High pedestrian flows: Lots of people during working hours
Competition for space: Only businesses that can afford high rents survive
Clustering: Similar businesses locate near each other

🌐 Case Study: London's Changing CBD

London shows how a CBD evolves over time:

Traditional CBD: The City of London (financial district) and West End (shopping/entertainment)
Expansion: Development of Canary Wharf as a second financial district
Regeneration: Former industrial areas like King's Cross transformed into business/retail spaces
Mixed use: Increasing residential development in the CBD to create 24-hour activity
Impact of technology: Digital businesses clustering in "Tech City" around Old Street

London demonstrates elements of all three models: it has a clear centre (Burgess), development along transport routes (Hoyt) and multiple centres of activity (Harris and Ullman).

Limitations of Urban Land Use Models

While these models help us understand cities, they all have limitations:

Based on American cities: May not apply to cities in other countries with different histories
Developed pre-1950: Don't fully account for modern transport and technology
Simplifications: Real cities are more complex than any model can show
Physical geography: Models don't always account for rivers, hills and coastlines
Government planning: Models assume free market forces, but planning laws affect development
Historical factors: Many cities developed before cars and modern planning

Applying Models to Real Cities

Most real cities show elements of all three models. When analysing a city:

Look for the concentric zones spreading out from the centre
Identify sectors of similar land use along transport routes
Find multiple centres of activity throughout the urban area
Consider how physical features and historical development have shaped the city
Think about how the city might continue to change in the future

Remember, these models are tools to help us understand urban patterns, not perfect representations of reality. The best geographers use models as starting points for analysis, not as final answers.